Sculpture; 'The Ince Diana'

A life size statue of the Roman goddess Diana or the Greek goddess of hunting, Artemis. The goddess has her quiver hung at the back of her left arm. Her right hand is bent with the fingers open and may have holded her bow. She wears the chiton and an unusual thick tunic on top of it with the thick skin of a deer, known as nebris around her waist. Diana was often depicted wearing the nebris in classical Greek pottery but the combination of chiton, tunic and nebris is unusual and unique and so is the lack of the breasts. The hair is also unusual with a knot at the crown that sweeps up and folds back over but not ending in anything. At the back the hair comes together into a large bun with a weathered surface and drillwork similar to the knot above the forehead. The head may be ancient but it was recut, the tousled hair reminiscent of the style of the classicising style of Canova. The open toe boots of her feet are sculpted in great detail and are common in statues of Bacchus or in examples of Roman Emperors. The statue was restored in the 18th century AD by Carlo Albacini (c.1735-1813), an important sculptor patronised by Grant Tourists visiting Rome in the late 18th century. The sculpture was made using 127 pieces of marble rather than only having the head being restored in the 18th centuty, as originally believed by Henry Blundell.