A Female Saint
Perhaps Siena, Italy, late 15th century or early 16th century
Marble
50.3 x 19 x 10 cm
This gracefully swaying figure, whose eyes are raised to heaven, wears a wimpled head-dress that frames her head. She once held a martyr’s palm branch in her right hand, and probably a book in her left. The sculpture has been little studied, but has always been regarded as Sienese, and is believed to date from the decades around 1500. It was perhaps originally part of a larger altarpiece or tomb monument.
Purchased 1948 (No. 48.8)
