Minerva, by Phidas

Art Historical Context

This lithograph, titled *Minerva, by Phidas*, captures the enduring fascination with classical antiquity in the early nineteenth century. Created by Maria Denman after a design by John Flaxman and published in 1829, the print reproduces an imagined representation of the ancient Greek sculptor Phidias’s celebrated statue of Athena (Minerva). Flaxman, a leading figure in the neoclassical movement, was renowned for his spare, linear drawings inspired by Greek vase painting and sculpture. Denman, his sister-in-law, translated these designs into lithography, a relatively new printmaking medium that...