Goddesses in diaphanous drapery

myminifactory

This is a sculpture depicting two reclining goddesses in diaphanous drapery, figures L and M from the east pediment of the Parthenon. Warm flesh and flowing drapery are conjured from cold hard marble. the figures seem to melt into each other in a remarkable study of intimacy. The may be divine sisters or mother and daughter, but their bodies are eroticised by the clinging drapery.  We know from the pedimental heads that have survived that there was a little variety of facial expression. The fact that the heads of these figures have been lost intensifies the power of the body to express emotion and narrative. Similarly, in Rodin's Kiss, it is the bodies that give expression to the figures. The faces are not easily visible and the features are not fully defined.