Statuette of Artemis (Diana of Versailles) rediscovered in Titanic's Debris Field

Newly rediscovered ornament which graced Titanic's First Class Lounge photographed in exquisite detail, may someday be recovered and put on display.

Artemis (or Diana of Versailles), is a small bronze or spelter copy of a classical statue which is now in the Louvre, Paris.

The statutette stood on the mantle piece above the fireplace in the Titanic's first class lounge.

Artemis statue on Olympic — **A similar statue photographed aboard the Olympic in the 1920s. Its whereabout remain unknown**

The ornament was one of the artefacts photographed when Dr Robert Ballard and his team visited the wreck site in 1986 but it's exact location was not recorded. A photograph of the statue appears in the book Discovery of the Titanic.

diana Titanic staue in 1986 — **The Diana state as originally located by the Angus submersible in 1986**
(Copyright Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

In 2024 an expedition organised by RMS Titanic inc. rediscovered the item lying on the sea bed where it fell after the Titanic broke apart on the surface. It is likely that the ornament will be recovered during a future expedition.

Diana of Versailles Statue — **The statue on which the Titanic model was based**
(Musée de Louvre)

Artemis, one of the more important goddesses in Greek mythology, was the counterpart of the Roman goddess Diana. She was the daughter of the god Zeus and Leto and the twin sister of Apollo. She was chief hunter to the gods and, like Apollo, was armed with a bow and arrows, which she often used to punish mortals who angered her. She was also the goddess of childbirth, of nature, and of the harvest. The statue is a partially restored Roman copy of a lost Greek bronze original attributed to Leochares, dating back to around 325 BC. Diana is depicted in an athletic pose, seemingly in the midst of a hunt, with a deer at her feet and an arrow poised to be drawn.

The statuette on the seabed

This article was first published in 2003, and updated in 2024 to reflect the rediscovery of the ornament.

Comment and discuss

robert warren

I just saw the headline about the statue this minute, thats fantastic. I wrote several years ago how it looked like the stag next to her had possibly broken off since the 1985 WHOI photos were shadowy and you could not see it.
Duck_Dur

Is the above photo posted by Philip Hind a photoshopped image or a real scan? If its an actual photo it is very interesting to see in such clarity, and how not much has changed in 40 years.I believe the first image is an actual one (but don't take my word on it)!
Eric Paddon

I have taken the view that artifact salvage has reached a point where it should only be reserved now for some truly exceptional items and this is certainly one of them. It's amazing it took 38 years to be rediscovered again.
PCLAD1

I say the statuette should be recovered.
robert warren

Agree completely. The statue is sitting out in the open, and it would be very easy to use a robotic arm to put it in a salvage crate. Other items that could be recovered could be a grand staircase balustrade or two that were also sitting in the debris field in plain sight when photographed in '85. I'm really surprised that no one ever recovered just one of them. Also how about the candelabra that was found in 2010? Sure it's all bent up, but so is the chandelier from the smoking room and nobody thought twice about salvaging that.
Duck_Dur

Agree completely. The statue is sitting out in the open, and it would be very easy to use a robotic arm to put it in a salvage crate. Other items that could be recovered could be a grand staircase balustrade or two that were also sitting in the debris field in plain sight when photographed in '85. I'm really surprised that no one ever recovered just one of them. Also how about the candelabra that was found in 2010? Sure it's all bent up, but so is the chandelier from the smoking room and nobody thought twice about salvaging that.Do you happen to have a photo of the balustrade?
Richard C Elliott

I’m not convinced that there is much point in devoting exploratory resources to salvaging well documented artistic features of the ship. What can we learn from them?I would be much more interested in recovering material related to less well known aspects of the engineering of the ship, or forensic evidence on the collision damage and breakup.
robert warren

SV7 posted a photo of them taken from Bob Ballards 1987 book on the previous page.
Eric Paddon

I’m not convinced that there is much point in devoting exploratory resources to salvaging well documented artistic features of the ship. What can we learn from them?I would be much more interested in recovering material related to less well known aspects of the engineering of the ship, or forensic evidence on the collision damage and breakup.I'd say we can learn a deeper appreciation in three dimensions of how the ship was given the great condition the statue is in. It's something visitors and audiences can connect with in a museum setting. In this case the cost of searching for it has been taken care of so the overall costs are now minimized to going to a fixed spot and taking care of it rather than wasting a day of having a submersible looking for it.
Steven Christian

I'd say we can learn a deeper appreciation in three dimensions of how the ship was given the great condition the statue is in. It's something visitors and audiences can connect with in a museum setting. In this case the cost of searching for it has been taken care of so the overall costs are now minimized to going to a fixed spot and taking care of it rather than wasting a day of having a submersible looking for it.Yes. This recent expedition was about mapping the debris field in hi-res. The debris field is fair game for artifact recovery. I for one would appreciate being able to see it on display. Millions of others would get to see it also. Any further engineering discoveries would only end up on a website or a book that only a few of us Titaniacs would read or care about. I say go for it and get it while the getting is good. It's a beautiful looking piece of history. It's not very large and would be fairly easy to recover. If they do return to recover items I see no reason not to go after it.
Richard C Elliott

Any further engineering discoveries would only end up on a website or a book that only a few of us Titaniacs would read or care about.On the other hand some of us are only interested in the factual information and discussion in books or websites and would rarely bother to look at Titanic artifacts in a museum. To me the Diana statue is just another copy of an original in Versailles that happens to have been used in the interior decoration of the ship. I’m not saying I strongly object to salvaging it. I just wouldn’t put it high on my own list of priorities.
Steven Christian

On the other hand some of us are only interested in the factual information and discussion in books or websites and would rarely bother to look at Titanic artifacts in a museum. To me the Diana statue is just another copy of an original in Versailles that happens to have been used in the interior decoration of the ship.I’m not saying I strongly object to salvaging it. I just wouldn’t put it high on my own list of priorities.Yes I agree and understand. But only a very few of us care about that. 99% of the public don't. Those artifact displays are what fund RMST's INC ability to do these expeditions. Maybe one of them in the future will be to go inside and discover some of the things you discussed. In the mean time I don't see anybody else showing much interest in spending the money on Titanic to do these things. Many of the explorers have moved on to other things. Just my take on the situation.
PCash

Something I've always thought was curious is the possible location of the statue and the surrounding debris.Its entirely possible, that the statue was attached to the marble mantlepiece, using wooden pegs. Or it may have been directly fixed to the wooden frame of the mirror behind it. Any wood remaing attached would change the boyancy of the statue, allowing deep sea currants to influence where it came to rest in the debris field.