Statue of Draped Woman

Over life statue of a heavily draped female-matron in a stolid pose. Her left leg is slightly bent and her foot turns outwards. The vertical fall of her chiton counteracts any sense of movement. The upper body is also fixed, the drapery has a great volume and encases her body. She wears a chiton with a kolpos which hangs below the hips and a long himation. The drapery of the himation is unusual, especially the roll at the neckline, the thick bunch of folds of the lower arms and the long ends that hang down, well below the knees. The subject is difficult to identify but the large scale of it suggests either a deity, Juno or Ceres because of the matrimonial appearance or an possilbly an Empress.

Restorations include the head and the veil above the shoulders, the left wrist, hand, the pomegranate, the right hand and the wrist. The statue is made from granulated marble. It was recorded in the Villa d'Este inventory and illustrated in a a red chalk drawing from a sketchbook associated with Dosio. In that illustration the statue was in an earlier restoration where instead of a pomegranate she pulled her drapery with her left hand while the right hand instead of extended and with the palm up, faced downwards and grasped an axe. The crown of the head was also different in the sketchbook from the current statue and this may indicate that the present head is new. The 18th century restoration may have been necessary because the original statue was displayed outdoors and was in need of restoration. The axe of the Renaissance restoration in the sketchbook may have derived from the reliefs of the Capitoline. The 18th century restorer may probably found the axe inappropriate for a deity.