Diadumenè

Diadumenè is an oil painting by the British artist Edward Poynter, from 1884.^[1] It is held in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, in Exeter.^[2]

Diadumenè
Artist	Edward Poynter
Year	1884
Medium	Oil on canvas, history painting
Dimensions	51 cm × 50.9 cm (20 in × 20.0 in)
Location	Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter

History and description

It depicts a scene taking place in a bathhouse in Ancient Rome, where a naked woman is near the pool, with her clothes nearby. She seems to have undress herself and is now tying her hair, as she prepares to enter the water. She looks calm and relaxed. A herson is seen in front of her. The work it combines history painting and nude art, and drews heavily from the archaeological discoveries about the architecture of the era. The female figure is modelled on the Esquiline Venus which had been excavated in 1874 on the Esquiline Hill. The discovery also inspired Lawrence Alma-Tadema's painting A Sculptor's Model (1887). The title Poynter gave the painting makes reference to a female version of the statue Diadumenos, as she is shown in the act of tying her hair.^[3]

Pointer displayed the painting to the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1884 at Burlington House, in London, and subsequently at the Grosvenor Gallery. The following year he produced a much larger version, although with a significant amount of drapery added to partially obscure the nudity, to the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1885.^[4] The original painting is now at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, in Exeter.