Classical Greece

Aphrodite of Cyrene was sculpted by Praxiteles in the Classical Greek period, around 100 BCE. Praxiteles was a sculpture who dominated greek art from the fourth century, and he had great influence on artists of his day. Aphrodite of Cyrene represents the beginning of the depiction of the female human body as an object of beauty, and this sculpture was one of the first in Western art to combine the concept of sensuality with the nude female form. Sculptures of the human form during this time were influenced by the Greek concept of the canon of ideal human form or proportions, which was the belief that the perfect human body followed a special mathematical harmony, and this harmony made the human body truly beautiful. Figures of this time period were also very anatomically correct, as the Aphrodite shows. I think that this sculpture perfectly balances realism with idealism. The Aphrodite looks real, but she is also created beautifully and idealized to give a sort of real ideal.