The Female Portrait Statue in the Greek World

The first detailed analysis of the female portrait statue in the Greek world from the fourth century BCE to the third century CE.

Sheila Dillon (Author)

9780521764506, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 February 2010

260 pages, 78 b/w illus.
26 x 18.5 x 1.8 cm, 0.74 kg

'… all in all, this book is intriguing, easy to read, and provides a lot of information, as well as stimulat[ing] scholarly interest in further research.' Histara - Les comptes rendus

In this book, Sheila Dillon offers the first detailed analysis of the female portrait statue in the Greek world from the fourth century BCE to the third century CE. A major component of Greek sculptural production, particularly in the Hellenistic period, female portrait statues are mostly missing from our histories of Greek portraiture. Whereas male portraits tend to stress their subject's distinctiveness through physiognomic individuality, portraits of women are more idealized and visually homogeneous. In defining their subjects according to normative ideals of beauty rather than notions of corporeal individuality, Dillon argues that Greek portraits of women work differently than those of men and must be approached with different expectations. She examines the historical phenomenon of the commemoration of women in portrait statues and explores what these statues can tell us about Greek attitudes toward the public display of the female body.

Introduction: finding the female portrait in Greek art
1. Portrait honors for women in late Classical and Hellenistic Greece
2. Clothes and the woman: statue formats and portrait costumes
3. The female portrait face
4. The 'non-portrait' style of female portraiture in the Roman period
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Classical Greek & Roman archaeology [HDDK], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], History of art: ancient & classical art,BCE to c 500 CE [ACG]