Olympian

GodsFrom the Dresden Sculpture Collection

Exhibition and Catalog Kordelia Knoll and Saskia Wetzig with Michael Philipp

With contributions by Björn Christian EwaldKordelia KnollSaskia Wetzig

Barberini StudiesEdited by Stephan Koja, Michael Philipp and Ortrud Westheider

PRESTEL Munich ∙ London ∙ New York

Museum Barberini in cooperation with theStaatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Foreword Ortrud Westheider and Stephan Koja

Embodying the Divine:Images of the Gods in Classical GreeceBjörn Christian Ewald

Catalog of ExhibitsKordelia Knoll and Saskia Wetzig

The Muses, Sweet-Voiced Daughters of ZeusZeus, King of the GodsHera, Queen of the GodsAthena, Owl-Eyed Guardian of the CityApollo, a Joy for MortalsArtemis, the One Who Rains ArrowsPoseidon, Blue-Haired Earth ShakerAphrodite, Lover of SmilesDemeter, the Nurturer and NourisherHestia, Goddess of Hearth and HomeHephaestus, the Crook-Footed GodAres, the Sacker of CitiesDionysus, Bringer of Joy, Deliverer From CareHermes, Guide and Giver of Good Fortune

Further Works

The Dresden Antiquities CollectionKordelia Knoll

Selected Bibliography

Authors

Colophon and Image Credits

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Contents

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The finely wrought statues of ancientGreece were a reminder of the presenceof the gods. They symbolized power andan idealized beauty. When sculptorscopied Greek models in the Romanimperial period, their sculptures exudedan aura of learnedness and erudition.The grace and dignity of these worksmay still be felt today. The StaatlicheKunstsammlungen Dresden hold one ofthe most important collections of ancientsculptures in Germany.From this extensive collection, theMuseum Barberini has selected sculp-tures that represent the most importantGreek gods of the Mount Olympus,including statues so well knownthat––like the Dresden Zeus––they areknown by their current location. Theseoutstanding works show how Greek stat-uary developed over the centuries,depict tales from ancient mythology, anddemonstrate the ways in which the godswere represented. The exhibitionOlympian Gods: From the Dresden Sculp-ture Collection showcases these statuesand explores the myths that surroundthem, with the aim of bringing their stories alive for visitors today.Augustus II the Strong––elector of Saxony, king of Poland and grand dukeof Lithuania––founded the DresdenSkulpturensammlung (sculpture collec-tion), which assembled gods, heroes,and paragons of virtue at his court. He received the bust of Ares (cat. 12)and the herm of Hermes (cat. 45) as giftsfrom the king of Prussia, FrederickWilliam I. After nearly 300 years theseworks have now found their way back toPotsdam. On their return to Dresden,they will be placed in their permanenthome in the refurbished Semperbau.

Conceived in partnership with theStaatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden,the exhibition continues a collaborationwhich began with generous loans for theexhibition Behind the Mask: Artists in theGDR and continued with GerhardRichter: Abstraction, a show cocuratedby the Gerhard Richter Archive and theMuseum Barberini.Together with Marion Ackermann, direc-tor of the Staatliche KunstsammlungenDresden, we would like to thank KordeliaKnoll and Saskia Wetzig for conceivingthis project. Michael Philipp, the coeditorof this catalog, has developed the exhibi-tion for the Museum Barberini. Weextend our thanks to Kordelia Knoll, whohas been head of antiquities at thesculpture collection for many years, andto her colleague Saskia Wetzig for theircatalog contributions, as well as to BjörnChristian Ewald for his introductoryessay in the catalog, which is the secondvolume in our Barberini Studies series.

ForewordOrtrud Westheider, Director of the Museum Barberini, Potsdam

Stephan Koja, Director of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister and the Skulpturensammlung (until 1800) of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

Let us begin our singingfrom the Helikonian Museswho possess the great and holy mountainof Helikonand dance there on soft feetby the dark blue waterof the spring, and by the altarof the powerful son of Kronos; [...]and walk in the night, singingin sweet voices, and celebratingZeus, the holder of the aegis, and Hera,his ladyof Argos, who treads on golden sandals,and singing alsoAthene the gray-eyed, daughter of Zeusof the aegis,Phoibos Apollo, and Artemisof the showering arrows,Poseidon who encircles the earth in his armsand shakes it,stately Themis, and Aphroditeof the fluttering eyelids, [...]and all the holy rest of the everlastingimmortals.

