Diana of Gabii
Diana of Gabii | |
---|---|
Artemis of Gabii | |
Catalogue | Ma 529 |
Type | sculpture |
Medium | marble |
Dimensions | 165 cm (65 in) |
Location | Louvre, Paris |
Accession | 1807 |
The Diana of Gabii is a statue of a woman in drapery which probably represents the goddess
History
The statue was discovered in 1792 by
The statue became very popular in the 19th century; a plaster cast was placed in the Athenaeum Club, London, a marble copy was among the copies of ancient statues produced to decorate the Louvre's central court,[1] and a cast iron replica decorated a fountain in the village of Grancey-le-Château-Neuvelle in the Côte-d'Or. In addition, replicas of reduced size in terracotta or porcelain were manufactured and sold for art enthusiasts.[1]
Description
The statue represents a young woman of more than life size,[2] standing in drapery. The weight of the body rests on the right leg, supported by a tree stump; the left leg is left free. The left foot is thrown back and the heel slightly raised with the toes turned outward.
The statue is generally identified as
The head is turned slightly to the right, but the goddess is not really focussed on what she is doing. Instead she looks out into space, as is common for statues of the
Attribution
According to Pausanias, Praxiteles created the statue of Artemis of Brauron for the Athenian Acropolis.[5] Temple inventories dating from 347/6 BC mention among other things, a "dedicated statue,"[6] described as representing the goddess in a chitoniskos. It is also known that the cult practiced for Artemis Brauronia included the consecration of garments offered by girls.
Praxiteles' statue has long been connected with the Diana of Gabii: the goddess apparently in the act of putting on the gift of her followers. Furthermore the head resembles that of the
Nevertheless, the Diana of Gabii is of strikingly high quality,[11] and conforms closely to what is commonly considered to be the Praxitelian style, leading some scholars to maintain that the statue is a work of Praxiteles[12] or one of his sons.[13]
Notes
- ^ a b c d Haskell & Penny, p.218.
- ^ The statue measures 1.65 m. Martinez, p.312.
- ^ Ajootian, p.125. A minority view considers the statue a representation of Iphigenia : Franz Studniczka, Artemis und Iphigenie, Leipzig, 1926, p.77-79.
- ^ Ridgway, Hellenistic Sculpture I. The Styles of ca. 331-200 B.C., Madison, 2001, p.34.
- ^ Pausanias (I, 23, 7).
- ^ Tullia Linders, Studies in the Treasure Records of Artemis Brauronia Found in Athens, Stockholm, 1972.
- ^ Ridgway [1997], p.329.
- ^ Rolley, p.262 ; Martinez, p.314.
- ^ Argument cited by Ajootian, p.126.
- ^ George Despinis, « Neues zu einem alten Fund », Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Athenische Abteilung, no. 109 (1994), pp.173-198.
- ^ Rolley notes « a striking charm », p.262 ; Ridgway [1997] « a very successful composition », p.329.
- ^ Martinez, p.314.
- ^ Rolley, p.262.
Bibliography
- Aileen Ajootian, « Praxiteles », Personal Styles in Greek Sculpture (edited by ISBN 0-521-65738-5), pp. 124–126.
- Francis Haskell & Nicholas Penny, "Taste and the Antique. The Lure of Classical Sculpture, 1500–1900," Bibliothèque d'archéologie, 1981 (ISBN 2-01-011642-9), no 101, pp. 218–219.
- ISBN 978-2-35031-111-1), no. 73, pp. 312–314.
- ISBN 0-299-15470-X), p. 329.
- ISBN 2-7084-0506-3), p. 262.