Praxiteles

Aphrodite of Knidos — the classical nude

The sculptor who invented the female nude in Western art. His Aphrodite of Knidos — the first monumental nude goddess — was so famous that tourists sailed to Knidos just to see it. His figures have a softness, sensuality, and S-curve grace that defined the late Classical ideal and influenced Hellenistic and Renaissance sculpture alike.

Key works

• Aphrodite of Knidos~350 BC— The first female nude — lost, known from Roman copies
  Lost (copies: Vatican Museums, Rome
• Hermes with the Infant Dionysus~340 BC— Possibly the only surviving original Greek bronze-era marble
  Archaeological Museum, Olympia

Connections

External