Boy with a Rubber Boot

The sculpture is a homage to the love story told in the autobiographical novel Promise at Dawn by the French writer and diplomat Romain Gary, commemorating an episode in the author’s childhood in Vilnius. In the novel, Gary recounts: ‘At nine years of age, far more precociously than Casanova, I took my place among the great lovers of all time, and accomplished a deed of amorous prowess no man, to the best of my knowledge, has ever equalled. I ate, for my lady, one of my rubber galoshes.’* In Romualdas Kvintas’ (1953–2018) signature realistic style, the boy is portrayed gazing up at the sky (as described in the autobiographical novel, Gary’s mother often urged him to look up and admire the sky), clutching a rubber boot to his chest. According to the sculptor’s widow, Kvintas’ son posed for the boy. Two copies of the sculpture were cast, with one now in the Ellex Valiunas collection, and the other standing in Vilnius at the intersection of Basanavičiaus and Mindaugo streets. Gary lived in the house at 18 Basanavičiaus Street between 1917 and 1923, which was later immortalised in his novel Promise at Dawn. The monument to the writer was put up in Vilnius in 2007 at the initiative of the actor Romas Ramanauskas. The sculpture has become one of the most beloved and resonant landmarks for Vilnius residents, brimming with positive emotion.

Text author Jurgita Ludavičienė

* Romain Gary, Promise at Dawn, translated from the French by John Markham Beach, New York, 1961, p. 70.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album THE ART OF MATERIALS. Compiler and text author Jurgita Ludavičienė
© LATGA, Vilnius 2025

The sculpture is a homage to the love story told in the autobiographical novel Promise at Dawn by the French writer and diplomat Romain Gary, commemorating an episode in the author’s childhood in Vilnius. In the novel, Gary recounts: ‘At nine years of age, far more precociously than Casanova, I took my place among the great lovers of all time, and accomplished a deed of amorous prowess no man, to the best of my knowledge, has ever equalled. I ate, for my lady, one of my rubber galoshes.’* In Romualdas Kvintas’ (1953–2018) signature realistic style, the boy is portrayed gazing up at the sky (as described in the autobiographical novel, Gary’s mother often urged him to look up and admire the sky), clutching a rubber boot to his chest. According to the sculptor’s widow, Kvintas’ son posed for the boy. Two copies of the sculpture were cast, with one now in the Ellex Valiunas collection, and the other standing in Vilnius at the intersection of Basanavičiaus and Mindaugo streets. Gary lived in the house at 18 Basanavičiaus Street between 1917 and 1923, which was later immortalised in his novel Promise at Dawn. The monument to the writer was put up in Vilnius in 2007 at the initiative of the actor Romas Ramanauskas. The sculpture has become one of the most beloved and resonant landmarks for Vilnius residents, brimming with positive emotion.

Text author Jurgita Ludavičienė

* Romain Gary, Promise at Dawn, translated from the French by John Markham Beach, New York, 1961, p. 70.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album THE ART OF MATERIALS. Compiler and text author Jurgita Ludavičienė
© LATGA, Vilnius 2025