Artemis, known to the Romans as Diana, stands with her weight on her right leg, her left foot trailing. She wears a short chiton, appropriate to her role as goddess of the hunt, a finely wrought diadem embellished with silver, and elaborate sandals. Originally, she would have held a bow in her left hand. In other Roman statues of similar type, the goddess is striding, but here she stands as if in an epiphany, an impression that is emphasized by the high classicizing style of the figure with its wind-blown drapery and her strongly idealized features. A deer stands to her left and there was another small figure on her right, possibly a dog.
The statue and its base were cast in several sections by means of the lost wax method, as was characteristic in antiquity, and these parts were then joined together with flow welds. The artist and his workshop maintained a particularly high level of craftsmanship. The statue is said to have been found in Rome near to the church of Saint John the Lateran and likely would have decorated a peristyle garden of one of the large Roman villas or town houses in that area. The most important sanctuary of Diana for the ancient Romans was located at Aricia, some eleven miles outside of Rome on the shore of lake Nemi, which was known as the speculum Dianae (mirror of Diana).