Lady of Elche
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The Lady of Elche or Lady of Elx (Spanish: Dama de Elche, IPA: [ˈdama ðe ˈeltʃe]; Valencian: Dama d'Elx, IPA: [ˈdama ˈðɛʎtʃ]) is a polychrome stone bust that was discovered in 1897 at L'Alcúdia, an archaeological site on a private estate two kilometers south of Elx/Elche, Alicante, Spain. The Lady of Elche is generally known as an Iberian sculpture from the 4th century BC, although the artisanship suggests strong Hellenistic influences.[1] According to The Encyclopedia of Religion, the Lady of Elche (Roman Illici), is believed to have a direct association with Tanit, the goddess of Carthage, who was worshiped by the Punic-Iberians.[2]
Sculpture
The original polychrome bust is thought to represent a woman wearing a complex headdress and large wheel-like coils (known as rodetes) on each side of the face. The opening in the rear of the sculpture indicates it may have been used as a funerary urn.
The Lady of Guardamar, dated to around 400 BC, is a similar female bust, 50 cm high. It was discovered in 1987 in fragments in the Phoenician archaeological site of Cabezo Lucero in Guardamar del Segura in Alicante province, Spain.[3] The Lady of Guardamar has similar wheel-like rodetes and necklaces.
While it is a bust, there are indications that it was part of a seated statue, similar to the Lady of Baza, or a standing one like the Gran Dama Oferente from Cerro de los Santos (Montealegre del Castillo, Albacete). The necklace's pendants are similar to those found on the Lady of Baza, which was discovered about 130 miles to the south west.
These three figures and the Bicha of Balazote are exhibited in the same hall in the National Archaeological Museum of Spain in Madrid.
Discovery and Repatriation
The sculpture was found on August 4, 1897 by a young worker, Manuel Campello Esclapez. The "popular" version of the story differs from the official report by Pere Ibarra (the local keeper of the records) which stated that Antonio Maciá found the bust. Ibarra's version of the discovery story, was that farm workers clearing the southeast slope of La Alcudia for agricultural purposes, discovered the sculpture.
An archaeological site is now located where the bust of Elche was discovered. Evidence has been found there of an Iberian-Punic settlement, a Roman sewer, walls and Roman houses, and mosaics. One mosaic shows an effigy of Saint Abdon, belonging to a Christian basilica of the 5th century. The latter archaeological evidence is supported by the codices of the councils of Toledo where it discusses an audience with bishops from Illici (Elche).
Dr. Campello, owner of the farm, was married to Asunción Ibarra, daughter of Aureliano Ibarra Manzoni, a humanist from the 19th century who also took on archeology as a hobby. Ibarra Manzoni had found a number of objects and Iberian vestiges on his own farmland and in other places in the municipality of Elche. He built up a valuable collection, which he bequeathed to his daughter Asunción. He provided instructions that she make the necessary arrangements for the collection to be offered for sale to the Real Academia de la Historia after her death, to finally be located at the National Archaeological Museum. The will specified that the collection be sold in its entirety. Local lore states that the family placed the Lady on their balcony so that it could be viewed by all of the residents of Elche.
Don Pedro Ibarra invited French archaeologist Pierre Paris to his home to see the Mystery Play of Elche. When the archaeologist saw the Iberian bust, he recognized its worth and notified the Louvre in Paris. The Louvre offered a large sum of money for the time: 4000 francs, and purchased the sculpture within a few weeks of its discovery. Despite opposition from Doña Asuncion, the Iberian bust was sold. On August 30, 1897 the sculpture was sent to the Louvre.
For 40 years the Dama de Elche was exhibited at the Louvre. After the start of the World War II in 1939 and as a precaution, the sculpture was transferred for safe-keeping to the castle of Montauban near Toulouse. The Vichy government negotiated the statue's return to Spain with Franco's government. In 1941 it was returned through an exchange of works (which also included the Immaculate Conception of the Venerable Ones (or Immaculate Conception of Soult) by Murillo, the twin sphinxes of El Salobral and several pieces of the Treasure of Guarrazar, and the Iberian sculptures of Osuna. In return Spain returned to France a portrait of Mariana of Austria by Velázquez, and a portrait of Antonio de Covarrubias by El Greco.[4] Since 1941, the Lady of Elche has been officially owned by the Museo del Prado (catalog number E433).
