Early to Mid 20th Cent French Plaster Statue of Athena

An early to mid 20th century plaster statue of Athena , after the Antique . The original of the first century AD kept in the Museum of Fine Arts – Sainte croix de Poitiers.

This statue represents Athena, daughter of Zeus, Greek goddess of war, intelligence, arts and industry. She is recognisable by her attributes: the aegis, a marvellous shield decorated with the head of the Gorgon Medusa (gorgoneion) on her chest, and the helmet. Apart from the latter, the goddess wears no warrior symbol: instead of the spear and the shield, her right hand should carry the tutelary owl or a small Victory, and her left hand lowered the stem of an olive branch.
The original marble statue was discovered during planting work at the Paul-Bert school in Poitiers in 1902. Fragments of similar statues from Rome suggest that the original may have been carved in the capital of the empire in the early 1st century BC and had political significance in Poitiers / Limonum in connection with the imperial cult. In this respect, it was certainly visible in a public place in the Pictonian capital. Stylistically, it is inspired by archaic Greek representations.(6th-5th centuries BC).

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