Cast of Eros and right leg of Aphrodite from East frieze (figure 42 of Slab VI)

From: Parthenon, Athens

RA Collection: Art

The cast is of the boy Eros (figure 42) from slab VI of the east frieze of the Parthenon. Watching the procession, he stands against the knees of his seated mother, Aphrodite. This portion of the original slab is now missing. It was lost between 1787 and 1800. The Royal Academy cast reproduces the figure as known from a mould made in the 1780s by the French vice-consul and antiquarian Louis-Francois-Sebastien Fauvel.

The Royal Academy acquired primarily casts of the north frieze in the early 19th century. This cast was, in fact displayed facing a series of consecutive casts of north slabs.