Pallas Athena; France, Grand Tour, 19th century.
Bronze.
Subsequently soldered.
Restoration on the arm.
Measurements: 68 x 30 x 31 cm.
Round sculpture of Pallas Athena, that is to say the goddess as a warrior wearing a military helmet. Athena is the Greek goddess of war, civilisation, wisdom, strategy, the arts, justice and skill, one of the most important deities of Olympus. She was worshipped throughout Ancient Greece, and in Rome she was assimilated with Minerva. A Virgin Goddess, she was the parthenogenetic daughter of Zeus, born from his forehead, and although she was patroness of several cities, she was best known as the protector of Athens and the entire Attica region. Widely represented in art, her iconography exerted a profound influence on Greek thought, especially on concepts relating to justice, wisdom and the social function of culture and the arts.
The term 'Grand Tour', which first appeared in Richard Lassels's 'Voyage d'Italie', was used to define the long journey through Europe, especially Italy, which was regularly undertaken by young British aristocrats from the 17th century onwards, but especially throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The purpose of the journey was for young people to become acquainted with the art and culture of mainly France and Italy, to admire classical art at first hand, to learn or improve their knowledge of languages, and to establish contacts and relations with the cultural and political elites of these countries. Travellers were often looking for pieces with which to start their own art collections, objects to take back to their places of residence as souvenirs. For this reason, workshops specialising in the replication of Roman pieces, both in bronze and marble, sprang up, some of which acquired a great reputation.