The boasting mortal Niobe cowers before her punishment by the gods.
These two figures were originally part of a larger group depicting the killing by the gods of Niobe and her children. The group was probably set up by Seleukos, a king of Cilicia in south coastal Asia Minor. It was moved to Rome in 38 BCE to decorate the rebuilt temple of Apollo in the Campus Martius.
The original of this cast was damaged in a bomb blast at the Uffizi in 1993; restored and redisplayed in 2006.
As usual, we only have later Roman copies to show us what the original was like. But the strong emotional content of the sculpture, a favourite theme of Hellenistic styles, is clear
Florence, Uffizi 253
Transferred from the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1884
Lippold: Griechische Plastik, 309 (n.5), pl. 111.1
Walston: Catalogue of Casts in the Museum of Classical Archaeology (1889), 71, no.322
Lawrence: Later Greek Sculpture (1927), 13 & 18. Appendix 97 for discussion of Niobid group
Lawrence: Classical Sculpture (1928), 276-, pl. 98b
Amelung: Führer durch die Antike in Florenz (1896), 117-, no.174
Dütschke: Antike Bildwerke in Florenz (1875), 138, no.253-
Found in Rome in 1583 in the area associated with the ancient gardens known as the Horti Lamiani
