Phryne in the context of "Thespiae"

Praxiteles (/prækˈsɪtɪliːz/; Greek: Πραξιτέλης) of Athens, the son of Cephisodotus the Elder, was the most renowned of the Attic sculptors of the 4th century BC. He was the first to sculpt the nude female form in a life-size statue. While no indubitably attributable sculpture by Praxiteles is extant, numerous copies of his works have survived; several authors, including Pliny the Elder, wrote of his works; and coins engraved with silhouettes of his various famous statuary types from the period still exist.

A supposed relationship between Praxiteles and his beautiful model, the Thespian courtesan Phryne, has inspired speculation and interpretation in works of art ranging from painting (Gérôme) to comic opera (Saint-Saëns) to shadow play (Donnay).

Venus Anadyomene (Greek: Ἀναδυόμενη, "Venus, Rising from the Sea") is one of the iconic representations of the goddess Venus (Aphrodite), made famous in a much-admired painting by Apelles, now lost, but described in Pliny's Natural History, with the anecdote that the great Apelles employed Campaspe, a mistress of Alexander the Great, for his model. According to Athenaeus, the idea of Aphrodite rising from the sea was inspired by the courtesan Phryne, who, during the time of the festivals of the Eleusinia and Poseidonia, often swam nude in the sea. A scallop shell, often found in Venus Anadyomenes, is a symbol of the female vulva.

The subject never entirely disappeared in Western art, and revived greatly in the Italian Renaissance, with further boosts in the Baroque and Rococo, and in late 19th-century Academic painting. At least one central female nude is practically required in the subject, which has contributed to its popularity.

Phryne Before the Areopagus (French: Phryne devant l'Areopage) is an 1861 painting by the French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme. The painting depicts the trial of Phryne, an ancient Greek hetaira (courtesan), who was charged with impiety. Phryne was said to have been acquitted after her defender Hypereides removed her robe and exposed her naked bosom, "to excite the pity of her judges by the sight of her beauty."

The painting was exhibited at the 1861 Salon. It is in the collection of the Kunsthalle Hamburg in Germany.

Phryné is an 1893 opéra comique in 2 acts by Camille Saint-Saëns to a libretto by Lucien Augé de Lassus, based on the life of ancient Greek courtesan Phryne. The role of Phryne was initiated by Sibyl Sanderson.