The Ludovisi Gaul Killing Himself and His Wife at The Palazzo Altemps, Rome

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The Ludovisi Gaul Killing Himself and His Wife is a Roman marble group that depicts a man plunging a sword into his breast while looking defiantly backwards, supporting the dying figure of a woman with his left arm. It is a Roman copy from the early 2nd century AD, made from a Hellenistic original, dating back to around 230-20 BC. This sculpture was commissioned by Attalus I after his victories over the Gauls of Galatia. Other notable marble copies from the same project include the Dying Gaul and the Kneeling Gaul. The Ludovisi sculpture first appeared in an inventory taken on February 2, 1623, and was possibly found at the Villa Ludovisi grounds in Rome shortly before that. The area had been part of the Gardens of Sallust in Classical times, and it yielded many Roman and Greek sculptures through the 19th century. The sculpture is now housed in the Museo Nazionale di Roma's Palazzo Altemps branch in Rome. It gained widespread admiration from the 17th century onwards, appearing in engravings by Perrier and being codified by Audran as one of the sculptures that defined the human body's fine proportions. Nicolas Poussin adapted the figure for his Rape of the Sabine Women painting, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Visitors and writers found many Roman historical subjects to explain the sculpture's action, including the story of Marius who killed himself and his daughter due to accusations of incest with her. Giovanni Francesco Susini created a small bronze version, while François Lespingola copied it for Louis XIV. The marble was later copied by Prince Luigi Boncompagni Ludovisi in 1816-19 and sent to several European leaders, including the Prince Regent, Prince Metternich, and Wilhelm von Humboldt.