29-34. Ovid's description of the works of Apelles, Phidias, Calamis, and Myron was influenced by Propertius' catalogue of artists at III ix 9-16; in particular, he imitates 10-12 'exactis Calamis se mihi iactat equis; / in Veneris tabula summam sibi poscit Apelles; / Parrhasius parua uindicat arte locum', and 15 'Phidiacus signo se Iuppiter ornat eburno'. Professor E. Fantham points out to me the inclusion of Apelles, Calamis, and Myron as canonical figures in a catalogue of artists at Cic Brut 70 and of all four in a similar catalogue at Quint XII x 6-9.
29. VENVS. Ovid is speaking of the famous Aphrodite Anadyomene painted by Apelles (fourth century BC) in Cos; hence the epithet Coi later in the line—Apelles was in fact from Colophon. Ovid had probably seen the picture in Rome, for Augustus brought it there from Cos (Strabo XIV 2 19; Pliny NH XXXV 91).
Ovid refers to the painting at Am I xiv 33-34 and Tr II 527-28. At AA III 223-24 (quoted in the next note) Ovid seems to be describing a cut gem copied from the painting.
30. AEQVOREO MADIDAS QVAE PREMIT IMBRE COMAS. Imbre depends on madidas. Premit is equivalent to exprimit, as is shown by AA III 224 'nuda Venus madidas exprimit imbre comas'. For exprimere taking as object that out of which something is pressed or squeezed see Celsus IV 24 and Pliny NH XXIX 31.
The Romans would not have found aequoreo ... imbre strange. Although the primary transferred sense of imber would be rain-water, it is used of sea-water as early as Ennius Ann 497-98 Vahlen 'ratibusque fremebat / imber Neptuni', and without defining qualifier at Aen I 123.
31. ACTAEAE = the metrically difficult Atheniensis. The word is generally confined to high poetry (Ecl II 24, Met II 554 & 720, VI 711, VII 681 & VIII 170), but its first occurrence is in prose, at Nepos Thras 2 1 'hoc initium fuit salutis Actaeorum'; some manuscripts read Atticorum, which may be right.
31. VEL EBVRNA VEL AEREA CVSTOS. There were at Athens two famous statues of Athena sculpted by Phidias: 'Phidias ... fecit ex ebore auroque [Mayhoff: aeque codd] Mineruam Athenis quae est in Parthenone stans, ex aere uero ... Mineruam tam eximiae pulchritudinis ut formae cognomen acceperit ['was named the Minerva Formosa']' (Pliny NH XXXIV 54); the second, less famous statue is described at Pausanias I 28 2.
Heinsius' note is something of an oddity. He begins by reading AVREA for the AENEA of most manuscripts, taking uel eburna uel aurea custos to refer to the chryselephantine statue in the Parthenon, 'sed altius consideranti locum apparet de duplici statua Mineruae agi, altera eburnea, altera aenea'. Aenea therefore continued to be the accepted reading until 1873, when Haupt (Opuscula 584) pointed out that it was unmetrical, and restored aerea, found in some manuscripts.
The inverse error occurs at Her VI 32, where most manuscripts have the unmetrical aeripedes for aenipedes. But Merkel, followed by Palmer, considered 31-38 an interpolation; and aeripedes may have been what the interpolator wrote.
32. PHIDIACA ... MANV. Ovid is recalling Prop III ix 15 'Phidiacus ... Iuppiter'. For the Latin poets' use of a personal adjective for the genitive of the noun, see Austin's interesting note on Aen II 543 Hectoreum.