The Artemis of Pompeii is an archaistic Roman copy from the 1st century A, D. of a lost Greek original of the time of the Greco-Persian Wars.

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Roman copy of an archaistic marble statue of Artemis from Pompeii, front and rear view, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli.

Camillo Paderni served as the keeper of the Royal Herculanean Museum at Portici from 1752 to 1781. In 1759, Paderni began to document the discoveries made in Herculaneum and Pompeii. Paderni inspected the site of the Artemis shrine soon after its discovery and decided that the statue and a column of the shrine be committed to the museum.

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Camillo Paderni, Tavola XII: drawing of an Artemis statue from Pompeii and ground plan of her shrine.

Camillo Paderni's description of the shrine, statue, and its pedestal:

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Paderni, description of Tavola XII: the Artemis statue, her pedestal, and her shrine.

Plate XII: On this plate, there are two drawings, one of a statue, the other of a ground plan. In one of the most noble dwellings of ancient Pompeii, there was, in one of the largest rooms, a chapel in front of which there was located an altar made from quire ordinary stone; on this altar, there still remained the ashes of sacrifices made to Diana. It seems worthwhile for me to describe the structure of this chapel, which, though consisting of brickwork, was nevertheless, a charming monument, given that it was covered with stucco which was painted in various colors. The four columns, too were made of brickwork and covered with stucco, they were fluted, and 6 ½ Neapolitan palmi in height; they supported the pediment the tympanum of which was decorated with a bas-relief showing colored leaves. The statue which is meant to be Diana and which is 5 palmi and 4 oncie in height consists of white marble. In Antiquity, however, it was completely painted, as for instance the bare skin and the garments: much of the aforementioned coloring still remains. Her hair is fair; her white clothing is decorated with a kind of trimming in the manner of a hem at the border of the palla, i.e. of the mantle. And the hem of the mantle is gold and red in color, and in the middle of this red part, there are white flowers. The strap, too, which runs across the chest and holds the quiver is of red color. The pedestal holds an upper cornice made of red marble, and a bottom cornice made of common marble; the front is made of yellow, black, and Palombino marble, and the rectangular slab in the centre of the front is of Serpentine stone, the other sides are all made of Seravezza marble. This monument was discovered in 1760.

Brinkmann, Vinzenz, Oliver Primavesi, Max Hollein, J. William Rosenthal, Johann David Passavant Colloquium, and Liebieghaus. “Circumlitio: The Polychromy of Antique and Mediaeval Sculpture: [Proceedings of the Johann David Passavant Colloquium],” 2010.