Winged Child Carrying a Torch

1st century B.C.-1st century A.D.

A winged child stands with one elbow raised in this cast bronze, free-standing sculpture. The surface is rough, pitted, and oxidized to green in many areas. In this photograph, the boy’s body faces our right in profile. His head tips down over his left shoulder, coming toward us, and his far elbow is raised as if to shield his face. His right arm hangs long by his side. He has short curly hair and his features are smoothed. A knubby wing thrusts back from the shoulder closer to us. With rounded feet, the child stands on a pedestal base rubbed gold across moldings along the top and bottom.

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On View

West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G14

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    bronze//Black lacquer (rubbed on torso) over red-brown bronze, copper base filled with lead

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 10.6 x 3.4 x 3.5 cm (4 3/16 x 1 5/16 x 1 3/8 in.)
    accessory size (height): 2.4 cm (15/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1957.14.51

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Gustave Dreyfus [1837-1914], Paris; his estate; purchased 1930 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); purchased 1945 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1957 to NGA.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1931

  • Ricci, Seymour de. The Gustave Dreyfus Collection: Renaissance Bronzes. Oxford, 1931: 52, no. 42, pl. 26.

1951

  • Renaissance Bronzes: Statuettes, Reliefs and Plaquettes, Medals and Coins from the Kress Collection. Introduction by Perry B. Cott. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 139, as Standing cupid by Italian 16th Century.

1965

  • Pope-Hennessy, John W. Renaissance Bronzes from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Reliefs, Plaquettes, Statuettes, Utensils and Mortars. London, 1965: no. 460.

1970

  • Gazda, Elaine K., and George M.A. Hanfman. "Ancient Bronzes: Decline, ...," in Art and Technology; a Symposium on Classical Bronzes. eds. Doeringer, ... Cambridge and London, 1970: 254-256, 257, fig. 18.

1983

  • Wilson, Carolyn C. Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1983: 84-85, no. 39.

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 108, repro., as Hellenistic or Roman 2nd Century B.C.-1st Century A.D.

Wikidata ID

Q63810136

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