In regard to the bronze statue shown in Fig. 116 there
is more room for doubt, but the weight of opinion is in
favor of placing it here. It is confidently claimed by a
high authority that this is an original Greek bronze.
There exist also fragmentary copies of the same in
marble and free imitations in marble and in bronze. The
statue represents a boy of perhaps twelve, absorbed in
pulling a thorn from his foot. We do not know the
original purpose of the work; perhaps it commemorated a
victory won in a foot-race of boys. The left leg of the
figure is held in a position which gives a somewhat
ungraceful outline;
Praxiteles would not have placed it
so. But how delightful is the picture of childish
innocence and self-forgetfulness! This statue might be
regarded as an epitome of the artistic spirit and
capacity of the age – its simplicity and purity and
freshness of feeling, its not quite complete
emancipation from the formalism of an earlier day.
F. B. Tarbell, A History of Ancient Greek Art
