The Veiled Vestal (Tuccia)

In ancient Rome the Vestals kept the sacred fire burning in the temple of Vesta, and they were bound to absolute chastity. A Vestal who broke her vow was buried alive. Tuccia was accused of it falsely, and Roman writers, Pliny the Elder among them, tell how she proved her innocence. With the goddess's help she passed the impossible test she had been set, carrying water from the Tiber in a sieve. The sieve is in her left hand. Corradini carved her in Rome in 1743, and the museum records that the statue amazed those who saw it. In the story the veil stands for modesty and chastity, yet he cut it so thin that the body shows through, the breast above all. The figure was made to be seen from the front, and the back is only roughly blocked out, though as you move around it the statue keeps opening new views. The Italian state bought it in 1952.