Citation

Dozio E. Antike Kunst 2010; 53: 74-87.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

This discussion of the Gaul committing suicide, the statuary group in Palazzo Altemps, is based on anatomical observation. The preserved parts of the sculpture in fact allow an accurate and anatomically correct reconstruction of the warrior's missing right arm; inconsistencies between the present and the original state of the figure are brought to light. Furthermore, several adaptations of this iconographical scheme in the minor arts have been recognized. These citations are concentrated in areas of Pergamene influence and in Antonine Rome. In some cases we find, alongside the Gaul committing suicide, the figures known to us through the Ludovisi copies: the dead woman and the dying Gaul. Another barbarian is regularly to be seen in these contexts: an old fighter we have called the "barbarian chieftain", who leans on his left arm and uses the right to take his own life. He is first attested in the Small Gallic Group; here we set out the hypothesis that he was originally created for the Large Gallic Group. Two marble fragments (head and right arm), similar to the Ludovisi copies and of comparable dimensions, can probably be attributed to a sculpture of this type.

Language: it