Lot 117: ROLAND MATHIEU-MEUSNIER FRENCH, 1824-1876

signed: mathieu meusnier. and entitled LAÏS with further inscription in Greek

white marble

53 by 71cm., 21 by 28in.

Born in Hyccara in Sicily and abducted by the Athenian general Nicias, Lais was a courtesan in Corinth. The fees she charged were legendary. Demosthenes is said to have baulked at the 10,000 drachmas she demanded and went elsewhere. Famed not only for her beauty and fees, but also for her conversation and charm, she apparently counted the philosopher Diogenes and the sculptor Myron amongst her illustrious patrons. She was eventually assassinated around 340BC in the Temple of Aphrodite at Thessaly, after an affair with a youth called Hippostratus.