Greek, ca. 450-440 B.C.
Marble

On this gravestone, a little girl stands in profile, bowing her head
with a seriousness unusual in someone so young. Her face is serene and
strong like an adult’s face. Look at the care the artist has taken to
carve out every strand of her hair, letting its waves fall in different
directions, and working them all into an elegant arrangement. The child
wears the simplest woolen garment, a rectangle of cloth, folded over at
the top and fastened at the shoulders. The two edges running down her side
are unsewn; the dress hangs open. The clothes suggest and clarify the pose
of the body beneath them. Without seeing any muscles, you can tell that the
child has her weight on her right leg.

She is holding one bird affectionately close, and it seems to nestle up to her.
On her left hand you see the feet of the other bird perching on her fingers.
Children often appear with their pets on grave reliefs, and these doves must
be the little girl’s favorites. The gravestone seems to show an everyday moment.
At the same time, it seems eternal. This is the motivating principle of the
classical style: to describe nature and also to idealize it.

from: The Met