Where Is Aphrodite of Knidos? See It at This Museum

Q: Why is the Aphrodite of Knidos important?

It was the first life-size female nude in Greek sculpture. Praxiteles made both a nude and clothed version. The city of Kos bought the clothed one, considering the nude obscene. Knidos bought the nude, and it became the most famous statue in the ancient world.

Q: Where is the original?

The original was destroyed in a fire at the Palace of Lausos in Constantinople in 476 CE. Scholar Kristen Seaman has catalogued 192 surviving ancient copies. The best-known copies are the Colonna Venus (Vatican) and Capitoline Venus (Rome).

Q: Who was the model?

Reportedly the courtesan Phryne, one of the most famous women in Athens. The statue was placed in an open circular temple so it could be viewed from all angles, which was unusual for the time.

Q: How many copies survive?

192 ancient copies have been catalogued, making it possibly the most-copied sculpture from antiquity. It established the proportional canon for the female nude that influenced Western art for centuries.

Praxiteles created the Aphrodite of Knidos around 350 BCE, and it became the most famous sculpture in the ancient world. It was the first life-size female nude in Greek art. The original stood in an open temple on the island of Knidos (modern Turkey), where visitors traveled from across the Mediterranean to see it.

The original is lost. Over 50 Roman copies survive in varying quality. The best-known include the Colonna Venus (Vatican Museums) and copies in Munich and the Louvre. Pliny the Elder wrote that a man once broke into the temple at night, so overcome by the statue's beauty. The influence of this single sculpture on Western art is hard to overstate.

It was the first life-size female nude in Greek sculpture. Praxiteles made both a nude and clothed version. The city of Kos bought the clothed one, considering the nude obscene. Knidos bought the nude, and it became the most famous statue in the ancient world.

The original was destroyed in a fire at the Palace of Lausos in Constantinople in 476 CE. Scholar Kristen Seaman has catalogued 192 surviving ancient copies. The best-known copies are the Colonna Venus (Vatican) and Capitoline Venus (Rome).

Reportedly the courtesan Phryne, one of the most famous women in Athens. The statue was placed in an open circular temple so it could be viewed from all angles, which was unusual for the time.

192 ancient copies have been catalogued, making it possibly the most-copied sculpture from antiquity. It established the proportional canon for the female nude that influenced Western art for centuries.

Aphrodite of Knidos

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