This statue is attributed to Scopas. It was disinterred in Rome in 1583
and is now in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
It is part of a group composed of seventeen figures--Niobe and fourteen
children, a pedagogue and a nurse. The figure of the mother clasped
by the arm of her terrified child is one of the most admired of the
ancient statues. It is the highest instance in sculpture in which the
body, itself exempt from pain, so wonderfully reflects the tortured
soul. It ranks with the Laocoon and Apollo Belvedere as a work of art.
[Illustration]
Mars.
“God of Dreadful War.”
“_The mailed Mars shall on his altar sit
Up to his ears in blood._”
--SHAKESPEARE.