Psyche of Naples - Item #651

 

24 Inches High x 15 Inches Wide x 14 Inches Deep

The bust of Psyche is from the fragment - composed of the majority of the head and torso - that remains from the original statue. The top of the head is noticeably sheared off. The statue was a Roman copy of a Hellenistic Greek original that may have been sculpted by Scopas or a follower. The fragment was discovered in the 18th century in the amphitheater in the ancient Italian city of Capua and is therefore known as the Psyche of Capua. (We continue to use "Naples" in the name as our predecessors did in the early 20th century.) Soon identified as the goddess Psyche, which means "soul" in ancient Greek, art historians today believe it is an image of the goddess Aphrodite. In the full statue, Aphrodite may have been drawing the drapery over her left shoulder with her left hand. A piece of the drapery is visible in the bust, and more of it can be seen in the fragment. The tilt of the head might signal that the figure was once part of a group.

 

Artist: Unknown

Museum: National Archaeological Museum, Naples

Time Period: Ancient Greek/Ancient Roman, 1st century B.C.E.

1911 Catalog ID # - 4029

 

Sources:

"Cast of a female torso found at Capua and now in the Museo Archaeological Nazionale at Naples." Sir John Soane's Museum Collection Online, http://collections.soane.org/object-h8.

"Psyche of Capua." University of Saskatchewan Museum of Antiquities, 2009-present, https://artsandscience.usask.ca/antiquities/collections/items/greek-items/hellenistic-items/sculpture/psyche-of-capua.php.