The statue of Athena had been housed in William Weddell's estate in England since the 1700s. Halsted A&A FoundationWith an owl in the palm of her hand, a cloak adorned with a gorgons head and a warriors helmet upon her swept hair, Athena, as depicted in a Roman statue from the first century C.E., is a remarkable sight.Now, for the first time in nearly 260 years, it will also be a widely accessible one.This stunning marble depiction of the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom and warfare will go on public display in the atrium of the Wrightwood 659 gallery in Chicagos Lincoln Park neighborhood starting on January 25. William Weddell, the British artistocrat who purchased the statue of Athena on a Grand Tour of Rome Public domain via Wikimedia CommonsBefore the Halsted A&A Foundation acquired the sculpture in 2023, it was tucked away in a rose-colored niche in Newby Hall, the North Yorkshire country house of William Weddell, a British landowner and politician who traveled to Rome to purchase it in the mid-1700s.By displaying the sculpture at Wrightwood 659, the foundation invites the public to see a work which has been largely out of general public view for nearly three centuries, Karen Manchester, the curator of the Halsted A&A Foundation, says in a statement.Now, scholars, students and visitors will be able to study the statue of Athena closely and interpret it from many perspectives, including those of art history, restoration practices and gender studies, she adds.Among the most interesting features of this Athena is the 74.5-inch-tall statues hodgepodge provenance. Its head came from a sculpture carved during the time of the Roman emperor Augustus (31 B.C.E. to 14 C.E.). Meanwhile, its body was grafted from a statue dating to the reign of Claudius (41 to 54 C.E.), the ruler who conquered Britain, according to the statement.But this mishmash of marble wasnt a scam to get the wealthy Weddell to purchase a seemingly intact statue of Athena. Rather, many buyers preferred complete pieces, even if composed of unrelated parts, Manchester explains. The so-called "Halsted Athena" at its new home at Wrightwood 659, a gallery in Chicago Halsted A&A FoundationWhen older parts werent available, sculptors would carve new ones, such as the so-called Halsted Athenas left arm and a section between her jaw and chest. While these pastiches might confuse archaeologists attempting to trace an artworks origins, Manchester says they tell complex stories about art, taste and aesthetics throughout history, per the Observers Elisa Carollo.The Halsted Athena emerges from the confines of Weddells Newby Hall at the same time that 58 pieces from the Torlonia Collection, a trove of ancient sculptures, travel to North America for the first time. They will go on view at the Art Institute of Chicagos Myth & Marble exhibition, which opens on March 15.Weddells own journey to Rome to purchase the statue reflects the practice of Grand Tours across the cities of the ancient world, popular among young British aristocrats. A painter who encountered Weddell on his Grand Tour of Rome once remarked that the collector had [bought] such a quantity of pictures, marbles, etc. as will astonish the West Riding of Yorkshire. William Weddell and fellow British travelers as depicted by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, who remarked on the large number of antiquities that Weddell planned to bring home with him Public domain via Wikimedia CommonsWeddell and his fellow British travelers would have referred to the statues subject as Minerva, the Roman goddess, rather than Athena, because they learned Latin in school, not ancient Greek, and therefore were familiar with the Latin names of deities, Manchester tells Elena Goukassian of the Art Newspaper.But the Roman statue distinctly depicts the Greek goddess, with her signature helmet and aegis, or sash-like cloak, draped across her chest.At the time these pieces were carved, the classical style was in vogue. In other words, ancient Roman customers wanted sculptures that reflected the look of ancient Greek and Hellenistic Greek, Manchester adds.Even in the first century C.E., when the statue took its complete form, Romans were harking back to an immemorial Greece. Now, the Halsted Athenas voyage to the leafy avenues and art galleries of well-to-do Lincoln Park adds another chapter to its rich and complex backstory, stretching from Greece to Rome and from Yorkshire to Chicago.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Art, Arts, British History, Chicago, England, Exhibitions, Exhibits, Greece, Museums, Religion, Religious History, Sculpture, Statues, Tourism