When I photographed these plaster casts, the slanting autumn sunlight illuminated them in such a way that I could believe the hypothesis of the late fourth century B.C. dating and a possible attribution to Skopas of Paros. In fact, in 1976, this set of plaster casts of Cardinal Fernandode’ Medici’s prized ancient Niobe sculpture group in the “Niobe Room” in the Galleria degli Uffizi was made by the retired restorer, Michel Bourbon in response to a commission from Balthus (the French artist of Polish descent Balthasar Klossowski de Rola) as director of the Villa Medici.
