The Torso of Aphrodite that stands in the National Gallery of Art is representative of the drastic changes that took place in society around the time of Late Classical Greek Art, and how it affected the world’s perception of portraying goddesses. By the time that this marble statue was sculpted — sometime between 200 B.C. and 150 A.D. — many of the achievements previously attained were on display in the artistry of the time period. The original statue of Aphrodite that the Torso was inspired by was the Aphrodite of Knidos, which was the work of art that inspired social change in the perception of nudity in terms of goddesses. The sculptor Praxiteles conveys the female body in stunning detail from a completely naturalistic viewpoint, and without precedent he decided to show the goddess nude. Before this, only women seen as lowly in society were portrayed as nude; to portray a female leader such as a goddess in this fashion was incredibly controversial. The Torso of Aphrodite was merely an imitation, yet an important one: it was from another culture and time-period, and expands on several features of the original that are worth noting. Both works are exemplary of their respective Greek and Roman cultures’ societal views on portraying female goddesses nude, with the original statue seen as groundbreaking and the later copy seen as a standard artwork.
The Aphrodite of Knidos was an incredibly shocking work of art in the time period it was sculpted in. In Praxiteles’ time, to portray a goddess nude was completely out of touch with the cultural standard, but ended up being a huge stepping stone in the direction of sculpting goddesses in a more realistic light. Praxiteles sculpted this work c. 350 BC, when he was commissioned to create the cult statue for the temple at the time. He was not requested or expected to portray a goddess in any way other than clothed. In the original, the subject Aphrodite was entering a bath to restore her purity — not her virginity, implying that she had already lost it. This was a huge implication that sparked much of the controversy at the time. Her hand is seen covering her pelvis area, possibly as an attempt of the sculptor to maintain the idea that the statue was not meant to be explicitly sexual in nature: he simply wanted to portray the female body as it was. This sculpture’s history is shrouded in mystery: given that the original sculpture did not survive, the medium is not known to historians, although it is worth noting that the multiple copies are almost all in marble, so it was most likely similar in that regard. The commissioner for this artwork is also unknown, although it is known that it was commissioned for the temple, possibly by the citizens of Kos. Even with this knowledge, historians are unsure of the original location.
The Torso of Aphrodite was heavily inspired by the Aphrodite of Knidos, and is dated anywhere between 200 BC and 150 AD. Given this period spans over both Hellenistic Greek history and into the time of the Roman Empire, it is unknown which culture originally sculpted the subject; what is known is that the statue stood in Ancient Rome in the 1st century AD. The medium of the artwork was marble, and while the sculptor is unknown, he managed to create a statue that expanded on the original idea of Praxiteles. The subject is still portrayed nude and slender, although no bath setting remains or possibly was ever there. She is also armless and headless. It is unclear whether or not those features were originally a part of the artwork, or if they were lost.
There are various comparisons that can be drawn between the two artworks, the first being quite obvious: that one inspired the other. Thus, Aphrodite is nude in both settings. Both of these subjects have sizable breasts with slender torsos and their thighs pressed together. The major comparisons are in these major elements; there are truly less differences than similarities. Both artworks portray her as clearly beautiful and peaceful, and it seems as though the sculptors treated her image with respect. Even though in both works the subject is portrayed in the nude, there was no room for disrespect: sexuality was not treated lightly here. The subject was a goddess, and portraying her as nude was already controversial. The fact that the sculptor chose to portray her in such a way meant there was no more room for controversy: as such, the female body is portrayed respectfully in a calm pose. She gracefully hesitates outside of the bath, and from the position of what remains of the Torso of Aphrodite’s thighs, it appears as if that subject had a similar stance to the original Aphrodite of Knidos.
The contrasts between the two artworks are primarily small details that represent the vast changes to popular culture that the original sculpture brought around. The Torso of Aphrodite is a much more confident work: the statue’s breasts are observably bigger, the torso is more defined and thin at the sides, and the hips are more slender. Her stomach is flatter, and her abdomen muscles are more defined. Compared to the Torso of Aphrodite, the Aphrodite of Knidos seems hesitant: the subject’s hand is covering her pelvis, and she is entering a bath to cleanse herself from some perceived wrongdoing. The Torso, on the other hand, is missing its arms from the shoulder down, so the viewer cannot tell if the original was covering the pelvis area. At this point, it is not, and from the angles of the remaining shoulders, it appears as though her arms would be more angled along the sides of her body and not reaching down in front to cover that area. This would suggest that the Torso was more comfortable with being a more confidently sexual sculpture.
This gap of a few hundred years led to more confidence in portraying the female goddess as nude in an even more naturalistic and resolute fashion. Sculptors and artists had time to adjust to the massive cultural shift that Praxiteles had brought forth circa 350 BC, and over the next few hundred years began to expand on his original idea. Before, only male figures and goddesses were portrayed as naturalistic standards of beauty in the nude; and in Greek culture, the nude symmetrical form was their primary focus as artists of the human body. They wanted to sculpt the human body at a level of perfection. Before the Aphrodite of Knidos, however, only various slave girls were portrayed in the nude, and not in the same medium as the larger statues of the gods. This comparison shows that not only was Praxiteles successful in sparking major controversy from the citizens of Kos, but also opened a door for the sculptors to expand past the original into more daring yet respectful representations of female goddesses in the future.
Both of these works of art represent their respective time periods and cultural views on the nude female anatomy displayed through the goddess Aphrodite. Aphrodite of Knidos shocked the community at large, and the Torso of Aphrodite expanded on the progress already made before it. While the Torso replicates many of Praxiteles’ original features, its subject is expanded and portrayed even more naturalistic than the subject at Knidos. The portrayal of female goddesses in this way was no longer a stigma, and it is largely due to Praxiteles and his bold artistic decision.