Galatea

Robert Le Lorrain

National Gallery of Art

A mostly nude young woman carved from cream-white marble sits on a rock formation in this free-standing sculpture. In this photograph, her body faces us, but her head turns to our left. She has a long nose and small mouth. Her wavy, upswept hair is wrapped across the top with a braid that hangs down the back of her neck, over her shoulder, and it falls between her breasts. With her left hand, to our right, up near her shoulder, she holds one end of a cloth that wraps around her back and across her hips. Her other hand rests down by her side and holds a shell with shallow grooves. Her left foot extends slightly forward of the right, making the knees uneven. At her feet lie two stylized sea creatures with round heads, deep-set eyes, and large lips that emerge from choppy waves. The sculpture sits on a veined, pink marble base carved with the word “GALATEE.” The background is fog gray, and the sculpture casts a shadow to our right.