The secret history of Helvia Martínez: the woman who became 'La Diana'

Its original name “La flechadora de las estrellas del norte”, the woman who is the bow huntress of stars of the north, known popularly like La Diana Cazadora, in honor to the Roman goddess. Her image represents three relevant qualities: being beautiful, warrior and conqueror of dreams.

Bronze sculpture of 7 meters high and weight of 4 tons, made by the artist Juan Fernando Olaguíbel in the year 1942. In 1968 it was replaced by a replica, located in Mexico City’s Avenida Paseo de la Refoma.

The original sculpture was transferred to the main garden of Ixmiquilpan, where you can appreciate its beauty.

And who was the woman behind the statue of Diana Cazadora?

50 years passed until the same model revealed her identity, as a muse and model, to represent the Diana Cazadora statue.

The history of the figure on which the creator of the statue that adorns one of the most emblematic roundabouts of Reforma was based remained secret, for which several artists from the same period took credit for being the ones who posed so that replica was obtained.

50 years passed until Helvia Martínez Verdayes decided to make her identity known and pointed out how it happened by publishing the book El Secreto de la Diana Cazadora (The secret of Diana Cazadora).

Born in the 1920s, Helvia studied at the Miguel Lerdo de Tejada school, she was studying, like many women of that time, a secretarial career, at the same time that she was already beginning to work as such in the Pemex offices.

The Mayor of Mexico City at that time requested that different instances be carried out to favor the aesthetics of the city. Therefore, the creation of fountains and monuments was sought to adorn it.

Both the sculptor Juan Olaguíbel and Vicente Mendiola were entrusted with the project. The idea was to portray the Roman myth of the huntress, so Mendiola asked Helvia to pose as a model. The then teenager agreed to do it only out of vanity, as she describes it, but on the condition that her name not be publicly disclosed; Not even if she wanted did she demand a payment, the only thing she demanded is that her identity be kept secret.

The model explained years later that during the making of the sculpture she did not pose totally naked. She had a photo shoot where some parts of her body were covered and others were exposed to capture the details. She finally posed totally nude until the piece was finished, so it was possible to correct any point

On October 10, 1942, the piece of Diana the Huntress was inaugurated on Reforma Avenue. Helvia did not attend the unveiling as she had had surgery and was recovering. When the real Diana Cazadora finally sees her body made a monument she is extremely surprised. At the same time, many women of that time did not agree with such a structure, they found it too provocative.

Helvia Martínez Verdayes died on Saturday, February 12, 2022 at the age of 100, she achieved recognition because she was the model for the sculpture of the Arrowhead of the North Stars, better known as La Diana Cazadora, emblematic of the avenue Reform in Mexico City.