Getty Museum

Statue of a Mourning Woman

Date

300–275 B.C.

Medium

Terracotta with white ground and polychromy (organic pink, iron-based red pigment)

Culture

South Italian (Canosan)

Department

Sculpture

Institution

Getty Museum

The standing female figure stands with her weight on her right leg and raises her hands, clearly defined with fingernails, in a gesture of lamentation. The tilted head turns toward her right and her lean, oval face features a high forehead, furrowed eyebrows that form two wrinkles in the middle of the forehead, eyes with etched pupils and irises, an accentuated nose, and a sharp chin. The fleshy mouth is stretched in an expression of sadness. The figure wears a chiton with a vertical pink stripe on the proper right side and a himation with a fringed border worn as a shawl draped over the bust. This type of costume is also found on figures painted on Apulian vases. Incised on the lower hem of the himation on the proper left side is the letter alpha. The position and weight of the figure are similar to those of three other members of this group (85.AD.76.1, 3-4).

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