Ancient Art: Grave Stele of a Little Girl

Grave stele of a little girl, ca. 450-440 B.C. This Greek sculpture carved with parian marble was found on the island of Paros in 1775 and consists of a young girl wearing a woolen garment with her head bowed giving her farewell to two pet doves. The young girl’s facial expression is strong, yet somber while she holds one dove close to her serene face, while the other dove rests on the young girl’s left hand (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000). This sculpture would have been established in Greek cemeteries in memory of the deceased and symbolizes a young girl’s love for her pets and expresses emotion. The surface of the marble used to carve this sculpture is smooth and has a visual quality that is a representational illusion (Sayre, 2007). This particular work of art fits into the context of the time period primarily because the sculpture was carved at a time when decorated gravestones did not appear in Athens and parian marble was highly prized in antiquity (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000). This Grave monument of a young girl depicts her as she would have been in life, which during the 5th century; the deceased were able to be identified by more than their gender and occupation, but also by their age.

Bronze statue of Eros sleeping
Greek or Roman, Hellenistic or Augustan period, 3rd century B.C. – early 1st century A.D. This bronze statue is one of the few bronze statues to have survived from antiquity (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000) and consists of a sleeping child (Eros, god of love) lying on what seems to be a large stone. The young child appears to be exhausted while his facial expression represents innocence. This statue is a lifelike depiction of a relaxed sleeping baby lying nude on his left side with his right arm hanging over. The sleeping baby also has visible wings behind him with pudgy legs and tousled hair. Similar to the Grave stele of a little girl statue, the surface of this bronze statue is also smooth and has a visual