|
The famous but controversial "Lady of Elche" or Dama de Elche (the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid calls her "enigmática"), is a polychrome stone bust that was revealed as found by chance in 1897 at La Alcudia, an archaeological site that was on a private estate about 2 km, south of Elche (Catalan Elx) (Alicante, Autonomous Community of Valencia, Spain). The Lady of Elche is generally believed to be Iberian art of the 4th century B.C., or of the Hellenistic or the Roman periods. Frontal view of Lady of Elche at the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid. ...
Frontal view of Lady of Elche at the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid. ...
A bust is bust: a sculpture depicting a persons chest, shoulders, and head, usually supported by a stand. ...
View of Elche Elche (in Spanish) or Elx (in Catalan) is a city in the Alicante province in Valencia, Spain, near the city of Alicante. ...
View of Elche Elche (in Spanish) or Elx (in Catalan) is a city in the Alicante province in Valencia, Spain, near the city of Alicante. ...
Alicante (Catalan, Alacant) is a province of eastern Spain, in the southern part of the Valencian Country. ...
Pavement of a Valencia street, with arbour. ...
The bust is usually thought to represent a woman wearing a very complex headdress and big coils on each side of the face. A minority interpretation has it representing a man. Headgear, headwear or headdress is the name given to any element of clothing which is worn on ones head. ...
Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 169 KB)A rotated view of the Lady of Elche From http://enciclopedia. ...
Download high resolution version (1600x1200, 169 KB)A rotated view of the Lady of Elche From http://enciclopedia. ...
History
The sculpture was found August 4, 1897, by a young worker, Manuel Campello Esclapez. Pierre Paris, a French archaeological connoisseur, purchased the sculpture within a few weeks and shipped it to France, where it was shown at the Louvre Museum and hidden for safe-keeping during World War II. The Vichy government negotiated its return to Franco's Spain in 1940 - 41, and June 27, 1941 the sculpture was placed in Museo del Prado (Madrid), then moved to Madrid's National Archeological Museum, where it remains, in spite of appeals to return it to its home town, where it is represented by a reproduction. The main courtyard of the Louvre. ...
Vichy France (French: now called Régime de Vichy or Vichy; called itself at the time État Français, or French State) was the French state of 1940-1944 which was a puppet government under Nazi influence, as opposed to the Free French Forces, based first in London and later in Algiers. ...
The Lady of Elche initiated a popular interest in pre-Roman Iberian culture. She appeared on a 1948 Spanish one-peseta banknote (illustration needed) and was mentioned in William Gaddis's The Recognitions (1955). Iberia can mean: The Iberian peninsula of southwest Europe; That part of it inhabited by the Iberians, speaking the Iberian language. ...
William Gaddis (December 29, 1922 - December 16, 1998) was an American novelist, born in Manhattan. ...
Manuel Martinez Macia, an enthusiastic promoter of the Lady of Elche, has founded the Orden de la Dama de Elche to return her to Valencia.
The statues of the seated Lady of Baza and the Bicha de Balazote are exhibited in the same room of the museum. The Dama de Baza The Lady of Baza (la Dama de Baza) is a famous example of Celtiberian art, an early Iberian female figure with traces of painted detail, found at Baza, in the altiplano, the high tableland in the northwest of the province of Granada. ...
Forgery suspicions One theory holds that the Lady of Elche is a modern artifact, an Art Nouveau forgery showing the influence of Alphonse Mucha's posters. Alfons Mucha, lithographed poster, 1898 Art Nouveau (French for New art) is an art and design style that peaked in popularity at the turn of the 20th century. ...
Forgery is the process of making or adapting objects or documents (see false document), with the intention to deceive (fraud is the use of objects obtained through forgery). ...
Alfons Mucha (July 24, 1860 - July 14, 1939) was a Czech painter and decorative artist. ...
Reference John F. Moffitt, Art Forgery: The Case of the Lady of Elche, University Press of Florida Gainesville, 1995
External links - Earnest plea to return the Lady of Elche (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/esanchez/dama.htm)
- Art and ethnographic forgeries (http://www.caslon.com.au/forgeryprofile4.htm)
- University of Alicante, Fundacion La Alcudia (http://www.ua.es/alcudia/):
- Reflections on the Lady of Elche (http://www.ffil.uam.es/reib/manolo.htm) (in Spanish)
- Article (http://enciclopedia.us.es/index.php/Dama_de_Elche) at Enciclopedia Libre
|
Feeds |
Contact