From Ken Harrison
Brigg's pub sign was sculptured by William Clark and erected in 1863.
Clark was a friend of the Elwes family and owner of the pub.
Alleged that Clark got the idea from seeing the marble statue of the Dying Gaul, circa 230AD, in Rome.
However, the DG was one of the 'must see' sights for the European Grand Tour of the rich from the 18th C. Indeed, the poet, Lord Byron, on seeing the statue included a reference to it in his poem, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, circa 1815.
He leans upon his hand — his manly brow
Consents to death, but conquers agony,
And his drooped head sinks gradually low—
And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow
Numerous miniatures of the DG were made and stood on the shelves of the rich and famous.
A bronze-cast version is in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and there are several similar copies around the world.
At the time of sculpture, the Gauls, a tribe of Celts, were fighting the Romans in northern Italy...and the conflict was not resolved until about 200BC.
It was a common practice for Romans to display statutes, or reliefs of dying soldiers in a similar style. It was customary to show the fatally injured fighter with, or holding the tools of battle. The DG is actually sitting on his shield and a sword is laying close by. Sides of a tomb would display, in relief, the romantic image of a dying soldiers, particularly if he had been killed in battle.
It seems that this artistic image evolved from the Greeks, some centuries earlier.
The Dying Warrior, minus weapons, circa 500BC is on the display in Aegina in Greece.
The statues display quite distinctive hairstyles - DW = Greek; DG = Gaul (see also Asterix the Gaul cartoons with similar styles. Not certain about the DG - probably typical 1860 (like today) style.
Anyway, the DG appears to be sculptured in the 'style of', rather than being an exact copy.
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Clarifications:
1. The Romans conquered the Gauls in Northern Italy circa 200BC, but as the Roman Empired expanded into NW Europe there were various other clashes with Celtic Gauls. (Our cartoon Asterix - leader of an isolated tribe, was still battling with the Romans in about 50BC!)
2. Miniature copies of the Dying Gaul (a memento of the The Grand Tour) were often erroneously referred to as a Dying Gladiator - obviously indicating that the name was, within certain affluent circles, in fairly common use before Willy Clark sculptured his Dying Gladiator. (As he associated with the Elwes family, did the Elwes have such a miniature?)
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