A Companion of Diana

Jean-Louis Lemoyne

National Gallery of Art

Carved from white marble, a young woman holds a short spear by one side and looks down toward a dog standing by her other side in this free-standing sculpture. Her body faces us in this photograph, and her head is tipped forward and to our right. She has a straight, delicate nose, and her thin lips are parted, possibly in a slight smile. Her wavy hair is held back under a band with an ornament on the crown, and a long curl falls behind one shoulder. Her knee-length garment exposes one firm breast and half of the other. The drapery clings tightly to her body and legs so the folds accentuate her curves. A longer garment falls from her waist, behind her legs, to pool at her sandaled feet. She stands with her weight mostly on her left leg, to our right, and the other knee bent. She holds the shaft of the spear with her right hand, to our left. Her other arm is drawn across her body at waist level. With that hand, she loosely holds the dog’s leash, which then falls across her thighs to the dog, sitting at her feet to our right. The short haired, thin, muscular hound is seated so its chest squares toward us. It twists its head up to look at the woman, its nose pressed along her leg. Its mouth is open, and the tongue curls out over sharp teeth. The dog wears a snug, buckled collar. The woman and dog stand on a square platform of white marble resting on a slab veined with charcoal gray and black, against a smoke-gray wall.