The Crouching Aphrodite (Venus)

The so-called Lely's Venus ‘Aphrodite surprised as she bathes’, marble sculpture, Roman copy by an unknown artist from the 2nd century BC after an Hellenistic original, height 1.12 m (3 feet 8 inches), from the former collection of Sir Peter Lely; lent by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, location at Main floor, room 23, Greek & Rome, British Museum, London, United Kingdom.

The Crouching Aphrodite (Venus), marble sculpture, Roman variant of the Imperial Era after a Hellenistic type (but the goddess is raising her left hand towards her neck whereas in the prototype used she to crosses her arms on her breast), height 71 cm (27 ¾ inches), seized during the French Revolution from the collections of Louis XIV of France, currently housed at Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities, Sully, ground floor, room 17, Louvre Museum, Paris, France.

Crouching Aphrodite (Venus) at Louvre Museum, view 2

The Crouching Aphrodite (Venus), marble sculpture, Roman copy by an unknown artist of the 1st or 2nd century CE after a Hellenistic original of the 3rd century BC, derived from the Cnidian Aphrodite by Praxiteles from Sainte-Colombe, Isère, France, height 96 cm (37 ¾ in.), Gerantet Collection (purchase 1878), current location at Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities, Sully, ground floor, room 17, Louvre Museum, Paris, France.

Venus and Cupid

Venus and Cupid, by an unknown artist from Holland or Germany, who was working in Venice in 1580s or 1600s, oil on canvas painting, found in Germany after the Second World War.

'Psyché aux enfers' by Adolphe Lyre

Psyché aux enfers (1904), oil on canvas painting by French artist Adolphe La Lyre (1848-1933), located at Musée Thomas-Henry, Cherbourg-Octeville, France

According to Greek mythology, traditions and popular folklore, Psyche was the deification of the human soul, often portrayed in ancient mosaics as a goddess with butterfly wings. Literally the Greek word psyche means ‘spirit, breath, life or animating force’.

Psyche was the youngest daughter of the King and Queen of Sicily, and the most beautiful person in Sicily. She used to boast that she was more beautiful than Aphrodite (Venus) herself, and Aphrodite sent Eros to transfix her with an arrow of desire, to make her fall in love with the nearest person or thing available. But, instead of punishing her, because of her beauty, even Eros (Cupid) fell in love with her, and took her to a secret place, eventually marrying her and having her made a goddess by Zeus (Jupiter).

By the 17th century, folk tales and mythological themes became a legitimate literary genre in Europe. The poet T. K. Harvey wrote:

They wove bright fables in the days of old,
When reason borrowed fancy's painted wings;
When truth's clear river flowed o'er sands of gold,
And told in song its high and mystic things!
And such the sweet and solemn tale of her
The pilgrim heart, to whom a dream was given,
That led her through the world, Love's worshipper,
To seek on earth for him whose home was heaven!

In the full city, by the haunted fount,
Through the dim grotto's tracery of spars,
'Mid the pine temples, on the moonlit mount,
Where silence sits to listen to the stars;
In the deep glade where dwells the brooding dove,
The painted valley, and the scented air,
She heard far echoes of the voice of Love,
And found his footsteps' traces everywhere.

But nevermore they met! Since doubts and fears,
Those phantom shapes that haunt and blight the earth,
Had come 'twixt her, a child of sin and tears,
And that bright spirit of immortal birth;
Until her pining soul and weeping eyes
Had learned to seek him only in the skies;
Till wings unto the weary heart were given,
And she became Love's angel bride in heaven!

A Greek Mythological Scene by Guercino

A Mythological Scene, Chronos Admonishes Eros in the presence of Aphrodite and Mars (Cena Mitológica - Cronos Admoesta Eros na Presença de Afrodite e Ares) oil on canvas painting created between 1624 and1626, dimensions 127 cm x 173.4 cm (50.00 in x 68.27 in), presently located in São Paulo Museum of Art, São Paulo, Brazil. Though the painting was traditionally attributed to Guercino (1591-1651), now most art historians ascribe it to his workshop.

Capitoline Venus, marble copy of Venus by Praxiteles

Photo: Capitoline Venus, one of the best preserved copies of Cnidian Venus by Greek sculptor Praxiteles (4th century BC), height 1.93 m (6 ft. 3 ¾ in.), a gift of Benedict XIV in 1752, located at Palazzo Nuovo, First Floor, Cabinet of Venus, Capitoline Museums, Rome, Italy.

Aphrodite of Cnidus, marble sculpture

Photo: copy of ‘Aphrodite of Cnidus’, marble sculpture by Praxiteles of Athens who lived in the 4th century BC, restored by Italian sculptor Ippolito Buzzi (1562-1634) for Cardinal Ludovisi, Cnidus Aphrodite, currently located at National Museum of Rome, Palazzo Altemps, Rome, Italy. The sculpture is a Roman copy after a Greek original of the 4th century. Original elements in the statue are the torso and thighs and the restored elements are head, arms, legs, drapery and jug.

The Aphrodite of Cnidus, one of the most famous works of the ancient Greek sculptor Praxiteles and its copies, are sometimes referred to as the Venus Pudica (modest Venus), and its variants are the Venus de' Medici or the Capitoline Venus. It is claimed that Praxiteles used the courtesan Phryne as a model for the statue.

Mars Being Disarmed by Venus

‘Mars Being Disarmed by Venus’ is the last painting by the French painter Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825). Beginning in 1822 (age 73) during his exile in Brussels he completed it three years later before dying in an accident in 1825. He sent it to an exhibition in Paris from his exile. In 2007 it was displayed in the main hall of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels.

At over 3 m (10 ft) height, its setting is surrealistic with a temple floating in the clouds. Venus, the goddess of love, and her followers, the three Graces and Cupid, are shown taking away the weapons, helmet, shield and armour of Mars the God of War, who allows to be disarmed and gives in to Venus's charms. Also being shown in the painting are The Three Graces.