This white marble, classical sculpture of a standing Roman goddess is positioned on a marble pedestal in the center of the east side of the Courtyard. She is in a relaxed contrapposto position with her weight on her left hip and leg. A segment of tree trunk supports her straight left leg while her right knee is slightly forward and bent, allowing her non-weight bearing right foot to rest at an angle to her forward pointed left foot. She is wearing sandals that expose her toes and tie half way up her calves. The thin fabric of her dress is loosely gathered below her bust and ends just above her knees, about where the supporting tree trunk starts. A heavily folded cloak is pinned at her right shoulder and falls around her neck and down her back into a point at her left heel. Her head is tilted down and to her left so that she appears to be looking at the ground. Her hair is parted in the center and braided into a cap that frames her face, partially covers her ears, and leads to a tight bun at the back of her exposed neck. Both arms are missing above the elbow.
Roman
Artemis or Amazon,
late 1st century
Pentelic marble
,
134 cm (52 3/4 in.)
Object details
Accession number
S5c6
Primary Creator
Roman
Full title
Artemis or Amazon
Creation Date
late 1st century
Provenance
Said to have been found at Tusculum.
Published by the German archaeologist and antiquarian Paul Arndt (1865-1937) when it was on the art market in Rome in 1895.
Entered Isabella Stewart Gardner's collection before about 1900.
Dimensions
134 cm (52 3/4 in.)
Display Media
Pentelic marble
Web Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.
Permanent Gallery Location
Courtyard
Bibliography
Paul Arndt et al. Photographische Einzelaufnahmen antiker Sculpturen nach Auswahl und mit Text (Munich, 1893-1947), nos. 172-74, 1793. (body, third quarter of the 5th century BCE; head, about 375 BCE "closer to the time of Praxiteles")Hans Dragendorff. De vasculis Romanorum rubris capita selecta. PhD Diss. (Bonn: Universität Bonn, 1894), p. 36, no. 7. (as derrived from the Venus Genetrix type that is attributed to Alcamenes or a follower)Catalogue. Fenway Court. (Boston, 1903), p. 4. (as "Statue of an Amazon")S. Reinach. Répertoire de la statuaire grecque et romaine II (Paris, 1931), p. 325. (stylistically associated with the Hope Dionysos, now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; after a copy of a Greek original by Kephisodotos, about 435 BCE)Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 44. (Graeco-Roman, after an original of the late 5th century BCE)Rollin Hadley. “Notes, Records, Comments.” Gardner Museum Calendar of Events 9, no. 34 (24 Apr. 1966), p. 2. Cornelius C. Vermeule III et al. Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1977), pp. 8-9, no. 11. (Graeco-Roman, after an original of the 5th of first quarter or the 4th century BCE, perhaps by Kephisodotos; right foot and lower-left leg, likely from a different ancient statue, Roman)
Rights and reproductions
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Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.