#cnidus

transtemporal puzzle game for artists

Uknown

Torso of a marble statue of a naked woman, probably the goddess Aphrodite or Venus.  The figure appears to have stood with the weight on the right leg and most of the left thigh is restored. The sculpture was influenced by the so-called Knidia type of Aphrodite (top image), the work of the sculptor Praxiteles, but its exact type is uncertain... -British Museum

voyeuristic kitsch

Hiram Powers (1805 - 1873)

The Greek Slave, model 1841-43, carved 1846, Serravezza marble, 167.5 × 51.4 × 47 cm (National Gallery of Art)

Hugh Owen, ‘Greek Slave, (Marble), Powers’, 1851, salted paper print from paper negative, also unpaginated plate in Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Attributed to Southworth and Hawes, ‘The Greek Slave (back) by Hiram Powers’, 1848, daguerreotype. The J. Paul Getty Museum.

-Di Bello. Photographs of Sculpture: Greek Slave’s ‘complex polyphony’, 1847–77. 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century, 2016.

The popularity of this work—a popularity that likely exceeded the work’s aesthetic merits—catapulted Powers to international fame

- Dr. Bryan Zygmont, Khan Academy of Arts and humanities

 Praxiteles (Pliny's date: 364 BC Attica)

Aphrodite of Cnidos, torso: Roman copy, 2nd century C.E., 17th century restoration (since a torso, its members are prosthetic, therefore an ambiguous copy), marble (Rome, Roman National Museum, Palazzo Altemps)

Venus de’ Medici, 1st-century BCE, marble copy, perhaps made in Athens, of a bronze original Greek sculpture in the immediate Praxitelean tradition. The Greek inscription CLEOMENES SON OF APOLLODORUS not only is not original, but in the 18th century the name "Cleomenes" was forged on sculptures of modest quality (indeed) to enhance their value. Besides Praxiteles, less-likely attributions are Phidias or Scopas. Unsuccessful Arms restoration by Ercole Ferrata  (1610 – 1686) a Roman Baroque artist who gave her long tapering Mannerist fingers. (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence) -image The Met’s copy

The Sanctuary of Demeter is in Knidos, an ancient Greek city in what is now modern day Turkey. The city was re-founded around 350 BC, and it was during this time that the sanctuary was built. The Sanctuary of Demeter contained sculptures that suggest that it was dedicated especially to the worship of Underworld gods. The main gods worshiped in this temple were the goddess Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter and the wife of Hades. Demeter is the goddess of  the harvest and of agriculture and Hades is the god of the Underworld. According to Greek mythology, Hades kidnaped Persephone and carried her off to the Underworld, leaving Demeter so devastated at the loss of her daughter that plants and crops began to die. In order to save the harvest, Zeus urged Hades to return her, but since she had eaten pomegranate seeds from the Underworld, she had to return each year, thus creating the seasons of harvest and plant death.

The Sanctuary of Demeter at Knidos was situated into the side of an acropolis that overlooked the city and the sea beyond it. The only part of the sanctuary that remains today is the stylobate platform that was raised into the side of the rock of the acropolis. The sanctuary was joined by many other temples on and around the acropolis, such as the temple of Aphrodite which was an open air temple that showcased a famous statue of Aphrodite. The Sanctuary of Demeter is also famous for the sculpture of Demeter, a work that would most likely have been flanked by sculptures of Persephone and Hades.

Dyfri, Williams. Masterpieces of Classical Art. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2009.

Spivey, Nigel Jonathan. Greek Art. London: Phaidon Press, 1997.