Statuette pacing horse
Statuette
1500-1550 (made)
1500-1550 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Horses like this, based on the famed antique Horses of San Marco, were extremely popular, as were classical examples. Nonetheless, the collector Fra Sabba di Castiglione ridiculed ‘the man who spends five hundred ducats on a silly little antique horse of bronze, which not only cannot carry him, but is itself a load to carry’.
The statuette depends directly from the southernmost of the Horses of San Marco. Several horses of this type exist. The present bronze is the finest, and reproduces uniquely the blocked mane of the Horses of San Marco. A small hole in either flank seems to indicate that it may at one time have borne a rider.
The statuette depends directly from the southernmost of the Horses of San Marco. Several horses of this type exist. The present bronze is the finest, and reproduces uniquely the blocked mane of the Horses of San Marco. A small hole in either flank seems to indicate that it may at one time have borne a rider.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Statuette pacing horse (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Cast bronze |
| Brief description | Statuette, bronze, a horse, by Antico, Italy (Mantua), ca. 1500-1550 |
| Physical description | Bronze statuette of a horse with left foreleg raised as though pacing forward. Head turned to the spectator. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Presented by Art Fund |
| Object history | Purchased by National Art-Collections Fund from Frank Partridge & Sons for £ 1700, and presented to the Museum, in 1957. Previously in the Paul Fischer collection, Budapest. Historical significance: The statuette depends directly from the southernmost of the Horses of San Marco. Several horses of this type exist. The present bronze is the finest, and reproduces uniquely the blocked mane of the Horses of San Marco. A small hole in either flank seems to indicate that it may at one time have borne a rider. |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | Horses like this, based on the famed antique Horses of San Marco, were extremely popular, as were classical examples. Nonetheless, the collector Fra Sabba di Castiglione ridiculed ‘the man who spends five hundred ducats on a silly little antique horse of bronze, which not only cannot carry him, but is itself a load to carry’. The statuette depends directly from the southernmost of the Horses of San Marco. Several horses of this type exist. The present bronze is the finest, and reproduces uniquely the blocked mane of the Horses of San Marco. A small hole in either flank seems to indicate that it may at one time have borne a rider. |
| Bibliographic reference | Bober, P. P. and Rubinstein, R. O. Renaissance Artists and Antique Sculpture, a Handbook of Sources. Oxford, 1986, p. 209 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | A.15-1957 |
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| Record created | December 12, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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