C19th French bronze ''Grand Tour'' souvenir study of Sophocles by F. Barbedienne Foundry, Paris. Superbly cast , large-scale study of the ancient Roman version of the Greek tragedian poet and playwright Sophocles ,having an exceptional patina. Cast and inscribed by the Ferdinand Barbedienne Foundry of Paris ,and also bearing the stamped seal mark of the patented ''Achille Collas'' reduction method (''Reduction Mechanique'') which allowed and introduced the facility to produce reductions of large-scaled statuary from both museums and private collections , to be produced and made available to the wider market .This study known as the “Lateran Sophocles” is a reduction copy of the ancient Roman marble version based upon a Greek bronze original from antiquity (330-340 BC) exhibited in the Lateran Museum ,Rome (Museo Lateranense) founded by the Popes and housed in the Lateran Palace. The Roman statue was excavated in the Theatre of Dionysus and Athena at Terracina in 1839.Th...