Italian, circa 1800

The present model derives from the celebrated Capitoline Antinous in the Musei Capitolini in Rome (inv. no. MC741), which was reportedly discovered at Hadrian’s villa at Tivoli and is first recorded in the collection of Cardinal Albani in 1733. Although initially identified as Hadrian’s lover Antinous, contemporary scholarship tends to consider it a copy of an early-fourth-century Greek bronze, possibly of the god Hermes. Bronze reductions of the model were produced Francesco Righetti (Christie’s, London, 12^th June 2003, lot 1036) and Giacomo Zoffoli (Sotheby’s, Paris, 23^rd March 2006, lot 49), and a version from the Rome workshop of the Zoffoli family is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. no. A.15-1974). It was also a popular model for plaster and marble versions of the late 18^th and 19^th centuries. The present marble is a rare and particularly beautiful reduction of the antique marble. It is likely to have been carved at the end of the 18^th century or in the early 19^th century by one of the many expert marble carvers employed by Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, Carlo Albacini or, later, Bertel Thorvaldsen. The marble preserves its original skin and has particularly fine detailing, such as in the hair.