A finely cast large scale bronze of the Borghese Gladiator with exceptional patinaFrench c.1830-50Due to the particularly fine casting of our piece, it seems likely that it is a French-made rather than Italian bronze though it is difficult to be entirely certain of its origin. Our piece has an exceptional patina and stands on a veneered marble base. The Borghese Gladiator quickly became one of the ''must see'' items on a wealthy visitor''s Grand Tour with fine life size and smaller reductions of the piece in some of the most important houses in the world. One was the centrepiece of the sculpture collection at Wilton House, a house renowned for the quality of its sculptural holdings, until this was given to Sir Robeert Walpole who installed it at Houghton. Other versions are at Petworth, Knole and Windsor Castle and there are references showing that Thomas Jefferson imagined a copy of the piece as the ideal centrepiece for a sculpture gallery at Monticello. The piece appears...