Large Bronze Borghese Gladiator - after Agasias D'éphèse

Large Bronze Borghese Gladiator - after Agasias D'éphèse
Late 18th/early 19th century.
A lunging male nude warrior mounted on a black marble rectangular plinth base
H21” x W18” x D 9” 
£985
Ref/25067
The Borghese Gladiator is an ancient marble sculpture attributed to Agasias of Ephesus, dating from c. 100 BC, and is now housed in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. Discovered in Nettuno, Italy, in 1611, the sculpture later became part of the Borghese Collection under Cardinal Scipione Borghese before being sold to Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807. Although traditionally identified as a gladiator, the figure is now understood to depict a heroic warrior engaged in combat. Admired throughout the eighteenth century for its idealised anatomy and dynamic composition, the sculpture influenced generations of European artists and sculptors, including Edgar Degas.
Comparative Literature
F. Haskell & N. Penny, Taste and the Antique: The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900, New Haven, CT, 1981, pp. 221-224