The Galatians
National Archaeological Museum of Venice displays a remarkable collection of Hellenistic statues, both originals and Roman replicas. Three sculptures of Celtic warriors are very famous: the first is lying dead, the second is kneeling and the third is falling. They are called the Grimanis’ Galatians.
Attributed to the Pergamene school, these statues are marble copies of bronze originals created between the end of the 3rd and the half of the 2nd century B.C. for the Attalids, the kings of Pergamon, who fought and defeated the Barbarians. The celebratory monument, known as the Second Attalid Dedication, was composed of an imprecise number of sculptures depicting Giants, Amazons, Persians and Galatians and, according to Pausania (2nd century A.D.), it stood on the Acropolis. These characters were chosen because of their strong ideological meaning: they evoked mythical and historical battles and they exalted the Greek civilization against the barbarian savagery. This choice confirmed the Attalids’ Greek identity by connecting these characters to the subjects engraved in the Parthenon’s reliefs. Even the Romans admired and copied famous statues of Galatians, which reached Rome as war loot after the Roman conquest of Eastern Mediterranean. Indeed, those works of art stroke because of their expressive faces, their ruffled hair and the dramatic nature of their naked bodies.
The Venetian samples were discovered in Rome, probably in the Grimanis’ estate, where there should have been thermal baths in ancient times. Seven more statues of the Second Attalid Dedication are currently known. They were discovered in Rome too and nowadays they are kept in Naples, Rome, Paris and Aix-en-Provence.
The Grimanis’ Galatians were discovered fragmented and restored by Tiziano Aspetti during the second half of the 16th century. According to some modern archaeologists, Tiziano Aspetti did not restore the statues as they were originally. The Venetian Galatians, two of them belonged to Domenico Grimani and were on show in the Doge’s Palace since 1525, inspired several artists for their artworks. On this point, see the altar piece entitled The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence (1548-1549) by Titian and the paintings by Tintoretto for the Scuola Grande di San Marco (1562-1566) at the present in the Gallerie dell’Accademia: Theft of Saint Mark’s body and Saint Mark saving a Saracen from shipwreck.
