Annotated Bibliography Of Venus De Milo Of Aphrodite

Havelock’s article gives the reader an insight towards the role of women in ancient Greece. Her views on the subject seem to be very well thought out and carefully analyzed. The opinions that are shared really connect with many different works from the time. She not only looks at the visual representations upon the vases she is studying but she also does research into multiple literary works and beliefs of the era. With this broad spectrum of detail throughout the culture her findings seem concrete. As she describes each of her views on her topic, it becomes evident to the reader that she has an extensive background in art history and expects that the reader also have a similar knowledge of the subject matter. With this understanding her points come from an educated analysis rather than pure opinion. All readers must have a basic level of knowledge in art history since her ideas are a more in depth look toward the work.

Throughout the history of art, the human body and figure has captivated both artisans and their audiences. This can be said especially of the Greeks and their sculptures. Even from the earliest periods, Greeks motivation for the search of the ideal human body can be seen through the sculpture Metropolitan Kouros (c 120-50 BCE), created in the Archaic period and said to be found in Attica, Ancient Greece (Richter 1931, p. 220). However, it is not until High Classical period that they truly achieve their goal with Polykleitos’ The Spear Bearer (c. 120-50 BCE) or the Doryphoros (its Greek name). The sculpture, found in a Palestra in Pompeii, Italy is said to be the epitome of perfection during its period. Although there is exquisite rendering and beauty in both sculptures, there are also a vast number of differences that make each work unique.

The painting this paper will focus on is titled The Abduction of Europa by Noël-Nicolas Coypel. In this painting, the artist uses composition, light, color, and expressive qualities to achieve the mood of romance and playfulness in a mythological scene. The huge painting is representing a known myth that involves the Roman equivalent of a Greek myth of a powerful god being so infatuated with a nymph that he kidnapped her. In the this painted visual, we are specifically witnessing the moment Jupiter is swimming away with Europa and taking her far from her home.

The Venus of Willendorf is one of the oldest and most famous early images of a human. She represents what use to be the “ideal woman” with her curvy figure and the emphasis on fertility seen in the features of her sculpted body. This paper will analyze the Venus of Willendorf sculpture in terms of its formal analysis.

Greek mythology played a large role in Greek artistic styles and functions. In the case of this study, the mythological god Apollo is the subject of the artistic works of the votive known as the “Mantiklos Apollo” and the statue of “Apollo” that was found in Pireaus. These figures show a natural progression in style and technique. They are important because they represent the sacred beliefs and superstitions of their respective cultures and time periods.

Ancient sculptures bring on endless philosophical arguments regarding what is an appropriate form of perfection, defined as a fit body guided by a keen mind. This paper will approach a visual essence of the sculpture of The Lansdowne Athlete, by Lysippos, Rome 340-330 B.C. marble after a bronze original, that I viewed at the LACMA. This sculpture is located in the left wing of Greek exhibition Building, 3rd floor. I selected this sculpture as an example of an idealized body. Therefore, I will be explaining the historical background of the sculpture and address why I think it would make a good addition to our text. I will provide an analogy with other sculpture of idealized body from our textbook chapter 12 on “Mind and Body” mainly. I will impart more information about the essence of idealized human form as well as cultural ideals during this time period in Greece.

The artwork I chose for the Classical Greece period is the Erechtheion, an architectural building interestingly using six maidens as support columns. Through studies of the architectural history of this piece, Michael Lahanas suggests that the temple was constructed as “a complex design that supposed to represent the legendary contest between Poseidon and Athena for guardianship of the city of Athens” (Lahanas). The relationship between the art and the culture of the related civilization depicts through its purpose as a temple. Some articles suggest that the temple was a place where worship occurred for both Poseidon and Athena; the structure

This beauty shapes Aphrodite into a representation of the ideal sexual woman that is desired in the Roman world. An example of this eroticizing is displayed for the first time in Alexandros of Antioch's Venus de Milo, where the goddess is displayed as a sexual being rather than a divine entity. When a beautify goddess, such as Aphrodite, is placed within the villas, comparison is created between the goddess and the female residents of the villa. By frequently placing the goddess amongst the women of the house, visitors and owners alike are able to juxtapose the owners with the statue. Beauty, style, and values are shown through the idealized Aphrodite, displaying the sexual qualities of women that were so idealized during the Roman empire.

Aphrodite is a beautiful Greek goddess. She is known for love, beauty, and pleasure. Aphrodite had multiple stories about her. As for all the Greek gods and goddesses she has symbols. The symbols are just representations of them. Aphrodite’s symbols include myrtles, doves, sparrows, and horses.

