Statue from Titanic Wreck
A two-foot-tall bronze statue of the Greek goddess Diana, once displayed on the Titanic’s fireplace mantle, was discovered during a recent expedition.
Described as “a needle in a haystack,” it is one of many sought-after art pieces targeted by maritime archaeologists. The Titanic, famously known as the ‘unsinkable’ luxury liner, carried England’s elite on its ill-fated maiden voyage to the U.S. The ship was also a “floating gallery of fine art,” as Art Net recently noted, showcasing everything from a 1912 Renault luxury car to this bronze statue, a replica of the Diana of Versailles. The original statue is housed in the Louvre, but on the Titanic, it was placed above a fireplace, as shown in a photograph taken onboard.
RMS Titanic Inc., a Georgia-based company that leads expeditions to document and recover the ship’s relics, recently completed an unmanned mission to the wreck in the North Sea. There, buried in the mud, they found the statue, remarkably free of corrosion.The statue shows Diana wielding a club over her right shoulder, with a stag at her left side. While RMS Titanic leaves some artifacts in place, the Diana of Versailles is likely to be retrieved during future expeditions.