A Vestal

Clodion

National Gallery of Art

Carved from cream-white marble, a woman stands next to a hip-high, three-legged table in this free-standing sculpture. Her weight rests on her left leg, her right knee bent. She wears a flower crown over a garment that covers her head and falls in sweeping, voluminous folds to her sandaled feet. An urn is tucked into her left elbow and she holds a saucer-like dish in her right hand down by her side to pour oil onto the flames on the altar below. She looks down toward the altar, which is decorated with a ram’s head and garlands.