Inv. Scu 1186

Statue of a naked boy sitting on a rock pulling a thorn from his foot, known as Spinario. The bronze sculpture is usually identified with a young shepherd. Its head, body and rocky seat are cast together.

The genre motif of the extraction of a thorn from the foot was invented in the Hellenistic period and originates from the interest in observing everyday life actions and representing sudden situations.

Very famous in the early Renaissance, the sculpture has given cause for many interpretations of the subject and composition, which has been defined eclectic because it combines a natural and spontaneous posture of the body of Hellenistic conception with the archaic stiffness of the Severan style head. The type of the Boy with Thorn is known from seven copies or variations of the body, in addition to two fragments of the hands, of which one may not be ancient.

Chronological proposals span between the 3rd and 1st century BC, but a date after 50 BC, more likely early Augustan, can be assumed on the basis of stylistic features of the face and hair.

Donated by Sixtus IV in 1471 to the Capitoline collections.