Boy Struggling with a Goose

Boy Struggling with a Goose: A sculpture from the Hellenistic Era by Ashley Burden

The sculpture I chose was the “Boy Struggling with a Goose”. There seems to be some confusion on whether the boy is strangling the goose, or merely playing with it. It is very tough to say since the goose appears to be the same size as the boy. The creator of this was Greek sculptor Boethos of Chalcedon in the 200-150 BCE timeframe. Boethos was thought to specialize in sculpture including children. It was originally thought to have been produced in bronze and many replicas have been made since in silver and many other media. Most of the replicas dimensions have been anywhere from 24 inches to 33 inches. The sculpture is very intrinsic and precise; it shows the little boy’s round legs and small, infant like curl above his forehead, as well as showing lines showing his chubbiness. The sculpture has pyramidal composition and can be seen from various sides. This goose with the child seems to be quite popular during this era. It appears to be just as popular as the naked women that were created during this time. Many say that it was reproduced so much because it was so detailed and played out the youthfulness of children. It was found in a fountain in a villa in Rome in 1789. It was made during the Hellenistic civilization.  It does still exist, and was sold to the Glyptothek in Munich, Germany in 1812. Several copies of the work exist and can be found in the Vatican Museum and in Rome at the Museo Capitolino. I viewed it in our textbook, The Western Humanities on page 108, and I used many websites to research it (which is cited in the works cited page).

I enjoyed looking at the sculpture because it depicts youthful, playfulness that most adults can not relate to with their age. It brings a sense of nostalgia for me to imagine that little boy playing with this bird and thoroughly enjoying himself, I don’t think that it is meant to be a cruel thing as some may think, I just don’t see someone depicting a child in a negative way. From my research, I gathered that it must be quite popular with others as well since one website had a replica being sold for over $3200. There also was said to be hidden meaning behind the sculpture. Some say that the goose is Dionysos or Harpokrates and the boy is overcoming the need to have evil tendencies. I thought that it was very exact in how a young child looks.  Overall, I was very impressed with the sculpture.

Works Cited

Lahanas, Michael. “Ancient Greek and Hellenistic Art: Children with Animals.” Hellenica, Information about Greece and Cyprus, Michael Lahanas. Web. 10 Jan. 2011. <http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Arts/ChildGoose.htm&gt;

The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. “The Journal of Hellenic Studies.” 1885 Web. 10 Jan. 2011.  <http://www.jstor.org/pss/623383>

Matthews, Roy T., and F. DeWitt. Platt. “Chapter 4.” The Western Humanities. New York: McGraw Hill, 2007. Print.

Ridgway, Brunilde Sismondo. Hellenistic Sculpture. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin, 1990. Print.

Ridgway, Brunilde S. “The Boy Strangling the Goose: Genre Figure or Mythological Symbol?” American Journal of Archaeology. Web. 16 Jan. 2011. <http://www.ajaonline.org/index.php?ptype=content&aid=245&gt;.