Object details
Object number
S5c2
Creator(s)
Roman
Title
A Goddess (Peplophoros)
Date
early 1st century
Medium
Greek marble (probably from the islands)
Dimensions
148 cm (58 1/4 in.)
Additional Dimensions
H. (less plinth) 58 1/4"
Plinth: H. 3 3/8", W. 30 3/4", D. 19"
Provenance
Discovered on the site of the ancient Gardens of Sallust, near Via Sallustina, on the property of the Sisters of San Giuseppe, Rome.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner 20 May 1901 through the art historian and archaeologist Richard Norton (1872-1918) who commissioned his agent Count Pio Resse to acquire the statue from the Sisters for 68,000 lire.
Not delivered until 1937, thirteen years after Gardner's death, due to issues with its export (see Sidney N. Deane's publication of 1938).
Exhibited 1915-November 1936 at the American Academy in Rome.
Delivered to the Museum on 12 January 1937, and installed in its current position in the Court on 3 Febuary 1937, in accordance to Gardner's wishes.
Commentary
This elegant, life-sized marble sculpture is draped in an ancient Greek garment known as a peplos—a woolen shift secured at the shoulders and folded over a belt at the waist. This type of dress evokes the style of Severe and Classical sculptures in Athens during the 5th century BCE; however, the statue itself dates to the early Roman Imperial Period. A trend of “classicizing,” or adopting ideals and styles from the Greeks, had emerged during that time.
The sculpture was discovered in March 1901 on the site of the famous Gardens of Sallust. Isabella purchased it through her friend, American art historian and archaeologist, Richard Norton that same year. In 1937, it finally arrived in Boston after an extended loan period at the American Academy in Rome, making it the last object to enter into the Permanent Collection—thirteen years after Isabella’s death.
Bibliography
Lucio Mariani. "Di un'altra statua muliebre vestita di peplo." Bulletino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma (1901), pp. 71-81, no. 6. (Roman, 1st century copy of a Greek bronze, Peloponnesian school, about 440-435 BCE)
S. Reinach. Répertoire de la statuaire grecque at romaine, III (Paris, 1904), p. 185, no. 10.
Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, I (1915-1916), ill. title page.
William Crowninshield Endicott. "Report of the President." Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: Annual Report (1935), pp. 17-18.
F.L. Higginson. "Report of the President." Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: Annual Report (1937), p. 24.
Sidney N. Deane. "A Statue in the Gardner Museum." AJA (1938), 288,-90, no. 1. (Roman, copy of a Greek statue, probably a bronze of the late Transitional period, about 455-435 BCE)
C. Picard. Manuel d'archéologie grecque, La sculpture, II (Paris, 1939), p. 158, no. 2.
Morris Carter. "Mrs. Gardner & The Treasures of Fenway Court" in Alfred M. Frankfurter (ed.). The Gardner Collection (New York, 1946), p. 58. (as 1st century [AD?])
G. Lippold. Handbuch der Archäologie, III (Munich, 1950), p. 133.
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935; Reprint, Boston, 1964), p. 44. (1st century AD copy of a Greek bronze of about 460-450 BCE; woman in doric dress)
George L. Stout. Treasures from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1969), p. 62, ill. 63. (Roman, 1st century AD copy of a Greek bronze of 460-450 BCE; figure may be a dancer)
Trillmich, Walter: "Bemerkungen zur Erforschung der Römischen Idealplastik." Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts (1973), pp. 257-64, nos. 13-15, 21. (Roman, Candian type)
Cornelius C. Vermeule III et al. Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1977), pp. 6-7, no. 10. (Graeco-Roman, copy of a Greek bronze of the late Transitional period, about 455-450 BCE; perhaps a goddess or Persephone)
Cornelius C. Vermeule III. "Classical Art" in James Thomas Herbert Baily (ed.). The Connoisseur: An Illustrated Magazine for Collectors 128 "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum" (London, 1978), p. 44, no. A. (Roman, "time of Julius Caesar," after a Greek original in the Severe style, about 455 BCE)
Rollin van N. Hadley. Museums Discovered: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1981), p. 124, ill. 125. (Roman, 1st century AD copy of a Greek bronze of about 455-45- BCE; youthful goddess or woman)
Brunhilde Sismodo Ridgway. "The Fashion of the Elgin Kore." The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal (1984), p. 48, n79.
Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), p. 7, ill. 6. (Roman, early 1st century after a Greek bronze of about 455 BCE, so-called "Severe Style"; youthful goddess such as Persephone)
Gallery
Courtyard
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