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 loose and drapes her body from the midriff down. The robe she wears leaves her shoulders uncovered and tightens around her breasts and chest. The artist creates detail of the loose robe by showing how the fabric dangles from her left forearm, her waist, and around her feet. Her feet are exposed and protected by the sandals that she wears. The audience knows the woman sitting in the throne is of high status because of the amount of jewelry she wears. The woman wears snake bracelets and armlets, presumably made of gold, on both arms. She wears one on each of the lower and upper arms, which adds significance of her power and wealth. The artist leaves just enough amount of her upper left arm uncovered by the robe to expose the snake armlet. Her high status is also shown in her thickness of her body. She is fleshy rather than a skinny female which we can assume that she is wealthy and can afford food. The woman also sits on a cushioned throne that is decorated with an eagle as arm support and the leg of the chair with lion’s paws. The throne is lifted onto a slab that represents her significance to anyone who is below her. How the woman is seated shows that she is very poised and graceful. The seated woman has her torso twisted in