Seated Woman
Roman Art
Uffizi Gallery, Inv. 1914, n. 196.
I secolo AD
Greek Marble
Height: m 1.16; depth: m. 1. 14; depth of ancient part: m. 1.02
The sculpture, attested in the Gallery since 1676, is an Imperial-Age Roman copy from a 430-420- BC Attic original referable to a Phidian workshop. The body was integrated with an ancient portrait head representing a woman whose features and hair are consistent with a deity (Hygeia in particular).
The sculpture structure is that of the seated Aphrodite once located in the Acropolis in Athens, with the original head recognizable as the so-called Sappho type.
The restoration intervention would be highly needed to remove the deposits of dust and grime that make the marble surface darker in places, impairing a correct legibility.
The wax layers accumulated over the centuries have altered the perception of perspective. The chromatically inhomogeneous aspect is due to the altered color of the coats of wax applied in previous maintenance and restoration interventions (for example at the base of the neck). A thorough cleaning, as well as replacement of lost or deteriorated fillings, would restore full legibility to one of the best replicas of a celebrated Phidian work, besides supplying the scientific support (mapping of integrations, photographic campaign) necessary for a deeper study.
