A FRENCH BRONZE FIGURE OF THE BORGHESE GLADIATOR

The marble original, now in the Louvre, is first recorded on 11 June 1611, at which time it was being restored following its excavation at Nettuno, near Anzio. By 1613, it was definitely in the Borghese collection, where it remained until it was purchased by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807. It was to become one of the most admired of all antique statues, and was much copied, often - as here - in reduced form either with, or without, the figure's sword and shield restored (Haskell and Penny, loc. cit.).