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The wounded female figure, whose back has been struck by a fatal arrow, is one of the fourteen children of the legendary Niobe, who was married to Amphion, a son of Zeus. Niobe was very proud of her seven beautiful daughters and sons. She offended the goddess, Leto, mother of only two children, Artemis and Apollo, by suggesting to Leto’s worshippers in Thebes that she, Niobe, was more deserving of worship than Leto, in fact, seven times more worthy, by virtue of having given birth to seven times as many children. The vengeful Leto ordered her children, Artemis, the huntress, and Apollo, the archer, to slay all of Niobe’s children.
The cast of the so-called “Dying Niobid” exhibited here reaches behind for the fatal arrow that has pierced her back. The original sculpture was part of a pedimental group that decorated the facade of a Greek temple. The Roman copy was unearthed in Rome in April 1583. Other figures from the group are found in the Uffizi, Florences, the Capitoline Museum, Rome, and the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.Label Type
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On loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art