It was one of the first life-sized representations of the nude female form in Greek history, displaying an alternative idea to male heroic nudity. Praxiteles' Aphrodite was shown nude, reaching for a bath towel while covering her pubis , which, in turn leaves her breasts exposed. Up until this point, Greek sculpture had been dominated by male nude figures.
The original Greek sculpture is no longer in existence; however, many Roman copies survive of this influential work of art. Variants of the Venus Pudica suggesting an action to cover the breasts are the Venus de' Medici and the Capitoline Venus.
The Aphrodite of Knidos was a marble carving of the goddess Aphrodite by the sculptor Praxiteles , which was bought by the people of Knidos in the middle of the 4th century BC. It depicted the goddess Aphrodite as she prepared for the ritual bath that restored her purity, discarding her drapery with one hand, while modestly shielding herself with the other. The placement of her hands obscures her pubic area, while simultaneously drawing attention to her exposed upper body.
The statue is famed for its beauty, and is designed to be appreciated from every angle. Because the various copies show different body shapes, poses and accessories, the original can only be described in general terms. It depicted a nude woman, the body twisting in a contrapposto position, with its weight on the right foot.
Most copies show Aphrodite covering her pubic area with her right hand, while the left holds drapery which, along with a vase, helps support the figure. The female nude appeared nearly three centuries after the earliest nude male counterparts in Greek sculpture, the kouros ; the female kore figures were clothed. Previously nudity was a heroic uniform assigned only to men. When making the Aphrodite of Knidos, Spivey argues that her iconography can be attributed to Praxiteles creating the statue for the intent of being viewed by male onlookers.
