AFTER THE ANTIQUE, AN ITALIAN BRONZE STATUETTE OF THE GREEK MYTHOLOGICAL FIGURE NARCISSUS NAPLES, LATE 19TH CENTURY 39cm high Provenance: The Simon Neal Collection Led by foundries such as the Fonderia Chiurazzi, the Italian city of Naples has established a strong tradition of casting bronze statues after the antique ever since the discoveries at the neighbouring sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum and the removal of most of their sculptural treasures to the Museo Archeoloigco Nazionale di Napoli. Standing in elegant contrapposto the iconic model of Narcissus, discovered in 1862, in the eponymous House of Narcissus at Pompeii, represents the classical ideal of youthful male beauty.