Height: 30 cm
Weight: 15 kg
The Dying Gaul is an ancient work of art depicting a wounded warrior. The original marble is a roman copy of one of the bronze statues commisioned sometime between 220 bc and 230 bc by Attalos 1st of Pergamon to humour his victory over the Galatians. The identity of the statues sculptor is unknown, although it has been attributed to Epigonus, the court sculptor of the Attacid Dynasty of Pergamon. This was the first time a sculpture of its kind had been seen in the fourth and fifth century greek sculpture, a real ground breaker in early sculpture. It was rediscovered in the early 17th century during excavations for the Villa Ludovisi, and was first recorded in 1623 in the collections of the powerful Ludovisi family of Rome.The artistic quality and expressive pathos of the statue aroused great admiration amongst the educated of the 17th and 18th century, and was widely commisioned by kings, queens, academics and wealthy land owners for their own collections. The original was looted by Napoleon in 1797 during his invasion of Italy and taken to Paris . It was returned to Rome in 1815 and is currently on display in the Capitoline Museum, Rome , other famous copies can be seen in London , Berlin , Prague and Stockholm .
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