Renaissance Relief - Rome, 16th Century

Renaissance relief depicting two female figures dressed in a chiton

Italy, probably Rome, 16th century

Marble, wooden frame (provenance label on the back)

28 x 20 x 5 cm

This beautiful Renaissance fragment depicts two female figures in profile, wearing a typical Greek dress, the chiton. Made of light material, the chiton was a very long and wide rectangle of fabric, sewn up at the sides, pinned or sewn at the shoulders, and typically girded around the waist.

The all’antica clothing suggests that the depicted scene is related to ancient mythology. The humanist movement helped shift the focus of art from religious to secular subjects.

The Renaissance, with a renewed interest in the art and culture of ancient Greece, led to a revival of mythological and classical themes in art. Artists often reinterpreted Greek myths, adapting and reimagining ancient Greek narratives to fit Christian values.

Renaissance artists approached classical culture with a certain reverence; its manifestations were worthy of being studied, imitated, and emulated. Humanists examined texts with philological acuity, immersing themselves in Greek and Latin texts. They measured ancient edifices, copied carved inscriptions, deciphered images on coins and gemstones, described statues and other articles of sculpture, and identified scenes on sarcophagi. This new, humanistic approach to the Roman past as a historically distinct era encouraged the all'antica scupture of classical subjects, including familiar mythological tales.

The graceful, balanced composition and the classicizing subject exemplify the revival and reimagining of antiquity, fundamental to the Italian High Renaissance.