This sculpture is located in the lobby of San Diego Museum of Art behind an information desk.
It depicts the Roman goddess Diana aiming a bow into the air. She seems to be standing on some sort of large flower. The bronze 1914 work is by Anna Hyatt Huntington and is entitled "The Youthful Diana".
Wikipedia (
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"In Roman mythology, Diana (lt. "heavenly" or "divine") was the goddess of the hunt, the moon and birthing, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and having the power to talk to and control animals. She was equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, though she had an independent origin in Italy. Diana was worshipped in ancient Roman religion and is revered in Roman Neopaganism and Stregheria. Dianic Wicca, a largely feminist form of the practice, is named for her. Diana was known to be the virgin goddess of childbirth and women. She was one of the three maiden goddesses, Diana, Minerva and Vesta, who swore never to marry.
Oak groves were especially sacred to her. According to mythology (in common with the Greek religion and their deity Artemis), Diana was born with her twin brother Apollo on the island of Delos, daughter of Jupiter and Latona. Diana made up a triad with two other Roman deities: Egeria the water nymph, her servant and assistant midwife; and Virbius, the woodland god."
As for the asteroid, Wikipedia (
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"78 Diana (dye-an'-a) is a large and dark main-belt asteroid. Its composition is carbonaceous and primitive. It was discovered by Robert Luther on March 15, 1863, and named after Diana, Roman goddess of the hunt. 78 Diana occulted a star on September 4, 1980. A diameter of 116 km was measured, closely matching the value given by the IRAS satellite.
Photometric observations of this asteroid during 1986 and 2006–08 gave a light curve with a period of 7.2991 hours and a brightness variation in the range 0.02–0.104 magnitude. Based upon radar data, the near surface solid density of the asteroid is 2.7+0.8
-0.5 g cm–3.
Diana is expected to pass about 0.003 AU (450,000 km; 280,000 mi) from (29075) 1950 DA on August 5, 2150. Main-belt asteroid 4217 Engelhardt (~9 km in diameter) will pass about 0.0017 AU (250,000 km; 160,000 mi) from (29075) 1950 DA in 2736."