24 Works, The world's first supermodel, Phryne

Phryne at the Poseidonia in Eleusis, c. 1889

Henryk Siemiradzki

Oil on Canvas

Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

Phryne's real name was Mnēsarétē ("commemorating virtue"), but owing to her yellowish complexion she was called Phrýnē ("toad"). This was a nickname frequently given to other courtesans and prostitutes as well. The exact dates of her birth and death are unknown, but she was born about 371 BC. In that year Thebes razed Thespiae not long after the battle of Leuctra and expelled its inhabitants.

The Hémicycle

Paul Delaroche (1797–1856)

Oil and wax on wall

This painting replicates Delaroche's most famous work, a mural in oils and wax (1836-41) in the auditorium of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France's most prestigious art school. Delaroche's pupil, Charles Béranger, is thought to have begun this replica in 1841, but the master completed it following his pupil's death in 1853. It provided a basis for L.-P. Henriquel-Dupont's engraving reproducing the composition.

Central portion of "The Hémicycle"

Phryne at the Festival of Poseidon

Paul Delaroche

Oil and wax on wall

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris

Athenaeus Naucratita, a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, provides many anecdotes about Phryne. He praises her beauty, writing that on the occasion of the festivals of the Eleusinia and Poseidonia she would let down her hair and step naked into the sea. This would have inspired the painter Apelles to create his famous picture of Aphrodite Anadyomene (Rising from the Sea also portrayed at times as Venus Anadyomene). Supposedly the sculptor Praxiteles, who was also her lover, used her as the model for the statue of the Aphrodite of Knidos.

Praxiteles of Athens
The Aphrodite of Knidos

The Aphrodite of Knidos was one of the most famous works of the ancient Greek sculptor Praxiteles of Athens (4th century BC). It and its copies are often referred to as the Venus Pudica ("modest Venus") type, on account of her covering her naked pubis with her right hand. Variants of the Venus Pudica (suggesting an action to cover the breasts) are the Venus de' Medici or the Capitoline Venus.

Praxiteles produced two more statues for her, a statue of Eros which was consecrated in the temple of Thespiae 

Praxiteles Giving Phryne his Statue of Cupid

Angelica Kauffmann

Swiss, 1741-1807

Praxiteles Giving Phryne his Statue of Cupid, 1794

Oil on canvas

43.3 x 48.6 cm (17 1/16 x 19 1/8 inches)

and a statue of Phryne herself which was made of solid gold and consecrated in the temple of Delphi. 

James McNeill Whistler (11 July 1834 - 17 July 1903)

Purple and Gold: Phryne the Superb! - Builder of Temples

Oil

Date: 1898.01

236 x 137 mm (9 1/4" x 5 3/8")

Athenaeus alleges she was so rich that she offered to fund the rebuilding of the walls of Thebes, which had been destroyed by Alexander the Great in 336 BC, on the condition that the words "Destroyed by Alexander, restored by Phryne the courtesan" be inscribed upon them.

The best known event in Phryne's life is her trial. Athenaeus writes that she was prosecuted for a capital charge of impiety, and defended by the orator Hypereides, who was one of her lovers. When it seemed as if the verdict would be unfavourable, Hypereides removed Phryne's robe and bared her breasts before the judges to arouse their pity. 

Phryne revealed before the Areopagus (1861)

Jean-Léon Gérôme

Oil on canvas

80 × 128 cm (31.5 × 50.4 in)

Kunsthalle Hamburg

Her beauty instilled the judges with a superstitious fear, who could not bring themselves to condemn "a prophetess and priestess of Aphrodite" to death. They decided to acquit her out of pity.

Phryne, c. 1904

Jose Frappa

Oil on canvas

Musée d'Orsay

Due to her beauty, she also inspired much later works:

Franz von Stuck, 1863-1928

Phryne, c.1917/18 

Greek hetaera, 4th C BC., accused of atheism; narrator Hypereides achieves her acquittal by unveiling her body. Oil on paperboard

51 x 32,5cm

Angelica Kauffman, (1741–1807)
Phrine seduces Xenocrates, 1794

Oil on canvas

Salvator Rosa, (1615 - 1673)
Phryne Tempting Xenocrate

The famous Greek courtesan Phryne (4thC BC fl.) reclining invitingly to left against a cushion, pointing and looking towards the philosopher Xenocrates (396 BC - 314 BC), who draws back. Phryne tested the legendary self-control of Xenocrates, one of Plato's successors and scholarch/rector of the Academy 339-314 BC. 

Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775–1851

Phryne Going to the Public Baths as Venus, c. 1838

Oil paint on canvas

1930 x 1651 mm

Tate

William Shackleton
Phryne at Eleusis, c. 1907

Oil on canvas

100.5 x 140.5 cm

Albert Wein
Phryne Before the Judges, c. 1948

Bronze

27″x15″

ANTONIO PARREIRAS, (Brazilian, 1860- 1937)
PHRYNE, c. 1909

Oil on canvas

48 1/2 in. x 72 1/2 in.

This painting was exhibited at the Salon Societe-Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1910

James Pradier, (1790-1852)
Phryné remettant ses voiles

Sand cast bronze, 1845.

H. 39.8 cm (15 ½ in.)

Louvre Museum

Joseph Mallord William Turner, (1775–1851)
Study for a Composition: Phryne c.1804–10

Pen and ink on paper

138 x 300 mm

Tate

Joseph Mallord William Turner, (1775–1851)
Study for a Composition: Phryne c.1802–10

Pen and ink on paper

140 x 302 mm

Tate

Percival Ball, (17 Feb 1845 - 04 Apr 1900)
Phryne before Praxiteles, 1900

on the facade of the Art Gallery of New South Wales

Bronze relief

Singer and Sons, Foundry

2620.0 x 3440.0 cm

Percival Ball, (17 Feb 1845 - 04 Apr 1900)

Phryne before Praxiteles, 1900

Detail, see above

Louis Lagrenée
Courtesan Phryne before their judges

Watercolor and pen and brown ink over white heightening on paper

H 17.2; B 19.3 cm

English School
Phryne

Bridgeman Art Library

pastel, pencil with pen and ink on paper

Jean-Baptiste Deshays (French, Colleville 1729–1765 Paris)
Phryne Before the Areopagus, mid-18th century

Pen and brown ink, brown wash, heightened with white, over black chalk

18 11/16 x 23 11/16 in. (47.5 x 60.2)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Patric Richmond Nicholas
Phryne Before the Areopagus

Acknowledgment: Wikipedia