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Essay on The Getty Villa

Satisfactory Essays

Brittany LeBlanc
Professor Holliday
Art History 111A
15 November 2010
Gravestone of a Woman with Her Attendant The Gravestone of a Woman with her attendant is a sculpture created by an unknown artist and is now on display at the Getty Villa in Malibu, California. The sculpture is of a woman seated in a cushioned armchair, reaching out to lightly touch the top of a box or chest held by her attendant. We can tell from the sculpture that the women is of a higher class because of how her hair is done, the significant amount of jewelry, and the decorated throne that she lounges in. This sculpture is an extremely detailed Grecian gravestone made from a thick slab of colorless marble around 100 B.C. The woman wears a robe that is very …show more content…

With the sculpture straight ahead, the audience sees a profile view of the scene; however, the artist created the sculpture with enough space and depth to be able to view the front of the woman’s face from a side angle. The artist created the seated woman with much detail; her nose, chin, slightly opened mouth, pronounced brow line and inset eyes show this. She reaches for the chest with her right arm in a very delicate manner as her left arm lays on the throne for support. The woman’s female servant is standing in front, below her, holding an opened box or a chest. The box the servant holds is not defined, but we can assume that is some sort of a chest holding valuables to the seated woman, presumably something the woman would be buried with. The attendant is significantly smaller than the seated woman, which can suggest that the servant is of much less importance or is younger than the high-class woman. The servant wears a robe somewhat alike to the seated woman, but with less detail and decoration. The robe the attendant wears seems like there is less fabric draping her body below the midriff and there is also no fabric wrapped around her forearm like the woman on the thrown. Another difference between the two women is the missing shoes on the servant, which also symbolizes less importance. We can see this from her exposed he poking out from underneath the draping robe. The servant’s hair is also messy and not held back like the woman

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