A Statue of Penelope

The Museo Pio-Clementino is one of the sculpture museums in the enormous Vatican Museum, and it showcases works of Greek and Roman sculpture.  This statue of Penelope is a Roman copy of Greek original. According to one expert, "the copyist has exchanged the stool of the original for a rock and has given the figure the face of an androgynous youth." She is shown in the pose of the thinker, which historically is how she has been portrayed from Homer onwards, as she grapples with the nightmare thrust upon her and her need to be strategic and survive.

I like this statue, but walking through the Vatican galleries, the experience is like this photo below - often crowded and with a sense that these legendary figures are frozen in time and space. A bit like being inside The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker's Hyrule Castle.

But, that's not the only famous statue of Penelope. Another well known "thinker" statue of Penelope is this one below by Greek sculptor Leonidas Drosis, from 1873. No weaving is getting done here and she doesn't look happy.

And then there's this somewhat unorthodox "Earth mother" contribution La Grande Pénélope by Antoine Bourdelle in 1912. It is in his home town Montauban in southern France but there are copies in many countries.