Published Catalogue Text: Stone Sculptures: The Greek, Roman and Etruscan Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums , written 1990
55
Torso of a Female Figure in Motion, probably Artemis (Amazon or Virtus)
The head, arms (left from above the elbow), right shoulder, and the lower part of the torso are missing. There is a big chip in the right part of the back, where there are remains of an iron dowel. The right arm and section of drapery were made separately and fitted to the sides (and back) with the dowel.
She wears a girt tunic with a V-neck, a brooch on the left shoulder and a baldric or belt from the right shoulder to the left side. The drapery is arranged in swirls, with diagonals at the lower back to emphasize the pose. It is a work of considerable liveliness and quality. The figure appears to have been running, or possibly bending forward as part of a group like Penthesilea in the Pergamene composition of Achilles and the dying Amazon queen, or Artemis and Iphigeneia in the group of the goddess substituting the stag on the altar. The costume makes the latter suggestion a strong possibility: this small group could show Iphigeneia with both breasts covered (Bieber, 1961, p. 77, figs. 268-271) or this figure could be the Artemis who leans forward to rescue the girl as she substitutes the hind (Poulsen, 1951, pp. 81-83, nos. 83, 83a, pl. VII; Robertson, 1975, pp. 476, 534, pl. 173c). The Greek sculptural type known as the Artemis Rospigliosi, leaning forward and in motion, could look like this small torso (Paribeni, E., 1959, pp. 71-72, under nos. 163-165, pls. 94, 95).
The torso of Penthesilea from a replica of the group in the frigidarium of the Baths of Hadrian at Aphrodisias, from its condition of preservation, can be compared with this smaller fragment. The Aphrodisian statue is Graeco-Roman replica and has the characteristic Hadrianic dryness and precision of drapery that contrasts with the looseness and freedom of the costume visible in the torso illustrated here. The unfinished running Artemis from a sculptor's atelier at Aphrodisias is closer to the Harvard torso in style as well as arrangement of drapery (Cook, Blackman, 1971, pp. 50-51, figs. 14, 15).
Cornelius Vermeule and Amy Brauer
