Relief of a youth with his horse and dog
A youth - perhaps Castor, twin brother of Pollux, together known as the Dioskuri - with his horse and dog. The youth once controlled his spirited horse with a metal bridle attached to the hole in its muzzle. This marble panel carved in relief was made to decorate a wall of the Roman emperor Hadrian's villa in Tivoli, Italy. The sculptor was influenced by Greek models such as the Parthenon frieze, which was carved around 438-432 BCE.
Reputed to have been excavated by Gavin Hamilton in about 1769 or in 1770, in the part of Hadrian's Villa 'now called the Pantanella', per the First Townley Inventory. But it was evidently purchased in 1768, when Hamilton had not yet begun to excavate there.
According to the documents relating to the purchase, this relief was sold to Townley as representing ‘Alexander and Bucephalus’, but Townley himself later consistently identified the youth as Castor, ‘an attribution unsupported by any evidence’
Roman, about AD 125
Marble
Found at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli, Italy
British Museum, Townley Collection (1805,0703.121)
Relief of a youth with his horse and dog
A youth - perhaps Castor, twin brother of Pollux, together known as the Dioskuri - with his horse and dog. The youth once controlled his spirited horse with a metal bridle attached to the hole in its muzzle. This marble panel carved in relief was made to decorate a wall of the Roman emperor Hadrian's villa in Tivoli, Italy. The sculptor was influenced by Greek models such as the Parthenon frieze, which was carved around 438-432 BCE.
Reputed to have been excavated by Gavin Hamilton in about 1769 or in 1770, in the part of Hadrian's Villa 'now called the Pantanella', per the First Townley Inventory. But it was evidently purchased in 1768, when Hamilton had not yet begun to excavate there.
According to the documents relating to the purchase, this relief was sold to Townley as representing ‘Alexander and Bucephalus’, but Townley himself later consistently identified the youth as Castor, ‘an attribution unsupported by any evidence’
Roman, about AD 125
Marble
Found at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli, Italy
British Museum, Townley Collection (1805,0703.121)