This work was a gift from Pope Paul IV to the French king Henri II, and one of the first ancient statues to arrive in France. The goddess - Diana to the Romans, Artemis to the Greeks -was Apollo's twin sister. The goddess of chastity, and a tireless hunter whose arrows could punish the misdeeds of men, she is depicted here accompanied by a deer. The statue is based on a fourth-century BC Greek bronze attributed to Leochares.

Artemis, the Greek goddess of hunting and twin sister to Apollo, is shown here in action, with her tunic (the chiton) tucked up to her knees to make it easier to pursue her quarry. A cape (the himation) passing over her left shoulder, clings closely to her form. The rhythmic, Classical yet naturalistic draperies, and the goddess's rather aloof majesty, allow us to date the original statue - now lost - to the second Classical period of the fourth century BC.

It is tempting to date the Greek model for the statue more precisely, by attributing it to the great fourth-century BC master Leochares, a celebrated Athenian sculptor, whose work is known to us only through ancient literary and epigraphic sources. This hypothesis is based on the striking similarities between the Diana of Versailles and the famous Apollo Belvedere in the Vatican.

History of Ancient Greece

Diana of Versailles at the Louvre

---

Back to Civilization Evolves