Prof. Mieke Bahmer
ART 100
October 8th, 2015
Marble Statue of an Old Woman
The Marble Statue of an Old Woman is a Roman copy of a Hellenistic statue made somewhere in between fourteen to sixty eight A.D by the artist Julio-Claudian. The Marble statue of an old woman is also known as “The Old Market Woman”. It is a stone statue made from Pentelic and marble. The Marble Statue of an Old Woman is believed to represent an old but proud woman on her way to the festival of Dionysus. The festival of Dionysus was celebrated in ancient Greece in honor of Dionysus, the wine god. This work is reminiscent of Roman sculptures but has great interpretations and Hellenistic interpretations as well. When creating the Marble Statue of an Old …show more content…
Many Hellenistic sculptors had a deep interest in exploring realism and naturalism. Which is the very opposite of the classical period's idealism. This realistic approach is evident above all in Hellenistic statues of old men and women from the lowest stages of social order. Shepherds, fisherman, and drunken beggars are one of the most common. Hellenistic art is realism, individual characteristics, every day subject matter, and using the body as an expressive intensity. The Marble Statue of an Old Woman you can see all of her emotion in her facial expressions, in the way her body is bent and also in the type of clothing she I wearing. You can see the struggle she is going through. When you look at this sculpture, artist Julio-Claudian puts you in her delicate, decaying, fragile …show more content…
The dramatic emotion upon her face, the Fabian drapery that she wore all reflects on the time period and how things used to be. Her lean like body also shows the time period and how the people would dedicate their life to the gods then themselves. This is why Julio-Claudian put in the detail of the ivy crown. This is the statement that Julio-Claudian wanted to make. The Romans were all about pleasing the god that they believe in because if they did not then they believed that bad things would happen to them and to the country as well. The Romans believed that religion was the only way to live a happy life. They believed in so many different types of gods and each god has to be satisfied or else life would be bad. This sculpture of “Marble Statue of an Old Woman” does exactly that. Julio-Claudian portrays an old woman that is paying her respects to the Dionysus god. This sculpture really reflects the romans because this is a poor, weak, old woman and she is still doing what she has to do to pay her respects. Hellenistic art is all about vivid and theatrical representation with lots of naturalism and realism in its