The original marble versions of these bronzes were discovered in 1736 by Monsignor Furietti at Hadrian's Villa. Their decorative qualities offered copyists great possibilites for production in small-scale bronzes. Thus the latter part of the 18th century and the start of the 19th saw them produced in large numbers, both as miniature bronzes and life-size marble and plaster versions.
F.Haskell and N.Penny, Taste and the Antique - The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900, London, 1981, pp.178-179, figs. 91 and 92.