A Roman marble copy, about 125 to 150 CE, of a lost Greek bronze original of Diana attributed to the sculptor Leochares, about 325 BCE, held by the Musee du Louvre under accession Ma 589 (also cited MR 152). The statue shows the goddess in active pursuit, her right arm raised to draw an arrow from the quiver at her back, a deer beside her, wearing a short chiton and sandals. Pope Paul IV gave the statue to King Henri II of France in 1556, possibly alluding to his mistress Diane de Poitiers; it stood at Fontainebleau and later in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles under Louis XIV before returning to the Louvre in 1798, where it remains on display. It is one of the most widely reproduced images of Diana from antiquity.
Facts
Subject Matter
Devotional FunctionUnlike the Greek cult statues its Leochares-attributed original descended from, this Roman marble copy was made for a purely secular collecting and decorative context rather than temple worship, the standard purpose of the many marble replicas Roman patrons commissioned after famous Greek bronzes to furnish villas and gardens, a function it continued in its own later history furnishing Fontainebleau and Versailles. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Depicts
Diana, Deities The statue's sole subject, one of the best known surviving images of Diana, on display at the Musee du Louvre.
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