“Electra and Orestes” or “Papirius and his Mother”
Italian School, Late 18th – Early 19th Century, after the Antique
White marble group
Dimensions: H. 80 cm – W. 47 cm – D. 18 cm
Condition: Visible losses and restorations
This white marble group is based on an ancient Roman original from the 1st century BC, now housed in the National Roman Museum at Palazzo Altemps (inv. 8604). Discovered in the Horti Sallustiani in Rome, the sculpture was first documented in the 1623 Ludovisi inventory.
Historically referred to as Friendship, the group was especially admired by Grand Tour travelers and antiquarians. A plaster cast, followed by a marble version, was commissioned by Louvois for Louis XIV, under the title The Peace of the Greeks.
The subject remains iconographically ambiguous: it may represent Electra and Orestes, the children of Agamemnon in Greek mythology, or Papirius and his Mother, a Roman allegory of filial virtue.
