Western Maiden

"Maidens of Karyai"

Pencil on Bristol
each image is 21" x 10"

The use of these beautifully carved sculptures as significant architectural structural supports has always intrigued me - placed by the Greeks and the Romans - they tell stories about the mythologies of the time.

The Greek term karyatides literally means "maidens of Karyai", an ancient town of Peloponnese. Karyai had a famous temple dedicated to the goddess Artemis in her aspect of Artemis Karyatis: "As Karyatis she rejoiced in the dances of the nut-tree village of Karyai, those Karyatides, who in their ecstatic round-dance carried on their heads baskets of live reeds, as if they were dancing plants"

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Eastern Maiden