Phryne Before the Areopagus

Common card · No. 231218

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.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Jean-Léon Gérôme, Public domain