A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

b20 PRAXITELES. PRAXITELES.
made the voyage to Cnidus expressly to behold it. another, which was formerly in the Braschi paSo highly did the Cnidians themselves esteem their lace, and is now in the Glyptothek at Munich;
treasure, that when King Nicomedes offered them, there are also some busts after it. (Rasche, Lex
as the price of it, to pay off the whole of their Rei Num. s. v. Cnidus; Eckhel, Doct. Num. Vet
heavy public debt, they preferred to endure any vol. ii. p. 580; Lippert, Dactyl. i. 1. 81; Perrier,
suffering rather than part with the work which No. 85; Episcopius, No. 86; MAius. Pio-Clem. i.
gave their city its chief renown. It was afterwards 11; Flaxman, Lectures on Sculpture, pl. xxii.
carried, with the Samian Hera and the Lindian Miiller, Arch. d. Kunst, ~ 127, n. 4, Denkmiuler d.
Athena, to Constantinople, where it perished by alt. Kunst, vol. i. pl. xxxv. No. 146, a. b. c. d.,
fire, with innumerable other works of art, in the vol. ii. pl. xxv. No. 277.) It has been the subreign of Justinian. (Zonar. xiv. 2.) ject of much discussion among the writers on art,
The temple in which it stood at Cnidus was so whether or not the Venus de Medici is an imitraconstructed, that the beauties of the statue could tion of the Cnidian Aphrodite. (See Heyne, Antiq.
be seen equally well from every point of view. Azufsritze, vol. i. pp. 123, f.; Winckelmann, Gesch.
Of the numerous descriptions and praises of the d. Knust, b. v. c. 2. ~ 3; Meyer, zu Winck. 1. c.,
statue, which abound in the ancient authors, the and Beilaqe viii. zu b. ix., Gesch. d. Kunst, vol. i.
one which gives us the best notion of it is that of p. 113; Visconti, Mus. Pio-Clemz. vol. i. p. 18;
Lucian (Amzor. 13, 14, vol. ii. pp. 411, 412; comp. Levezow, Ob die Med. Ven. ein Bild. d. Knid. sei;
Imag. 6, vol. ii. p. 463.) The material was the Thiersch, Epochen, p. 288; Miiller, Arch. d. Kunst,
purest and most brilliant Parian marble; the form 1. c.) The truth appears to be that Cleomenes, in
was in every respect perfect; the position of the making the Venus de Medici, had the Venus of
left hand was the same as in the Venus de Me- Praxiteles in his mind, and imitated it in some
dici; the right hand held some drapery which degree; but the difference in the treatment of the
fell over a vase standipg by her; the face wore subject is sufficient to prevent the one being cona gentle smile; and the whole expression was sidered a copy of the other. Types between the
supposed by the ancients to indicate the appear- two are seen in the Aphrodite of Menophantus and
ance of the goddess when Paris adjudged to her in the Capitoline Venus; of which the latter,
the prize of beauty: while preserving the drapery and vessel of the
O'rsE rE Tlpu>rre7lr s fr7exca ar0,s OUe' c aeaypos, Cnidian statue, has almost exactly the attitude and
expression of the Venus de Medici. (See MUller,
Denkmiiler, vol. ii. pl. xxvi. n. 278.)
an opinion, which, however well it may have The supposed copies of the Coan Venus are even
accorded with the grace and beauty of the work, more doubtful than those of the Cnidian. Indeed,
cannot be regarded as the true expression of the with the exception of that in the Museo Piointention of the artist, for the drapery and vase Clementino, already mentioned, there is none which
by the side of the figure indicate that she has can with any probability be regarded as a copy of
either just left or is about to enter the bath. The it. A fine conjectural restoration of it is given in
representation of the goddess as standing before plate xxiii. to Flaxman's Lectures on Sculpture.
Paris is rather to be seen in the Venus de Medici Besides the Coan and the Cnidian, Praxiteles
and in the copy, by Menophantus, of the Aphrodite made other statues of Aphrodite, namely: one in
in the Troad. (Plato, Epig. 10, ap. Brunck, Anal. bronze which, Pliny tells us, was considered equal
vol. i. p. 1Zl, Anth. Plan. iv. 161, Jacobs, Anth. to the Cnidian, and which perished at Rome in the
Pal. App. vol. ii. p. 675; comp. Even in Anth. fire in the reign of Claudius (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 8.
Plan. iv. 166, Jacobs, 1. c., p. 676, and several s. 19. ~ 10); another, of Pentelic marble, at Thesother epigrams, which stand with these in the An- piae (Paus. ix. 27. ~ 3); another at Alexandria
thology of Planudes; Auson. Epig. 56; Athenag. on Mt. Latmus. (Steph. Byz. s. v.)
Legat. pro Christ. 14, p. 61; Jacobs, in Wieland's 2. Eros, and other divinities connected with
Attisches Aliusesum, vol. iii. pp. 24, f., 29, f.) This Aphrodite. Praxiteles made two marble statues
statue appears to have been the first instance of Eros, of the highest celebrity, the one of which
in which any artist had ventured to represent the was dedicated at Thespiae, the other at Parium on
goddess entirely divested of drapery. The artist the Propontis. Like all the early Greek artists,
modelled it from a favourite courtezan named Praxiteles represented Eros, not as a child, but as
Phryne (Ath. xiii. pp. 585, 591), of whom also he in the flower of youth. The statue at Thespiae,
made more than one portrait statue. (Paus. ix. 27. which was of Pentelic marble, with the wings gilt
~ 4. s. 5, x. 14. ~ 5. s. 7; Aelian. V. H. ix. 32; (Julian. Or. ii. p. 54, c.), was dedicated by Phryne
Tatian. Oralt. ad Graec. 53, p. 115, ed. Worth.) (Lucian, Anm. 14, 17; Pans. ix. 27. ~ 3), and an
This statue was, therefore, a new ideal of the interesting story is told of the manner in which
goddess; which was frequently imitated by suc- she became possessed of it. Praxiteles, in his
ceeding artists. It is, however, very doubtful fondness for Phryne, had promised to give her
which, or whether any, of the existing statues of whichever of his works she might choose, but he
Venus, are copies of the Cnidian Aphrodite. Its was unwilling to tell her which of them, in his own
type is preserved on coins of Cnidos, struck in ho- opinion, was the best. To discover this, she sent
nour of Plautilla, and on gems: the marble statues, a slave to tell Praxiteles that a fire had broken out
which are probably copies of it, are the following: in his house, and that most of his works had
one in the garden of the Vatican; another in the already perished. On hearing this message, the
Museo Pio-Clementino, which, however, is sup- artist rushed out, exclaiming that all his toil was
posed by Bittiger to be a copy of the Coan, on lost, if the fire had touched his Satyr or his Eros.
account of the drapery which covers part of the Upon this Phryne confessed the stratagem, and
figure, which Visconti, and most of the subse- chose the Eros. (Pans. i. 20. ~2.) When Mumquent writers, take to be a mere addition made mitts plundered Thespiae, like other Greek cities,
by the artist in copying the Cnidian statue; of the works of art, he spared this statue, and it