Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi eu nulla vehicula, sagittis tortor id, fermentum nunc. Donec gravida mi a condimentum rutrum. Praesent aliquet pellentesque nisi.
Figure of Artemis, with short tunic and winds wept mantle, the Greek goddess of the hunt and wild animals.
CULTURE: Myrina (Hellenistic)
PERIOD: 200 BCE – 100 BCE
MATERIAL: terracotta
DIMENSIONS: 25 x 13 x 8.3 cm
COLLECTION: Freud, Sigmund
The goddess Artemis, huntress and patroness of wild creatures, is recognizable by her hunting dress of short tunic, mantle, and boots with turned down flaps. She is shown in rapid movement to the right, her right arm flung out ahead, while her left, wrapped in the mantle, hangs at her side.
This clay figure is red and coarsely modelled. It was once decorated with white slip, which only remains in small patches now. Rose-madder was used on the mantle, which gives the figure its distinctive pink-hued colour in places. This Artemis was made in two moulds, front and back, with the join visible along the sides. The back has not been neglected, it is fully moulded with a large vent, or hole, allowing it to be supported upright.
Images of androgynous, childless women intrigued Freud. Artemis, like the Athena figure in Freud’s collection, is chaste and masculinized. Both are virgin goddesses of aggression: Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, armed with arrows; Athena is goddess of war (as well as a goddess of wisdom) and holds a spear.
Freud’s Artemis has lost her arms, much like his Athena figure had lost her spear. Freud linked his theories of castration and phallic envy to Athena’s ‘missing’ spear, though this is not applicable to the original legend of Artemis and her band of women hunters.