Pothos

The statue has been identified with the work first described by the Roman scholar Ulisse Aldovrandi, who in the 16th century admired at the Quirinale, in the garden of Cardinal Aldo Pio Carpi: this identification is supported by the fact that the sculpture still had its original head, while only the arms and the left foot were missing - the same arms and feet that appear to be integrated in this copy of the Pothos in the Gallery. On the death of Cardinal Carpi, the work was sold and may have passed through the hands of different antiquarians and collectors, before being acquired by the young Ferdinando de' Medici, probably in 1584. As in the case of the second Pothos in the Uffizi, this too was initially identified as an "Apollo with a Swan", before being recognised, at the beginning of the 20th century, as a Roman copy of a Pothos, the god of amorous yearning, which can be traced back to an original creation by the great Skopas of Paros.