Spinario, Capitoline Museum

"Probably conceived in the first century BC, formed from Hellenistic models of the third-second century BC for the body, with a head derived from Greek works of the fifth century B. C." (official Guide, 83)





Frontal view

This statue depicting a boy pulling a thorn from his foot is one of a few large-scale bronze works to survive from antiquity. Well-known in Europe, it was very influential on artists in the Italian Renaissance; later it was one of the works Napoleon proudly confiscated. After his defeat, it was returned to the Capitoline collection. This is the kind of genre subject that was popular among Hellenistic sculptors--at a far remove from the heroic athletes and gods of earlier Greek sculpture. Here is a rural theme with a barefoot boy sitting on a rock removing a thorn.
 

Other views

This very famous work has a number of appealing viewing angles. The face, though idealized, has a look of intense concentration.
 




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© 2006 Mary Ann Sullivan. I have photographed (on site), scanned, and manipulated all the images on these pages. Please feel free to use them for personal or educational purposes. They are not available for commercial purposes.