Skip to Main Content
Home>Plan Your Visit>Tours, Guides, and Maps>Self-Guided Tours>Audio Stop 421

Audio Stop 421

00:00 00:00
Carved from creamy white marble, a nude woman stands next to a hip-high support, perhaps a low post. In this photograph, her body faces us, and she looks down to our right in profile. Her wavy hair is tucked behind her ear and drawn back in a bun at the nape of her neck. Her weight rests on her left leg, on our right, and her other knee is bent. Her left arm is angled in front of her body so her hand covers her groin. Her other hand, on our left, rests on the post. Chains hang from shackles encircling her wrists. The post is covered with a cloth that gathers around the top and spirals to the ground beneath her feet, the edge trimmed with tassels. A cross and medallion peek out from under the cloth near her hand. She stands on a circular base.

Hiram Powers

The Greek Slave, model 1841-1843, carved 1846

Not On View

Read full audio transcript

The Greek Slave, by Hiram Powers, carved in 1846, marble. The sculpture is about 5 and a half feet high.

This description is about a minute and a half long.

This is a life-size, free-standing, white marble sculpture of a naked young woman; her wrists are cuffed and loosely chained together.

The woman turns her head to look down and to her left – that’s our right as we face her. She has an oval face with delicate features and a straight nose. Her wavy hair is parted in the center and pulled back into a knot at the back of her head.

Her body is smooth, and she has small breasts and a slightly rounded belly. She stands on the small circular base, which is carved from the same block of marble. Her right knee is slightly flexed. Her right hand rests on the top of a stump, which comes up to her hip. The stump is wrapped in fabric with a fringe of tassels. The fabric drapes over the stump and across the base under her feet. A small crucifix hangs from the top of the stump, below the hand there.

She holds her other hand in front of her genitalia. Each wrist is circled by a narrow manacle, and the manacles are joined by a loop of chain. The chain hangs across her right thigh.  

West Building Verbal Descriptions