Copy of the Boy with Goose of Boethos

The sculptural group is composed by a child playfully pulling the neck of the goose in his direction, the boy has both feet apart, forming a solid base for the pyramid-shaped composition. The Torlonia sculpture belongs to a successful series of copies, generally used as furnishings for fountains or gardens in villas.

The Roman writer Pliny mentions the creation of a bronze group of a child and goose, created by the sculptor Boethos (Nat. Hist. 34, 84). However, the existence of three artists of that name, who lived between the III and II century BC has made the dating of the prototype difficult to establish.
The Giustiniani-Torlonia group, given the state of conservation, can be dated to the mid-imperial age.

Inventory: MT 448

Material: White marble

Technique: Work sculpted through the use of: chisels (also square-tipped and toothed) rasps

Dating: Imperial age

Origin: Giustiniani Collection