Inv. Scu 1111

The statue represents an old woman who, leaning on a stick, carries a lamb under her right arm. The coat she is wearing, of a rather ordinary quality, heavily covers her left shoulder while leaving her breast and flank uncovered on the right.

Her neck’s tense nerves and muscles suggest that, most likely, her head was turned to the right; whereas the shape of her back, so sharply curved, provides a realistic representation of the bent posture that afflicts human beings in their old age .

The rediscovery and the representation of realistic subjects in sculpture is typical of the Hellenistic period (3rd century BC), with the decline of the “divine” and “heroic” manner in classical art.

The statue, found at Vicolo di San Matteo (on the Esquiline), is a copy of the Antonine age (138-192 AD).