The Venus of Willendorf is sculpted from a material called Oolitic Limestone. This limestone contains traces of Ochre which is a type of red clay, responsible for the light tan base color with slight reddish hue the statue. The Venus of Willendorf is currently displayed in Vienna at the Naturhistorsches Museum. At first glance The Venus of Willendorf does not engage traditional beauty visually. An eleven-centimeter tall figure of a woman sculpted with decidedly disproportionate features, these features which are larger include the stomach and the breasts.

For my creative project, I chose to do a color-pencil drawing of the “Venus on a Seashell” found in the Casa di Venus, in Pompeii circa 79 AD. Venus is a very important part of Roman mythology and ancient Roman culture. She is the goddess of love, sex, beauty, marriage, and fertility. She is said to be the most beautiful of all the goddesses. Venus is often portrayed rising from the sea; this is attributed to the story of her birth. In Roman mythology, Gaea was the ruler of Earth and Uranus ruled the heavens. Their children were called the Titans, and were very powerful. Uranus was afraid they might one day become stronger than him, so out of jealously he locked them up to prevent them from overpowering him. Gaea did not approve of his actions, as she wanted her children to be free, so she provided a knife-like spear to Saturn who then used it to cut his father. A piece of Uranus fell into the sea, and from the foam that formed Venus was born (Hoena, 9). The name of her Greek counterpart, Aphrodite, means “out of foam”.

In Revealing Aphrodite, Nigel Spivey describes the nude Knidian Aphrodite of Praxiteles and its cultural legacy in the understanding of societal expectations of ancient Greek women. Respected women were depicted fully clothes, adorned with jewelry and sometimes presenting an offering to the gods. Only sex workers, typically slaves or the educated hetairai/courtesans, and at times certain goddesses, appeared nude in art, but these representations did not convey the same power as the Doryphoros does for men. The common theme amongst all the depictions of women in art, is the passivity of their nature. For instance, the Knidian Aphrodite catches the goddess in a moment of vulnerability. Her shoulders are hunched, hand covering her genetalia in an attempt at modesty and her passive posture does not inspire as much as the Doryphoros. The Knidian Aphrodite’s body language does not yield as much power or control to onlookers as the Doryphoros, but is meant to entice and distract--as women are said to do. Spivey suggests this is due to the stigma against women embodying Aphrodite, goddess of love and desire, and taking on the roles patroned by Demeter, goddess of the harvest and motherhood (Spivey, 177). The juxtaposition of these goddesses speaks to how it is up to women to, in a sense, bring themselves up by straying away

In the Birth of Venus, Venus is painted nude in the center of the composition and she is standing in contrapposto, posing as the Venus pudica. The Venus Pudica pose means that the goddess’s hands are over her breasts and genital area, giving Venus an opportunity to poorly attempt to maintain some form of modesty, when in reality, the placement of Venus’s hands brings more attention to her nudity. Venus Pudica was a common pose among female nude sculptures of ancient greco-roman culture, as in the second century BCE Medici Venus (Fig. 3). The Medici Venus sculpture was in the collection of the Medici family, at the same time that Botticelli painted the Birth of Venus. As the Medici family were his supporters, Botticelli must have been familiar with the Medici Venus.

However, naming this figurine “Venus of Willendorf” leads the viewers to a misconception of the figure’s purpose. Naming the figurine after the greek goddess of love and beauty is simply an attempt to fill in the gaps of what we don’t know nor understand. As there is no knowledge about her purpose, origins, and who made her. The most we can say about her is she is an anthropological object. As Conkey and Tringham states, in order to categorize these statues with a certain meaning we “ need to take into account the fact that there are certain...multiple perceptions and interpretations of the figurines by the prehistoric social actor themselves.” There is absolutely no evidence to indicate that the figure shared a function similar to that of

Botticelli draws on Renaissance perceptions of beauty by making Venus represent the ideal Renaissance woman who is thin, pale, and curvy. Botticelli also exaggerates the lengths of her neck and leg in order to bring the viewer’s attention to her beautiful features, which are perfect and cant really exist. For example, Venus is seen to be standing at the tip of the shell which is impossible since she would have fallen, the painting uses the perception of beauty to create a more mythological and fantasy which creates Venus to be more desirable as every mans ideal women. Botticelli also made Venus seen as ideal women by covering her body with her hair and hands showing that she was a virgin which was a very desirable trait during the renaissance