Marble statuettes of Artemis and Niobe depicting the myth of the Niobids



Marble statuettes of Artemis and Niobe depicting the myth of the Niobids

Γ265 + Γ266
Stone (White Pentelic marble)
Mended from many fragments but almost intact. Minor restoration to Artemis' bow and daughter's shin.
Artemis: Height: 60 cm. Height of pedestal: 4.5 cm. Niobe: Height: 47.5 cm. Height of pedestal: 5 cm.
Inatos, modern village of Tsoutsouros
Roman period:
late 2nd-early 3rd c. AD:
Gallery:
XXVII
Case:
Not in case
Exhibition thematic unit:
Sculpture. Hellenistic period (3rd-2nd c. BC) Roman period (1st c. BC-3rd c. AD)
Statues of gods
Description
Two statuettes of a sculptural narrative composition from a Roman coastal villa, depicting the slaughter of the children of Niobe by Artemis and Apollo. The first statuette is of Artemis in a himation and hunting boots (endromides), preparing to shoot an arrow at the children of Niobe. Niobe is looking towards the goddess in terror and trying to protect her already wounded youngest daughter, who is collapsing in her arms (the arrow-hole is visible at the height of the left kidney). The bare flesh is carefully smoothed, while the surfaces of the garments, the footwear, the hairstyles, the tree trunk, etc. are all deliberately rougher, both for the contrast in light reflection and to assist the application of paint, mainly in tones of red, which has largely been preserved where used. These are imported works by an Attic artist. Despite their relatively poor quality, for example in the uneven proportions of Artemis, the coarse drapery and the expressionless faces, they are among the most characteristic sculptural depictions of the myth, summarising the artistic tastes and choices of Cretans of the Middle Roman period, when the multiform decline of the Empire had already begun.
Bibliography:
S. Marinatos. "Οι Νιοβίδαι της Ινάτου", Αρχαιολογική Εφημερίδα 1934-5, 1-17. Ν. Platon, Führer durch das Archaologische Museum von Herakleion, Herakleion 1958, 168. Η. Weber, "Zur Zeitbestimmung der Florentiner Niobiden", Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 75 (1960), 112–132, Abb. 4–5. I.F. Sanders, Roman Crete. An Archaeological Survey and Gazetteer of Late Hellenistic, Roman and Early Byzantine Crete, Warminster 1982, 50. Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae II, 1984, 727, no. 1359, pl. 558, s.v. Artemis (L. Kahil). Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae VI (1992) s.v. Niobiden Nr. 23a* (W. Geominy). L. M. Stirling, “Pagan statuette in late antique Corinth”, Hesperia 77 (2008), 142-3. K. Sporn, "'The Cretan Venus' Uberlegungen zur Skulpturenausstattung von romischen Privathausern auf Kreta", in P. Karanastasi et alii (eds), Γλυπτική και κοινωνία στη ρωμαϊκή Ελλάδα: καλλιτεχνικά προϊόντα, κοινωνικές προβολές, Διεθνές συνέδριο Ρέθυμνο, 26-28 Σεπτεμβρίου 2014, Thessaloniki 2018, 282-3, Abb. 14-5.
Author:
K. S.


Photographs' metadata