Marble Sculpture: Young Neapolitan Fisherman Playing With A Turtle (or The Boy With The Turtle)

This white marble work is a sculpted reproduction of the famous statue “Young Neapolitan Fisherman Playing with a Turtle” (sometimes simply referred to as The Boy with the Turtle), originally created by the French Romantic sculptor François Rude. The original plaster model was created around 1831, and the official marble version was presented at the 1833 Salon before joining the collections of the Louvre Museum

The statue depicts a very young boy, completely naked, sitting directly on rocky ground at the water’s edge. His posture is particularly dynamic, captured in the heat of the moment: he is crouching, his body leaning forward, his left leg extended and his right leg tucked beneath him.
His attention is completely captivated by a small turtle with which he is playing.
Beneath short hair with thick, tousled curls, the boy wears a broad, candid smile, almost mischievous. His gaze is lowered and fixed downward, observing the small reptile. This cheerful and spontaneous expression lends the work a strong sense of life and freshness, breaking with the rigid seriousness of traditional classical sculpture.
The child wears a Phrygian cap typical of Neapolitan sailors and fishermen of the time.

The sculpture is in good condition; it measures 78 cm long by 85 cm high.