Classical Norms

The Greek and Romans gave us so many of our cultural foundations in terms of law, government, philosophy, literature, and architecture that it should not be surprising that they also established many of our norms in terms of our concepts of feminine beauty. It is easy to see the influence of classical statuary such as this Roman copy of a Greek original representation of Diana, found at Gabii in Italy. The original sculptor was Praxitilies, and the original sculpture was made in the 4^th century BCE, although this copy was not sculpted until the 1^st Century CE. The way her draperies conceal her form is very much like Parrish’s use, however, she has, overall, a softer body. Note how the fleshiness we saw in the legs of Waterhouse’s women is here also evident in Diana’s arms, so, although this figure is largely concealed (appropriate for one of the three virgin goddesses of classical mythology), we have a sense that this figure has more fat than those in Waterhouse’s paintings. Look at the face, too, and there is more evidence. Although this statue has a strong, straight nose, the chin and cheeks are very curved, perhaps even sagging slightly from the weight of fat in the neck.

A clearer idea of the classical ideals of feminine beauty might be gained from statuary focusing on a less chaste goddess: Aphrodite. In this case, the Aphrodite of Cnidus, another copy of Praxiteles. We should ignore the head and arms in this sculpture, since they are all restorations, but the torso and thighs give us plenty of information. The body is soft, with a relatively narrow waist, but wide hips. The figure has a slight paunch, and the thick thighs touch. The latter is a common source of anxiety among women, who have seen magazine of swimsuit models whose thighs are so slender that they do not touch when the woman stands.

If we consider the rear of a different copy of the Praxiteles statue, we can see that the derriere has a similar corpulence. Venus’ butt is relatively large, round, and thick.There are folds at the top of the thighs, indicating again that this woman has fat, although she has no cellulite.The back also shows a significant amount of fat, as the ribs are completely concealed, and the shoulder blades are only vaguely hinted beneath the smoothness of the skin.

Then, if we consider the most famous classical statue of all, the Venus de Milo, which maintains most of the ideals of the other statues. A corpulent body, although in this case with some abdominal definition, the soft chin, and, as we have not mentioned, the small breasts. Small breasts were common in classical statuary, contributing to the charge that modern Western society has fetishized the breast as an erogenous object. Although it is true that modern Western society idealizes larger breasts than the classical period, it is not true that breasts are not considered erotic in other cultures. Evidence of this can be seen in the Song of Songs, and I will discuss it more when we turn to non-Western representations of beauty.