Hesiod, Theogony 1–21

Catalog of Exhibits

44

If what one loves is beautiful, does itbecome ugly if that love turns into hate?For the ancient Greeks, the two cate-gories of beauty and love were embodiedby the goddess Aphrodite, who wascalled Venus by the Romans. Few otherancient divinities are still as familiar to us today as the goddess of love, fertility,and beauty. Her name is often used for beauty and wellness products; in theHomeric Hymns she is called “smile-loving Aphrodite.”1

Aphrodite is sometimes said to be thedaughter of Zeus and Dione, but accord-ing to the better-known myth of her birth she was created from the sea foamthat gathered around Uranus’s severedgenitals after they had fallen into thesea; the Greek aphros means “foam.”After emerging from the roaring wavescompletely naked (cat. 36), Aphroditeeventually reached the island of Cyprus. The chaste, radiant Aphrodite with a“finely crafted crown / of lovely gold”2

on her head became a much-admiredepitome of beauty: the woman of every-one’s dreams. Surprisingly perhaps, shewas married to Hephaestus, the ugly god of blacksmiths, to whom she wasnot always faithful. She was said to havehad numerous affairs with mortals andgods, which produced a number of children, including Harmonia from herliaison with Ares; Hermaphroditus fromher relationship with the messenger ofthe gods, Hermes; and Aeneas, the legendary founding father of Rome, whowas the son of Anchises.

For better or for worse, most gods andhumans, with very few exceptions, wereunder her spell. Even the great Zeus succumbed to her charms. It wasAphrodite who created the power of love and the wish to be loved, thus deter-mining the actions of all those who were happily or unhappily in love, thelovers and the haters. She was supportedby Eros, the god of love, by Anteros(requited love), Pothos (sexual longing),Himeros (uncontrollable desire), andfinally Peitho (persuasion).But even Aphrodite was not immune toheartbreak. After a boar had killed herbeautiful lover Adonis, she was so grief-stricken that she made red flowers growfrom his blood as a sign of her torment.Some traditions name these anemones,but other flowers, such as the pheasant’seye (Adonis annua in Latin), have alsobeen associated with this myth. By bring-ing love into the world, the goddess alsobrought suffering and pain. The Trojanwar was the result of a beauty contest inwhich Aphrodite emerged victorious overHera and Athena. The bribe she paid to the adjudicator, Paris––the abductionof the beautiful but already marriedHelen––is also testimony to the sacrificesthat Aphrodite’s merits required.From the seventh century BCE onwards,there have been representations of the goddess of love in all genres of art.Around 340 BCE, the Attic sculptorPraxiteles created a sculpture thatshowed her completely naked, theAphrodite of Knidos. Since then artistshave represented this most beautiful ofall goddesses in many different shapesand poses, depicting the female nude as seductive, coquettish, vivacious, shy,or virtuous (cat. 37, 38). The Dresdenstatue also emphasizes Aphrodite’s

physical charms––even though, or perhaps precisely because, the nakedgoddess tries to cover her breast and pudendum and shyly averts hergaze.Love, beauty, seduction, and desire, but also deception, rivalry, andrevenge––everything was embodied inthe figure of Aphrodite. Yet she wasabove all the goddess of sensual, sexual love and consequently of procreation––something which is indis-pensable to the continued existence of the human species.SW

1 Homeric Hymns 5.16.2 Homeric Hymns 6.7–8. and 6.19.

8 Statue of Aphrodite, Capitoline TypeSecond half of the second century CECoarse-grained pale yellow marble, height 187 cmAcquired in 1728 from the collection of Flavio Chigi, RomeInv. no. Hm 308Lit.: Dresden Bildwerke II, cat. 33

Aphrodite, Lover of Smiles

Further Works

UNVERKÄUFLICHE LESEPROBE

Stephan Koja, Ortrud Westheider, Michael Philipp

Olympian GodsFrom the Dresden Sculpture Collection

Gebundenes Buch, Pappband, 96 Seiten, 24,0 x 30,0 cm50 farbige AbbildungenISBN: 978-3-7913-5828-4

Prestel

Erscheinungstermin: November 2018

Featuring ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, this book explores the history and legacy ofancient statues of Olympian gods. For people in ancient Greece, ornately and imposingly fashioned statues depicting the godssymbolized power or ideal beauty. During the Roman Empire, when sculptors copied Greekmodels, the sculptures conveyed an aura of education and scholarship. This volume showcasesantique sculptures that represent the most important Greek Olympian gods. Culled from thecollection of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, one of the most important collections ofantiquities, this book features objects ranging from the 6th century B.C.E. to the 4th century C.E.The sculptures express the Greek ideal of beauty and the remarkable creative powers of theseartists as well as the evolving ways gods were portrayed—from solemn and religiously formal tonatural and graceful figures. With contributions by BJÖRN C. EWALD, KORDELIA KNOLL, and SASKIA WETZIG