Crouching Aphrodite
Mid-IIcentury. White marble.Room 072
In the fertile history of western art forms, a number of models gradually achieved canonical status; repeated over time, their endurance defied the passing centuries and fleeting fashions. We are not referring, here, to the standardisation of specific iconographical schemes as a means of conveying a given message, but rather to the lasting success of certain forms, certain gestural archetypes, certain compositions conveying an idea readily intelligible to the viewer, which – sanctioned by their use in classical antiquity – came to enjoy unchallenged primacy.
One such composition is the figure of the goddess Aphrodite crouching as she bathes; it is one of those clichés, endlessly reiterated since it was first introduced in the third century BC, to be found decorating gardens, villas, and public baths, or adorning collectors’ galleries. Albeit with certain variations, the piece at the Museo del Prado is based on a sculpture first mentioned in Pliny’s Natural History, where it is attributed to Doidalsas of Bithynia (act. around 250 BC), but with borrowings from the Rhodes Venus Anadyomene, in which the goddess is depicted in a similar posture, though drying her hair as she emerges from the sea.
This sculpture, first recorded in the holdings of Cardinal Camillo Massimo (1620–1677), passed through the collections of Queen Christina of Sweden (1626–1689) and Duke Livio Odescalchi (1652–1713) in the seventeenth century before it was purchased in 1724 by King Philip V and moved to Spain. Interestingly, the earliest references to it date from the start of the sixteenth century, before the upper part of the sculpture was restored. A drawing of the fragment, made around 1514 and now attributed to Andrea Solario (c. 1465–1524), is preserved at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Venice. Aphrodite’s right knee rests on a tortoise, an unusual feature enabling the composition to be unmistakeably identified, even in a bronze recreation made for the Gonzaga family by Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi, known as Antico (c. 1455–1528) around 1520.
In representations of Aphrodite Urania, the image of heavenly or spiritual love, the goddess was shown standing, dressed, resting one foot on a tortoise; however, this animal symbol was not commonly used with the crouching Aphrodite. Its exceptional presence here may hint at an additional reading: for Plutarch, this detail in Phidias’ Aphrodite Urania signified that a woman should look after her home – since the tortoise carries its house on its shoulders – and should preserve a decorous silence, tortoises then being thought to lack tongues; these features were taken up in later emblematic literature.
The Prado Aphrodite offers a fascinating iconographic reinterpretation following restoration work carried out in the seventeenth century, which modified the original position of the right arm; now raised over her head, the right hand holds a perfume bottle, thus enhancing the bathing motif. The arm is similarly positioned in several other sculptures, including the Crouching Aphrodite at the Palazzo Altemps in Rome, which came from the Cesi–Ludovisi collection; it was restored a posteriori and later grouped with the Boy with a Goose to form an artificial Leda.
The Leonardesque drawing of the incomplete sculpture, mentioned earlier, suggests that it had by then joined the select group of classical pieces regarded as suitable for study by budding sculptors; and this gives us an idea of its true importance. Some years ago, reflecting on the success of this model, Selma Holo highlighted the marked influence of the Prado sculpture among Renaissance artists, noting that versions were to be found in frescoes painted by Francesco Salviati (1510–1563) for the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence and by Perino del Vaga (1501–1547) for the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne in Rome. The incomplete statue, the mutilated archaeological fragment – including such key pieces as the Belvedere Torso – held a particular appeal for artists; these precious relics provided a conceptually solid basis on which they could construct their own imaginative recreation.
Arias Martínez, Manuel, 'Anónimo. Afrodita agachada'. En: Guido Reni, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2023, p.308-310 nº 59
