Dying Gaul

The Dying Gaul is an ancient executed in marble sculpture, which is now in the Capitoline Museums in Rome. The work is a Roman copy of an original v. to about 230/220 BC, probably in bronze works, of Attalus I, king of Pergamon, was commissioned and stood at the Athena sanctuary of Pergamon. This is proof of his victory over the Celts, who were known as Galatians in Greek Asia Minor region. The name of the artist is unknown, but the work is sometimes attributed to a Epigonos ( Pliny the Elder: " Tubicen " ), who was the court sculptor in the time of Pergamon Attalos.

The statue depicts with remarkable realism a dying barbarians, who, just sitting, looking to hit the ground. Especially the head with his Celtic hairstyle and the typical Celtic mustache looks very lifelike. Except for a neck ring (torques ) the figure is naked. This corresponds approximately to the tradition by Julius Caesar, who reports of naked Gallic warriors. With the statue on the one hand should the victory of Pergamenes be documented, on the other, the strength of the enemy was present to let this victory seem even more glamorous.

The Dying Gaul was copied into one of the most famous works of ancient sculpture, this countless times and was imitated. It is believed that the statue was found in the early 17th century during excavations that took place in the context of the construction of the Villa Ludovisi. In 1623 it was in any event held by the Ludovisi in Rome.

The beginning of the Enlightenment saw in the work a classic example of ancient art and admired the artistic quality and the expressive pathos of representation. Many wealthy art lovers and monarchs could make for themselves reproductions, but also less well-off people often came into the possession of a dying Gaul, in the form of a paperweight. Sometimes it happened that it was assumed the dying constitutes a gladiator, so that misleading terms such as " Wounded Gladiator" were responsible for the Statue and the like floating around. 1797, Napoleon create in the context of his Italian trains numerous valuable works of art in Paris, among whom was also the Dying Gaul. With the restoration in 1815 but this work also came back to Rome and has been exhibited in the Capitoline Museums.