Lot 134
A late 19th century white marble figure of The Dying Gaul
Auction: 25 June 2008 at 12:00 BST
£780
Description
the naked gladiator bent down over his fallen sword with his head downcast, on an oval plinth carved with a mat having a Vitruvian scroll border
Dimensions
59m wide, 32cm high, 30cm deep
Footnote
The Dying Gaul (in Italian: Galata Morente) is an ancient Roman marble copy of a lost Hellenistic statue which was possibly originally executed in bronze and commissioned some time between 230 BC and 220 BC by Attalos I of Pergamon to honour his victory over the Celtic Galatians in Anatolia. The identity of the origianal sculptor is unknown, but it has been suggested that Epigonus, the court sculptor of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon, may have been its author.