The Dying Gaul

The bronze original is now considered to be the work of the Greek sculptor Epigonos and was part of a victory monument built by Attalos I of Pergamum around 230 BC. BC was built after victories over the Celtic Galatians. The pride of the defeated, which the Greeks admire, can be clearly seen in the figure of the “Dying Gaul”. “He awaits death with great composure, not with a face contorted in pain. The deep wound on the right side indicates a puncture in the lung. The ancient observer who experienced death knew that those affected in this way would face a slow death that had to be endured,” explains Pfeifer.

The Romans copied the Greek figure in marble, so that the traveling party around Prince Franz of Anhalt-Dessau noticed it during their stay in Rome in 1765.
Also on tour at the time was the plasterer and sculptor Johann Christian Ehrlich, who learned a lot about the methods of copying and restoring ancient sculptures from the antiques restorer Bartolomeo Cavaceppis. This means that in Dessau he is ideally able to carry out such work based on templates.

A lot of effort goes into details and conveys a themed world that is self-contained.

One of the many great statues in the gardens.