‘Aphrodite removing her sandal': a series of small-scale copies

Giovanni Colzani
The subject of Aphrodite removing her sandal is one of the most popular representations of the bathing goddess of post-Praxitelean tradition, repeated in hundreds of sculptures from the late Hellenistic age through the imperial period. Similarities in terms of composition and proportions seen in a group of small marble statues of this subject type are such as to make evident the recourse to mechanical methods of imitation from a common model, according to practices normally associated with statuary of a larger size. Found in various regions of the Mediterranean, although probably produced in the Aegean area between the end of the 2nd century BC and the first half of the following century, these objects are distinguished by the particular quality of the material used, the complex arrangement of the goddess's pose, and the insertion of figurative supports capable of individualizing each example. Debunking the established idea of the absence of true 'replicas' among the examples of 'Aphrodite removing her sandal', the identification of this series of copies contributes to filling out in a new and more complex way the previously known picture of the circulation of one of the most widespread motifs in small-scale ancient sculpture.

Index

Giovanni Colzani 'Aphrodite removing her sandal': a series of small-scale copies
read abstract » pp. 3-15
Gianluca Amato The 'Platonic youth' by Bertoldo di Giovanni, or the 'Portrait of Giovanni Cavalcanti', the “amico unico” of Marsilio Ficino
read abstract » pp. 16-67
Roberto Bartalini More on Niccolò di Cecco del Mercia
read abstract » pp. 68-76
Alessandra Peroni “Sì ho iurato”: a public promissio graffito by Jacopo della Quercia?
read abstract » pp. 77-83
Giacomo Alberto Calogero About a new book on Giovanni Bellini
read abstract » pp. 84-101
Marco Fagiani Il Riccio and Bartolomeo Coda at Monte Oliveto Maggiore: datings, new proposals and various considerations on the commissioner's choices
read abstract » pp. 102-110
Alessandro Brogi 'Saint Pasqual Baylón' by Giuseppe Maria Crespi: an unpublished drawing for a misunderstood engraving, another example of paternal generosity
read abstract » pp. 111-118