I chose to compare the statue of Eros Sleeping and the statue of the Old Market Woman, because of the similarities they hold due to the age they were both created in. Eros Sleeping is a Greek sculpture made some time between third and second century B.C.E. This bronze statue is about three feet high with its base included and approximately thirty-three inches long. This statue is an example of how artists in the Hellenistic era accurately portrayed age and real life characterization, as opposed to the fake beauty seen in the classical era. It shows a great god as a vulnerable, little plump child that sleeps. The Old Market Woman is a Roman copy of a Hellenistic statue made somewhere between fourteen to sixty eight A.D by the artist Julio-Claudian. It is a stone statue made from marble and Pentelic and stands at forty-nine and five eights inches high. The Old Market Woman is believed to represent an old but proud woman on her way to the festival of Dionysus. .
The statue of Eros Sleeping has a composition that not only appeals to the eye but also holds a narrative quality that gave me a sense of interest. The composition consists of this pump like child lying on his left side on top of a stone. The boy appears to be either sleeping or possibly defeated. His body is twisted and turned with the right arm draped over its torso. Some indications that show he is vulnerable are his spread open legs, and his thigh lines that show his baby fat, further showing that he is just a child. .
The Hellenistic era was all about showing the truer side of the subject. When looking at this statue, my immediate reaction was that this boy looked very vulnerable. This fact goes along with the Hellenistic idea of bringing the subject down to a more humane level. Eros, in fact is a god, but in this portrayal he is nothing but a defeated little child. This is shedding a new light on gods and bringing them closer down to earth and on human level.
