Statue of a Girl ("The Budapest Dancer")

The statue known as the Budapest dancer is one of the Museum of Fine Arts' most famous classical antiquities. It portrays a young girl as she pulls her cloak to one side and, leaning forward, looks before her feet. Its fame is due to its being one of the finest specimens of early Hellenistic (third century BC) sculpture. One of the main innovations of the period was the exploration of the artistic possibilities of the 'multi-view' compositions. In contrast to earlier sculptures designed for one single main viewpoint, the girl's movements can only be understood by revolving around the statue. In the Hellenistic era it became common in public buildings and homes of the wealthy to erect statues with a merely ornamental function; the Budapest Dancer was probably made for such a purpose. Since the carving on the back of the statue is much rougher, it was clearly not intended for an all-round view, but before some background, for instance a niche. The subject of the statue is uncertain, as is the question of whether the girl is a mythological character or a mortal. She is traditionally considered to be a dancer, but her movements do not correspond to any of the known classical ways of imaging dance. On the basis of her forward-leaning motion she could be interpreted as a decorative figure for a fountain or pool, the portrait of a girl looking at herself reflected in the water. Equally, it may be one of the new genre scenes of the Hellenistic era, the girl gathering her clothes. Szilvia Lakatos