Statue of Athena

Roman art

The sculpture can easily be identified as Athena-Minerva, goddess of wisdom, the arts and war, thanks to the aegis - the cloak made from the skin of the goat Amalthea, which had protected and nourished Zeus - worn transversally over a broad, long, unbelted peplos. The goddess wields a spear in her right hand, while her left hand holds a shield, supported on an anthemion (a decorative motif of palmettes and lotus flowers), around which the serpent sacred to her is coiled. The ancient head, which is chronologically contemporary with the body, is not however related. The left eye, smaller than the right, suggests that the head originally turned to the right. The iconography of the Borghese sculpture shows similarities with several works created between the 5th and 4th century BCE; based on technical and stylistic observations, the sculpture could have been created in the 2nd century BCE.

The sculpture is remembered from the mid-17th century onwards as having been in the theatre-shaped piazza in front of the main entrance to the Palazzina Borghese on Via Pinciana. Previously, the work was displayed as an ornament in the garden, the Giardino dell’Olmo della Vigna on the Quirinale, belonging to Rodolfo Pio da Carpi.

Object details

Commentary

The sculpture is remembered, from the mid-17th century onwards, among the six works adorning the theatre-shaped piazza in front of the main entrance to the Palazzina Borghese on Via Pinciana. It is not known when it became part of the family collection; previously, the work was on display as a decoration in the garden, the Giardino dell’Olmo della Vigna on the Quirinale, belonging to Rodolfo Pio da Carpi (Hülsen 1917, p. 56, no. 13). After the cardinal’s death in 1564, the works in the collection found their way into various private collections and some, such as the one we are examining here, arrived later in the Borghese collection (Moreno, Viacava 2003, p. 61). During the 19th century, the work was restored and placed inside the Casino, exhibited in the Gladiator Room (today Room VI) where Antonio Nibby described it and where it still stands today.

Although the head is not the original and the torso is missing its original arms, the sculpture can easily be identified as Athena-Minerva, goddess of wisdom, the arts and war, thanks to the aegis, the cloak made from the skin of the goat Amalthea, which had protected and nourished Zeus, edged with snake tails and worn transversally over a broad, long peplos without a belt. The goddess wields a spear in her right hand, while her left hand holds a shield.

As previously observed, the Borghese Athena shows similarities to various sculptural works created between the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. The drapery, in fact, is inspired by a type known to be on an Artemis conserved in Dresden. This in turn is derived from a sculpture probably made of bronze, dating from around the middle of the 4th century BCE and attributed by some scholars to Praxiteles (see the replica in the gallery, Room IV, inv. CXXVI). This type was very popular with Roman customers, as confirmed by the substantial tradition of making copies, with at least twenty known copies and variants. 

On the other hand, the aegis worn crosswise recalls the Lemnian Athena, traditionally recognised as the Athena commissioned from Phidias between 451 and 447 BCE by a group of Athenian citizens about to found a colony on the Aegean island of Lemnos (Reader 2011). The shield on the right resting on an anthemion, around which the snake is coiled, finally recalls the Cherchell type of Athena, an example of which is preserved in the gallery (on the type, see Room VII, inv. CCXVII).

The head, ancient and chronologically contemporary to the body but not related, is larger than the torso and was the subject of numerous additions in the 19th century, on the occasion of its exhibition in the Palazzina. The left eye, smaller in size than the right, also suggests that the head originally turned to the right. It is also not in keeping with the type of statuary with which it has been associated, if viewed from the left.

The skilful treatment of the folds of the peplos, which follow the movement of the body, highlighting an excellent play of chiaroscuro, gives the whole figure a strong expressiveness; on the basis of technical and stylistic observations, the Borghese statue can be dated to the 2nd century CE.

Jessica Clementi