DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5309#0156
STATUE OF CUPID.
This elegant statue of Cupid was found fifteen miles from Rome, in the year 1793,
under Colonna, where Varus had a country villa. The God of Love is here repre-
sented in the act of bending his bow, in the same manner as the Cupid in the Museum
Capitolinum. The exquisite beauty of the present image inclines us to believe it an
ancient copy of the celebrated Cupid by Praxiteles, which Phryne acquired by an
ingenious stratagem, as we learn from the following passage in Pausanias. The author,
in his description of a region of Athens called Tripodes, says, " that in this place there
are large temples of the gods, brazen tripods, and works which particularly deserve to
be remembered ; for a Satyr is to be seen here, in which Praxiteles is said to have
greatly gloried. They further report, that Phryne, with whom he was in love, once
asking him which was the most beautiful of his works, he consented to give her his
productions, but would not inform her which of them appeared to him to be the most
beautiful. Phryne, therefore, ordered her servant to tell Praxiteles that his workshop
was on fire ; and that a great part of his works were destroyed, though as yet all of
them were not consumed, by the fire. Praxiteles on this information hastily left his
apartment, and declared that his affliction would be but trifling, if the flames had but
spared his Satyr and Cupid. Phryne hearing this, bid him be of good courage, for no
calamity had befallen him ; but that she had employed this stratagem, that she might
force him to confess which he thought the most beautiful of his works. And Phryne,
in consequence of this, made choice of his Cupid, in preference to his Satyr."
97
This elegant statue of Cupid was found fifteen miles from Rome, in the year 1793,
under Colonna, where Varus had a country villa. The God of Love is here repre-
sented in the act of bending his bow, in the same manner as the Cupid in the Museum
Capitolinum. The exquisite beauty of the present image inclines us to believe it an
ancient copy of the celebrated Cupid by Praxiteles, which Phryne acquired by an
ingenious stratagem, as we learn from the following passage in Pausanias. The author,
in his description of a region of Athens called Tripodes, says, " that in this place there
are large temples of the gods, brazen tripods, and works which particularly deserve to
be remembered ; for a Satyr is to be seen here, in which Praxiteles is said to have
greatly gloried. They further report, that Phryne, with whom he was in love, once
asking him which was the most beautiful of his works, he consented to give her his
productions, but would not inform her which of them appeared to him to be the most
beautiful. Phryne, therefore, ordered her servant to tell Praxiteles that his workshop
was on fire ; and that a great part of his works were destroyed, though as yet all of
them were not consumed, by the fire. Praxiteles on this information hastily left his
apartment, and declared that his affliction would be but trifling, if the flames had but
spared his Satyr and Cupid. Phryne hearing this, bid him be of good courage, for no
calamity had befallen him ; but that she had employed this stratagem, that she might
force him to confess which he thought the most beautiful of his works. And Phryne,
in consequence of this, made choice of his Cupid, in preference to his Satyr."
97