Dying Gaul
by Weston Westmoreland
Title
Dying Gaul
Artist
Weston Westmoreland
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
The Dying Gaul, Capitoline Museums, Rome.
I had wanted to see this Gaul in person for a long time and I was not disappointed. A really moving sculpture of a man, a warrior, defeated beyond hope, beyond his strength. It's not that he is defeated because he gives up, it's because he has nothing left to give, to oppose. And this is the moment when he realizes his fighting is over. Whatever he was defending is lost. So he tries to raise his dying body in a final gesture of defiance, but the weight of his loss won't let him raise his head. All is lost. Such a beautiful statue.
The Dying Gaul, also called the Dying Galatian (Galata Morente) or the Dying Gladiator, is an Ancient Roman marble copy of a lost Greek sculpture. It was known as the Dying Gladiator until the 20th century on the assumption that it depicted a wounded gladiator, although it had been identified as a Gaul or Galatian by the mid-19th century.
The white marble statue which may have originally been painted depicts a wounded, slumping Celt with remarkable realism and pathos, particularly as regards the face. A bleeding sword puncture is visible in his right side. The figure is represented with characteristic hairstyle and moustache and has a torc around his neck. He lies on his fallen shield while his sword, belt, and a curved trumpet lie beside him. The sword hilt bears a lion head.
The statue serves both as a reminder of the Celts' defeat, thus demonstrating the might of the people who defeated them, and a memorial to their bravery as worthy adversaries. Different historians of the time recorded that the Celts of Asia Minor fought naked and their wounds were plain to see on the whiteness of their bodies.
The Dying Galatian became one of the most celebrated works to have survived from antiquity and was endlessly copied. The artistic quality and expressive pathos of the statue aroused great admiration among the educated classes in the 17th and 18th centuries and was a "must-see" sight on the Grand Tour of Europe undertaken by young men of the day.
More amazing statues and Roman images in my Gallery at http://westonwestmoreland.com/collections/rome
You can learn more about what drives me in my blog:
http://inspiringthoughtsandimages.com/
Weston Westmoreland.
Uploaded
September 25th, 2017
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