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National Gallery of Art Present The Dying Gaul: An Ancient Roman Masterpiece from the Capitoline Museum Rome

The National Gallery of Art, Roma Capitale, and the Embassy of Italy in Washington, DC, present one of the most famous works from antiquity, the Dying Gaul, an ancient Roman sculpture created during the first or second century AD, traveling outside of Italy for the first time in more than two centuries. On view from December 12, 2013, through March 16, 2014, The Dying Gaul: An Ancient Roman Masterpiece from the Capitoline Museum, Rome celebrates the marble masterwork and the cultural connections between Italy and the United States.

Dying Gaul, Roman, 1st or 2nd century AD marble, 37 x 73 7/16 x 35 1/16 in. Sovrintendenza Capitolina — Musei Capitolini, Rome, Italy
Dying Gaul, Roman, 1st or 2nd century AD marble, 37 x 73 7/16 x 35 1/16 in. Sovrintendenza Capitolina — Musei Capitolini, Rome, Italy
The Dying Gaul portrays a Gallic warrior in his final moments, his face contorted in pain as he falls from a fatal wound to the chest.

The Dying Gaul was found in Rome in the gardens of the Villa Ludovisi with another ancient marble sculpture, the Gaul Committing Suicide with his Wife. The two were probably unearthed during excavations for the villa’s foundation between 1621 and 1623. The sculptures are Roman copies of Greek bronze originals created in the third century BC to commemorate the victory of the king of Pergamon over the Gauls.

The sculptures were not immediately recognized as depictions of Gallic warriors. The earliest record of the Dying Gaul in 1623 describes it as a dying gladiator. Years later, the presence of a trumpet on the base led the German art historian and archaeologist Johann Winckelmann (1717–1768) to suggest that the subject was instead a Greek herald. At the turn of the 18th century scholars began to recognize that the figure depicts a Gallic warrior.

The fame of The Dying Gaul spread soon after its discovery partly on account of an engraving by the French artist François Perrier published in 1638. Full-size copies were commissioned by King Philip IV of Spain (reigned 1621–1665) and Louis XIV of France (reigned 1661–1715). Bronze statuettes produced by the Italian sculptor Giovanni Francesco Susini in the 1630’s made the work available to a larger audience.

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1