Caryatid (female-shaped architectural support)

1st century

This graceful female figure appears to be a Roman version of a "caryatid," a Greek architectural element. Like European artists of the Renaissance, or American artists in the late 19th century, this sculpture is a Roman attempt to signal a "golden age" by reproducing the art of the past. The sensuously modeled drapery that clings to the soft body beneath belies this figure's probable use-sculpted female figures installed in buildings as load-bearing columns: women bearing the weight of the world.

Marble

23 3/4 x 8 3/8 x 6 1/2 in. (60.3 x 21.3 x 16.5 cm)

Base 5 3/8 x 9 ¾ x 7 7/8 in.

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

40.91

Provenance: [Yamanaka & Co., New York, by 1939]; purchased from gallery by Seattle Art Museum (Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection), January 1940

Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, WA, Seattle Art Museum, Classic Art of Europe, December 10, 1941 - January 4, 1942

Published ReferencesSeattle Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum: Bridging Cultures, Seattle: Seattle Art Museum and London: Scala Publishers Ltd., 2007, p. 22, illus.

Fuller, Richard E. Seattle Art Museum. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1946, p. 22

Fuller, Richard E., Accessions, Seattle Art Museum Annual Report, 1940, p. 10

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