The Statue of Aphrodite
Kevin Asubonteng 04/15/2014
Short Objective Response Paper
The marble statue of Aphrodite, which is also known as Venus Genetrix, is located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is a Roman copy, which was created in the Imperial period, approximately between the first and the second century A.D. The original sculpture was Greek, made of bronze and is dated to the late fifth century B.C.E., which is the Late Classical period. The museum approximates that its creator is Kallimachos, or Callimachus. Scholars state that there is not much information about this Greek sculptor. However, it is known that he lived in the second half of the fifth century B.C.E. in Corinth. It is thought that he is the author of this particular work of art because Kallimachos seemed to be one of the followers of Polykleitos, who developed the pose, in which Venus Genetrix is depicted. This feature clearly identifies the statue to the Late Classical period because Greek artists of the fifth and the fourth centuries made representations of various figures, which conveyed a vitality of life, a sense of permanence, clarity and harmony. This is so because they wanted to create images of perfect human bodies. Greek artists of the Late Classical period idealized objects of their works to show how they should look like in their opinions. For that purpose Polykleitos of Argos developed a set rules that calculate body proportions in respect to perfection, which artists sought for.
The way Aphrodite is portrayed is like she is walking. The contrapposto stance is also clearly visible here because her body seems to be borne on one leg. These characteristics show that the author made a great effort to enliven this statue, so this work looks really naturalistic. This sculpture is easily classified under the Late Classical period because looking at this piece of art I can assume that probably Greek artists of that time were fascinated with the nature of human bodies and their
Short Objective Response Paper
The marble statue of Aphrodite, which is also known as Venus Genetrix, is located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is a Roman copy, which was created in the Imperial period, approximately between the first and the second century A.D. The original sculpture was Greek, made of bronze and is dated to the late fifth century B.C.E., which is the Late Classical period. The museum approximates that its creator is Kallimachos, or Callimachus. Scholars state that there is not much information about this Greek sculptor. However, it is known that he lived in the second half of the fifth century B.C.E. in Corinth. It is thought that he is the author of this particular work of art because Kallimachos seemed to be one of the followers of Polykleitos, who developed the pose, in which Venus Genetrix is depicted. This feature clearly identifies the statue to the Late Classical period because Greek artists of the fifth and the fourth centuries made representations of various figures, which conveyed a vitality of life, a sense of permanence, clarity and harmony. This is so because they wanted to create images of perfect human bodies. Greek artists of the Late Classical period idealized objects of their works to show how they should look like in their opinions. For that purpose Polykleitos of Argos developed a set rules that calculate body proportions in respect to perfection, which artists sought for.
The way Aphrodite is portrayed is like she is walking. The contrapposto stance is also clearly visible here because her body seems to be borne on one leg. These characteristics show that the author made a great effort to enliven this statue, so this work looks really naturalistic. This sculpture is easily classified under the Late Classical period because looking at this piece of art I can assume that probably Greek artists of that time were fascinated with the nature of human bodies and their