Roman sculptors often adapted the forms of earlier Greek artworks for use in entirely new contexts. This statue evokes the figures of seated, draped goddesses displayed in the pediments of the Parthenon, the renowned temple on the Acropolis in Athens. Among the Romans, this statue type was widely used for sculptures of female deities such as Juno (the Greek Hera), the consort of Jupiter (the Greek Zeus), as well as for portraits of empresses and other prominent women. Here the figure’s head and arms, now missing, were made separately and attached by means of dowels, the holes for which are visible.
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
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Art Institute of Chicago, “Acquisitions,” Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report 1986–1987 (Art Institute of Chicago, 1987), p. 58.
Art Institute of Chicago, “Report of the Director,” Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report 1986–1987 (Art Institute of Chicago, 1987), p. 23, fig. 11.
Louise Berge, “‘A Lady Seated on a Rock …’ Now in the Art Institute of Chicago,” Ancient World 15, 3–4 (1987), cover, p. 50 (ill.).
Cornelius C. Vermeule III, “Roman Art,” in “Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” special issue, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 20, 1 (1994), pp. 71–72, cat. 49 (ill.).
Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Karen Manchester, Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), p. 39, no. 134.
Katharine A. Raff, “Cat. 12 Statue of a Seated Woman: Curatorial Entry,” in Roman Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2016).
Rachel C. Sabino, with contributions by Lorenzo Lazzarini, “Cat. 12 Statue of a Seated Woman: Technical Report,” in Roman Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2016).
Art Institute of Chicago, Myth and Legend in Classical Art, Gallery 101A, March 1, 1987-August 31, 1987.
Art Institute of Chicago, Sculpture from the Classical Collection, September 1, 1987–August 31, 1988.
Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Art Galleries, Gallery 156, April 20, 1994-February 6, 2012.
Art Institute of Chicago, Of Gods and Glamour: The Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, November 11, 2012-present.
Bindell Family collection, Germany, from the 19th century [according to correspondence in curatorial object file]; McAlpine Ancient Art, London, England, by 1986; sold to Art Institute of Chicago, 1986.
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