Bronze Grand Tour Statue of 'The Dying Gaul' from the Capitoline Museum

ITALY, CIRCA 1880 A.D.

12 5/8 in. (4 kg, 32 cm).

Copy of a Greek sculpture (now lost) from the Hellenistic period (323-31 BC) thought to have been made in bronze; a young Galatian warrior, wounded in the chest by a sword blow and dying, half-lying with his face turned downwards; with typical features of the idealised Celtic warrior: the high cheekbones, the hairstyle with thick and long locks, and the moustache (mytax); resting on a discarded shield with short sword under his right hand, straps and two tubular war-horns.

Provenance

From the private collection of a S.W. London gentleman, acquired in the 1970s.

Literature

See Mattei, M., Il Galata Capitolino, Rome, 1998.

Footnotes

The Dying Gaul statue was rediscovered in Rome in the early 17th century, specifically in the 1620s, during excavations for the Villa Ludovisi. It was initially part of the Ludovisi collection and later acquired by Pope Clement XII for the Capitoline Museums.
Except for a torque around the neck (a metal necklace typical of Celtic warriors), the figure is completely naked. It is possible to identify the figure tentatively as the ‘Trumpeter of Epigonos’ mentioned by Pliny (Natural History 34.88).

CONDITION

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LOT 2050