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The Kaufmann Head

"From the Cnidian he takes only the head....He will allow the arrangement of the hair, the forehead, and the fair line of the brows to remain as Praxiteles made them; and in the eyes also, that gaze so liquid, and at the same time so clear and winsome—that too shall be retained as Praxiteles conceived it."

Lucian, Imagines (VI)

Of the many copies of the Aphrodite by Praxiteles, the Kaufmann head (150 BC)  in the Louvre is considered to be the most accurate. Discovered at Tralles in western Asia Minor late in the nineteenth century, it was purchased by the Louvre in 1951. The portrait has a gentle countenance that is characterized by the soft gaze of the eyes remarked upon by Lucian.


Reference: Art of Ancient Greece (1995) by Claude Laisne.

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