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Baby Boy with Egyptian Goose

This statue is a variation on a theme which was popular in the Roman imperial period: that of boy and goose. The boy’s baby fat and his demonstrative gesture make him Hellenistic in style. Is he playing, as the innocence of his youth would imply, or is he hurting the animal? Is he a mortal child or a variant on baby Hercules strangling the snakes?

Number: 
370
Material: 
Marble
Location of Original: 

Rome, Vatican, Galleria dei Candelabri 214

Size: 
0.53m
Accession: 

Purchased in 1884 from Malpieri of Rome

References: 

Gardner: Journal of Hellenic Studies VI (1885), 6, no.25 (type IV)
Clarac: Musée de Sculpture (1841-53), 877, 2229
Richmond: Journal of Hellenic Studies XXVIII (1908), 19, pl. XIV (similar replica in Cook collection)
Jahreshefte der Öserreichischen Archäologischen Instituts in Wien VI (1903), 227 & pl. VIII (replica in Vienna from Ephesus)
cf. Pliny: Natural History XXXIV.84
Walston: Catalogue of Casts in the Museum of Classical Archaeology (1889), 110, no.577
Reporter: 19 June 1885, 894, no.519

Date: 
Roman. Original: early C3 BCE
Sculptor: 
Of original: Boethos (?)
Provenance: 

Found near Lake Nemi

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