The discovery of the Lady of Elche initiated a popular interest in pre-Roman Iberian culture. She appeared on a 1948 Spanish one-peseta banknote and was mentioned in William Gaddis's The Recognitions (1955).
In 1965 the Dama de Elche returned briefly to Elche, on the occasion of the seventh centenary of the Elche Mystery Play.
It was transferred to the National Archaeological Museum in 1971.[5]
On January 19, 2006 the Minister of Culture of Spain, Carmen Calvo, issued a decision to temporarily lease the Lady to its hometown. From 18 May 2006 to 1 November 2006 the Dama de Elche presided over the inauguration of the Museum of Archaeology and History of Elche (in the Palace of Altamira) and the exhibition "From Ilici to Elx, 2500 years of history" that took place in different locations in the city. It was afterwards represented by a replica.[6][7]
Claim of forgery
In 1995, John F. Moffitt, an art historian specializing in painting,[8] published Art Forgery: The Case of the Lady of Elche, University Press of Florida, in which he contended that the statue was a forgery with similarities to symbolist art of the Belle Époque. He put forth a speculation concerning the identity of the forger and commissioner, "a physician and resident surgeon in the town of Elche" who was "well informed about the current state of Iberian studies" and owned "the fertile archaeological site of La Alcúdia".
Experts in Spanish archaeology have rejected Moffitt's theory and accept the Lady of Elche as a genuine ancient Iberian work. Antonio Uriarte of the University of Madrid has stated, "Decade by decade, research has reinforced the coherence of the Lady within the corpus of Iberian sculpture. The Lady was found more than a century ago, and many of its features, not then understood, have been confirmed by subsequent finds. For example, the use of paint in Iberian sculpture was unknown when the Lady appeared."[9] A CSIC study on the Lady of Elche's micropigmentation published in 2005 concluded that the trace pigments on the statue were consistent with ancient materials and that no modern pigments had been found.[10]
In 2011, the same author María Pilar Luxán[11] analyzed microparticles back hole of the Dama de Elx with techniques of electron microscopy and X-ray dispersive spectrometry, among others. Deduced that belong to ashes of human bones, it compared with those of the Iberian period and concluded that the statue was used as funerary urn in Iberian time, guaranteeing thus its antiquity and confirming the hypothesis about its function.
In modern culture
French artist James Tissot based figures in several of his turn-of-the-century paintings on the recently discovered Lady of Elche.[12]
The Dama de Elche makes an appearance in Part 3 of William Gaddis' masterpiece The Recognitions, where the main protagonist asks for a fresh one peseta note to study the engraving of the lady on it.
See also
References
- ↑ Francisco Vives Boix, La Dama de Elche en el año 2000 : Análisis tecnológico y artístico .
- ↑ The Encyclopedia of Religion, Macmillan Library Ref. USA - Iberian Religion - page 549
- ↑ Historia Guardamar
- ↑ Prado. "Encyclopedia of the Prado/Timeline museum/1941". Retrieved April 28, 2009.
- ↑ Prado Museum. "Enciclopedia On-Line/Dama de Elche (anonymous)". Retrieved April 29, 2009.
- ↑ Facsimile of the Dama de Elche executed by Adam Lowe's studio Factum Arte in Madrid (2002-2005) accessed 14 November 2014
- ↑ Museo Arqueológico y de Historia de Elche (MAHE), accessed 14 November 2014
- ↑ "Jack Moffitt, 1940-2008". klowry.com.
- ↑ R. Olmos and T. Tortosa, in Gocha R. Tsetskhladze (ed.), Ancient Greeks West and East, Leiden: Brill, 1999, brief summary here
- ↑ M. P. Luxán, J. L. Prada, F. Dorrego, 2005, "Dama de Elche: pigments, surface coating and stone of the sculpture", Materials and structures, 38(277), pp. 419-424. See also
- ↑ Luxán, Mª P. et al (2011). Human bone ashes found in the Dama de Elche (V-IV century B.C.) reveal its use as an ancient cinerary urn. Journal of Cultural Heritage vol. 12, issue 3, pp. 310-316.
- ↑ "Picture - The BAS Library". bib-arch.org.
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