Draped Female Figure

Roman art

This statue depicts a forward-facing, draped young woman. She is wearing a chiton fastened under her breasts, and over this, draped on her left shoulder, a himation, or mantle, that crosses her bust diagonally. This sculpture is the representation of a Muse without any identifying features, datable to the second century CE and derived from Hellenistic archetypes of the Praxitelean school. In 1837 Luigi Canina curated the redecoration of the Palazzina Borghese after the Napoleonic acquisition; he mentioned the restoration carried out on this piece and its placement on a pillar of the balustrade to act as a pair with a second statue of a similar subject.

Object details

Commentary

An archival document cited by Petrucci in 2014 mentions the restoration of the façade of the Palazzina Borghese in 1837 after the ruinous Napoleonic acquisition. This text, redacted by the architect Luigi Canina, describes the interventions carried out on the sculptures before they were put in place and allows us to reconstruct their disposition. In particular, the balustrade, composed of small travertine columns, accomodated four rectangular bases placed at regular intervals supporting statues: two female figures flanking two men wearing togas. One of these, the statue of a young woman with drapery, ‘the first from the left’, is standing with her weight on her left leg, the right slightly bent and set back. The figure is clad in a short-sleeved densely pleated chiton fastened under her breasts and enveloped in a himation, or mantle, draped over the left shoulder, covering her shoulders and slung over her left forearm. Though they are the result of restoration, the arms are likely arranged in a position that is quite close to the original: the left arm attached to the body with the forearm extended and the right, also bent, held a little away from the body. The feet are visible, clad in sandals with thin leather straps. The body is antique, except for the arms and the head. In the second part of the document, relating to the months between April and June 1837, the interventions carried out on the four marble figures is described in great detail. In particular, precise information is given regarding the sculpture of a young woman whose right foot, hand and arm were restored and pinned; it was also prepared for the instalment of a non-original head: ‘having squared it for the head… And further being one hand and one foot broken, 4 holes for pins we made’ (Archivio Apostolico Vaticano, Archivio Borghese, b. 4188: Petrucci 2014, pp. 193–194, no. 28). Unfortunately this figure has no distinguishing features, but it likely depicted one of the Muses and was meant to be a pair with the statue of Melpomene placed at the opposite end of the balustrade.

 The arrangement of the drapery, with the mantle crossing the bust diagonally and hanging over the left forearm, is reminiscent of Hellenistic prototypes of the Praxitelean school, frequently adopted by the Romans, of which the Borghese sculpture is a Hadrianic-era copy. A comparison is possible with the statue of a Muse found in Vigna Lisca on the Aventine and preserved in the Musei Capitolini (Inv. scu 653: Arata 1994, p. 83) and with the so-called Vatican Kore, restored as Urania (Lippold 1936, no. 504, pl. 8).

In her extensive 1982 study of the antique sculptures belonging to the Borghese Collection, De Lachenal mentions two statues of Muses on the balustrade of the Palazzina, in one of which it would be plausible to recognise this sculpture (nos. 25–26).

Giulia Ciccarello