Spinario, The Bronze Thorn Shooter Signed Barbedienne Ht 32 Cm

The thorn shooter, Spinario in Italian. Patinated bronze signed F Barbedienne and Collas 19th century Large model 32 cm high Excellent condition The Thorn Shooter, in Italian Spinario, is a statuary type representing a young boy removing a thorn from his foot. The best-known example is a bronze sculpture exhibited in the Hall of Triumphs of the Palace of the Conservators (Capitoline Museums) in Rome. Generally dated to the 1st century BC. BC, it constitutes a fine example of the principle of eclecticism, that is to say of “the antique after the antique”. The type brings together several bronzes, marbles and terracotta figurines. It represents, most of the time in life size, a young boy removing a thorn from his foot. The theme is found in representations of Pan and satyrs and therefore links the boy to the world of Dionysus. The copy from the Capitol: The statue, 73 cm high, combines a head in the severe style with a body in a later style. It is made up of several parts melted separately and then welded. The body and the rock are made from a single piece, while the right arm and the head were made separately. Originally, red copper covered the figure's lips and the eyes were probably inlaid with ivory or marble. It was probably designed during the 1st century BC. BC based on Hellenistic models of the 3rd – 2nd century BC. BC for the body, while the head derives from Greek works of the 5th century BC. The singular and extremely graceful pose of the character, surprised in an unusual gesture, made it one of the most admired and copied works of the Renaissance. This work raised a certain number of questions from the 19th century onwards, linked to a particularity: the young boy's hair, according to the logic of gravity, should fall. It was therefore thought that this statue was made in two batches: the body of the Spinario would be inspired by a Hellenistic model, on which the author of the bronze, Roman, would have adapted a head copied from an older work, without correcting the hair. This sculpture has been the subject of numerous interpretations. In the 16th century, Benjamin ben Jonah of Tudèle (Navarre) identified the boy with the biblical character of Absalom, son of David, renowned for his great beauty. He has also been associated with the legendary story of a young shepherd, Gnaeus Martius, who is said to have saved Rome by carrying an urgent message to the Senate, only stopping to extract the thorn that injured his foot after having accomplished his mission. . In the Middle Ages, there were numerous reproductions of the Thorn Shooter. The name of Martius being close to the name of the month of March, a month which often coincides with the period of Lent, the Spinario could be interpreted as a symbol of penance, tearing out the "thorn from the flesh". The Thorn Shooter was once placed in front of the Lateran Palace, among other famous ancient statues. Its presence has been attested since the 12th century in Rome. The statue was given to the city of Rome by Pope Sixtus IV in 1471, with the donation of the Lateran bronzes to the Roman people1. Taken by Napoleon Bonaparte among his war spoils and kept at the Louvre from 1798 to 1815, upon the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte it was returned by Louis XVIII to the Papal States, with multiple other masterpieces removed to Rome, notably the Bust of Brutus. Pope Pius VII immediately had the Thornshooter and the Bust of Brutus put back in their place, in the Hall of Triumphs of the Palace of the Conservators, today part of the Capitoline Museums (in the adjacent room, Hall of the Captains, an inscription in marble recalls this restitution in honor of Pope Pius VII).