Dama de Elche
The Dama de Elche (in German: "Lady of Elche") is a bust of a lady from Elche in Spain , which is considered an outstanding testimony to Iberian art . Together with other works - including the Dama de Baza and the Dama del Cerro de los Santos - it is exhibited in the Museo Arqueológico Nacional de España in the Spanish capital, Madrid .
Appearance
The approx. 56 cm high bust is made of limestone and shows a woman who wears complex hair ornaments and a wheel-shaped ornament over the ears on each side of the head. The face has a slight asymmetry , the headdress consists of a complicated hairstyle and a hood extending from the forehead. The side of the face is framed by two clips that enclose the braided hair. Her shoulders are hunched up, and around her neck she wears an elaborate necklace on an underdress, partially covered by a coat or throw, whose very modern-looking collar lapels are carefully worked out. The artistic design appears idealized but also realistic, as the artist allows asymmetries in details such as the overlapping of the chains or the folds on the collar sides.
In terms of style, the Lady of Elche is considered to be influenced by Greece, especially with regard to the design of the face. Your jewelry may have Carthaginian models while the clothing is Iberian in style. Its origin is dated to the 5th or early 4th century BC. The Redován griffin is said to come from the same creator.
history
The sculpture was found on August 4, 1897 in Alcudia de Elche ; the random finder was the 14-year-old worker Manuel Campello Esclápez. After a few weeks, the French archaeologist Pierre Paris bought the sculpture and had it exhibited in the Louvre . In 1941 the bust returned to Spain and was shown for a long time in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. From there she moved to the Museo Arqueológico Nacional , where she has remained to this day.
In 1948 it was immortalized on the one- peseta banknote.
Dispute over the sculpture
- For several years there has been a dispute about the authenticity of the figure (see web link) due to the high aesthetics and the exceptionally good state of preservation, which, however, fell a little silent after the discovery of the very similar, but reconstructed from fragments, Dama de Guardamar in 1987 .
- Time and again, Elche demands that the lady be returned to the city. A separate association was even founded for this purpose. So far, only one reproduction can be seen in Elche .
See also
literature
- John F. Moffitt: Art Forgery. The Case of the Lady of Elche. University Press of Florida, Gainesville FL et al. a. 1995, ISBN 0-8130-1330-5 .
Web links
- Dama de Elche - photos + short information (MAN, Spanish)
- Dama de Elche - Information (Spanish)
- Dama de Elche, fake (?) - photos + info
- Dama de Elche - photos + information
Individual evidence
- ↑ David Abulafia: The Mediterranean: A Biography. Fischer, Frankfurt 2014, ISBN 978-3-596-17441-6 , p. 186.
- ↑ Dama de Elche (Lady of Elche) . Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte.