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Diana at the Bath Figure Group

c. 1790
Modeled by Louis-Simon Boizot (French, 1743–1809) Made by the Sèvres porcelain factory, Sèvres, France (1756–present)

Roman goddess Diana gazes down at one of her female attendants, who is handling two hunting dogs, as she leans on another woman so that the third can gently wash her feet. Diana, like her Greek counterpart Artemis, was known for swearing her eternal virginity, refusing to marry a man, and living only with other unmarried women. As goddess of the hunt, she also inhabited attributes of strength and violence that were traditionally associated with men. Questions remain about the exact nature of Diana’s intimate relationships with women in classical Greek and Roman accounts. However, her idyllic feminine society, highlighted in this small sculpture, accrued important meanings for lesbian and queer women’s cultures over time.


Object Details

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