Statue of a Woman Wearing a Mantle, Variant of the ‘Piccola Ercolanese’ Type

Roman art

An iconographic variant of the so-called ‘Piccola Ercolanese’, a typology stemming from a statue found in the theatre of Herculaneum, depicting a Roman matron dressed in a long tunic and wrapped in a mantle, draped on her right arm and folding across her chest; the head is a modern integration. This typology, of which about 150 examples are known, was particularly appreciated in the Roman world, in both sepulchral and honorary art, as a perfect synthesis between classic forms and the moral values of honour, decorum and modesty expressed by the modest posture of the figure and the orderly rendition of the drapery.

Already present in the garden of Villa di Porta Pinciana, this statue was restored in 1826 and included in the new collection set up in the Casino, at first in Room VIII and later placed in Room V.

Object details

Commentary

Already present in Villa di Porta Pinciana and placed in the garden ‘along the straight avenue leading to the Casino Grande on the Piazzone’, this statue was chosen in 1826 by Evasio Gozzani to be part of the new collection set up in the Casino, impoverished by the massive sale of works to Napoleon Bonaparte (Moreno, Sforzini 1987, p. 352). First displayed in Room VIII, it was not until the mid-twentieth century that the statue found its definitive location in Room V.

The statue of the woman, identified with ‘Julia offering a sacrifice’ or with muses ‘Polymnia’ or ‘Thalia’, can be more appropriately read as an iconic statue depicting a Roman matron in a variant of the so-called ‘Piccola Ercolanese’ model, an iconographic typology used for portrait statues and very popular in both Roman sepulchral and honorary art (most recently Daehner 2007; Alexandridis 2010, 263-275 fig. 10, 4; Dillon 2010, 82-86; Trimble 2017, 335-337).

Standing on her left leg and with her right leg slightly bent and positioned forward, the matron is wearing a long tunic, of which the lower part is visible and characterised by deep folds. On top her body is covered by a mantle draped over her right arm and folded across her chest resting on her left shoulder, while her left forearm extends forward, with the hand clasping the fabric of her clothing. The head, with centrally parted hair and wavy locks held by a diadem, is modern and saw various additions during its nineteenth century restoration.

This typology, as well as the ‘Grande Ercolanese’, owe their name to the two eponymous statues found in the frons scenae of the theatre in Herculaneum (1706-1713) now displayed in the Albertinum Museum in Dresden, whose identity, chronology and prototype paternity are debated. The considerable number of replicas has favoured proposals for attribution to famous sculptors, or their circle, such as Praxiteles, Lysippus or an artist from a Peloponnesian environment. Other scholars place the ‘Piccola Ercolanese’ in the Proto-Hellenistic period or both at the beginning of the third century BCE in a Micro-Asiatic context. Other hypotheses have identified the ‘Grande’ and ‘Piccola Ercolanese’ as the divine couple of Demeter and Kore, thus explaining the differences in stature and clothing of the two types, as well as the presence of attributes such as the poppy and the ear of wheat in some replicas of the ‘Grande Ercolanese’. Recently, a ‘secular’ interpretation has been widely opposed, according to which the two types have an independent and chronologically distant artistic genesis, both having been conceived for funerary or honorary portrait statues of priestesses, high status citizens, poetesses or heroines. Unlike other portrait statues, therefore, in which the derivation from the image of divinities determined a widespread adoption of the type by empresses and private individuals, in this case it is the original derivation as an iconic celebratory statue that determined its widespread use first in the Hellenistic sphere and then in the Roman world. The perfect synthesis between the classicism of the forms and the moral values of honos, decor and pudicitia channelled by the modest posture of the figure and the orderly arrangement of the drapery, in fact, explain the widespread popularity of these types in the Roman world for iconic statues of public figures and members of the elites, the production of which was concentrated between the first century BCE and the third century CE.

The over 147 known replicas of the ‘Piccola Ercolanese’ are characterised by a consistent general outline of the figure paired with a great variety in the rendering of the drapery of the chiton, which varies in length, and in the arrangement of the folds of the himation, as well as the possible occurrence of a veiled head. In comparison with the Herculaneum statue, the Borghese sculpture differs in the inverted ponderation and the higher positioning of the right hand, which determines the folds of the mantle to fall differently towards the left arm. The tangible sense of movement and the torsion of the torso, suggested by the act of lifting the mantle with the right hand, to position it over the left shoulder, and the accurate drapery, with extensive use of the drill in the lower part of the tunic and in the lateral drape to the left of the fabric suggest the statue might date to the first half of the second century CE.

Jessica Clementi