Wounded Bitch

Cagna ferita
Type: 
Sculpture
Year: 
Roman copy, signed by Sopatros, of a Greek original by Lysippus (late 4th century B.C.)
Material and technique: 
Pentelic marble
Origin: 
Purchased in Rome
Inventory: 
Inv. MB 139
Buy the image

“In our day we have seen at the Capitol...in the cell of Juno, a bronze bitch licking her wound; the marvelous spectacle of the monument and its realistic naturalness – you couldn’t tell it from a live dog – appears not only from the fact that it was dedicated in that place, but also from the tremendous step taken to safeguard it: a public decree established that the custodians were to answer for its safety with their lives, since no sum seemed sufficient....” (Pliny the Elder, Natural History XXXIV:38). The Barracco Museum’s small marble sculpture, signed by the artist Sopatros, is probably a copy of the bronze created by Lysippus and seen by Pliny.

The hall

Rooms 7-8 - Hellenistic Art

These two little rooms display fine copies of Greek sculptures from the early Hellenistic period, together with a number of archaic works.