Who is the woman behind Diana the Huntress?

The capital of the country is recognized as one of the cities with the most emblematic buildings and monuments, among which the PaMuseum of Fine Arts of Lazio, the Torre Latino and further. However, its fountains and statues have also been praised for their artistic presence, including the famous Diana the huntress, located in one of the main avenues of the city: Reformation Walk.

Originally known as “The Archer of the Northern Stars”the monument was inaugurated on 1October 0, 1942 under the architectural direction of Vicente Mendiola Quezada and the sculpture of Juan Fernando Olaguibel, in the six-year tenure of Manuel Ávila Camacho.

The Diana Cazadora was part of the beautification reconstruction project by the Mexican authorities, who between the 1930s and 1960s began placing large monuments and fountains in public spaces following in the footsteps of the muralist movement and socialist realism.

At that time, the regent of the Federal District, javier redproposed to Mendiola and Olaguibel to be in charge of different projects in which the source of the now well-known Diana the huntress, who must represent the Roman goddess Artemisia, belonging to Greek mythology.

Said monument was criticized in front of the still persistent social conservative idea, since the source showed the complete body of a naked woman. This is one of the main reasons why the model of Diana the Huntress took so long to reveal her identity, because since her inauguration in 1942, it took 50 years to discover who had been the woman who inspired the monument. .

Helvia Martínez Verdayes, originally from the country’s capital, had only 19 years old—according to historical sources—when the project managers invited her to pose and model for the construction of the monument. And it is that the young woman would have met Juan Olaguiband through his then boss, Vincent Mendiola

The young woman had studied a career as a secretary, so at the same time she began to work in the offices of Petroleos of Mexico, which was then directed by Mendiola, and where he obtained the proposal to model. However, did not receive any payment for the job and in return he only asked not to reveal his identity.

But Helvia Martínez not only posed for Diana the Huntress, but ten years later, in 1952, she also served as the model for the monument erected to commemorate the Oil expropriation in Mexicoa statue that currently stands in the famous Fuente de Petróleos.

The identity of the emblematic figure remained unresolved until 1992, When the model herself published her book: The secret of Diana the huntress, where she revealed the process she had to go through when building it, her reasons for protecting her identity and more.

Note that Helvia Martinéz would have hidden her work as a model for fear of losing her job as secretary. However, as mentioned above, the main reason it was ultraconservative thinkingr that permeated at that time, which in fact encouraged the protest in front of the monument by the architect Vicente Mendiola Quezada and the sculptor Juan Fernando Olaguíbel.

A year after its inauguration, the decency league—which included the wife of Miguel Ávila Camacho—, in the form of protest, put underwear on the statue, for allegedly going against Christian values. These demonstrations forced their creators to put on “clothes” accordingly, which consisted of “bronze panties” superimposed on the body, which years later were removed due to the new liberal artistic ideas of society.