Equestrian statue

Anequestrian statueis astatueof a rider mounted on ahorse,from theLatineques,meaning 'knight', deriving fromequus,meaning 'horse'.A statue of a riderless horse is strictly anequine statue.A full-sized equestrian statue is a difficult and expensive object for any culture to produce, and figures have typically been portraits of rulers or, in the Renaissance and more recently, military commanders.

History

Khosrow Parvizis standing here. On his left isAhura Mazda,on his right isAnahita,and below is, Khosrau dressed as a mounted Persian knight riding on his favourite horse,Shabdiz,in the city of,Kermanshah,Iran

Ancient Greece

Equestrian statuary in the West dates back at least as far asArchaic Greece.Found on theAthenian acropolis,the sixth-century BC statue known as theRampin Riderdepicts akourosmounted on horseback.

Ancient Middle and Far East

A number of ancientEgyptian,AssyrianandPersianreliefsshow mounted figures, usually rulers, though no free-standing statues are known. The ChineseTerracotta Armyhas no mounted riders, though cavalrymen stand beside their mounts, but smallerTang dynastypottery tomb Qua figures often include them, at a relatively small scale. No Chinese portrait equestrian statues were made until modern times; statues of rulers are not part of traditional Chinese art, and indeed even painted portraits were only shown to high officials on special occasions until the eleventh century.

Ancient Rome

This horse head fromSuasawas once part of a large equestrian monument.c. 40 AD.Walters Art Museum,Baltimore.

Such statues frequently commemorated military leaders, and those statesmen who wished tosymbolicallyemphasize the active leadership role undertaken since Roman times by the equestrian class, theequites(plural ofeques) or knights.

There were numerousbronzeequestrian portraits (particularly of the emperors) inancient Rome,but they did not survive because they were melted down for reuse of the alloy ascoin,church bells,or other, smaller projects (such as new sculptures for Christian churches); the standingColossus of Barlettalost parts of his legs and arms to Dominican bells in 1309. Almost the only sole survivingRomanequestrian bronze, theequestrian statue of Marcus Aureliusin Rome, owes its preservation on theCampidoglio,to the popular misidentification ofMarcus Aurelius,the philosopher-emperor, withConstantine the Great,the Christian emperor. TheRegisole( "Sun King" ) was a bronze classical or Late Antique equestrian monument of a ruler, highly influential during the Italian Renaissance but destroyed in 1796 in the wake of theFrench Revolution.It was originally erected atRavenna,but moved toPaviain the Middle Ages, where it stood on a column before the cathedral. A fragment of an equestrian portrait sculpture ofAugustushas also survived.

Medieval Europe

Equestrian statues were not very frequent in theMiddle Ages.Nevertheless, there are some examples, like theBamberg Horseman(German:Der Bamberger Reiter), inBamberg Cathedral.Another example is theMagdeburg Reiter,in the city ofMagdeburg,that depicts EmperorOtto I.There are a few roughly half-size statues ofSaint George and the Dragon,including the famous ones inPragueandStockholm.TheScaliger TombsinVeronainclude Gothic statues at less than life-size. A well-known small bronzeequestrian statuette of Charlemagne(or another emperor) in Paris may be a contemporary portrait ofCharlemagne,although its date and subject are uncertain.

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  Bamberg Horseman(1225–1237), Bamberg
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  MagdeburgHorseman (1240), Magdeburg
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  St. George and dragon (1373), Prague
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  Tilman Riemenschneider:Hl Georg (1490–1495), Bode Museum

Renaissance

Donatello:Statue of Gattamelata(1444–1453)

After the Romans, no surviving monumental equestrian bronze was cast in Europe until 1415–1450, whenDonatellocreated the heroic bronzeequestrian statue of Gattamelatathecondottiere,erected inPadua.In fifteenth-century Italy, this became a form to memorialize successful mercenary generals, as evidenced by the painted equestrian funerary monuments toSir John HawkwoodandNiccolò da TolentinoinFlorence Cathedral,and thestatue of Bartolomeo Colleoni(1478–1488) cast byVerrocchioinVenice.

Leonardo da Vincihad planned acolossal equestrian monument to the Milanese ruler, Francesco Sforza,but was only able to create a clay model. The bronze was reallocated for military use in theFirst Italian War.Similar sculptures have survived in small scale:The Wax Horse and Rider(c. 1506–1508) is a fragmentary model for an equestrian statue ofCharles d'Amboise.TheRearing Horse and Mounted Warriorin bronze was also attributed to Leonardo.

Titian's equestrian portrait ofCharles V, Holy Roman Emperor,of 1548 applied the form again to a ruler. Theequestrian statue of Cosimo Ide' Medici (1598) byGiambolognain the center ofFlorencewas a life size representation of the Grand-Duke, erected by his son Ferdinand I.

Ferdinand himself would be memorialized in 1608 with an equestrianstatue in Piazza della Annunziatawas completed by Giambologna's assistant,Pietro Tacca.Tacca's studio would produce such models for the rulers in France and Spain. His last public commission was the colossal equestrian bronze ofPhilip IV,begun in 1634 and shipped to Madrid in 1640. In Tacca's sculpture, atop a fountain composition that forms the centerpiece of the façade of the Royal Palace, the horse rears, and the entire weight of the sculpture balances on the two rear legs, and discreetly, its tail, a novel feat for a statue of this size.

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  Verrocchio:Equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni(1480–1495)
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  Bernt Notke:St George and the Dragon(1489), bronze replica of wooden sculpture, Stockholm
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  Giambologna:Equestrian statue of Cosimo I(1598)
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  Pietro Tacca:Monument to Philip IV of Spain(1634–1640)

Absolutism

TheBronze HorsemanbyÉtienne Maurice Falconet(1768–1782)

During the age ofAbsolutism,especially inFrance,equestrian statues were popular with rulers;Louis XIVwas typical in having one outside hisPalace of Versailles,and the over life-size statue in thePlace des Victoiresin Paris byFrançois Girardon(1699) is supposed to be the first large modern equestrian statue to be cast in a single piece; it was destroyed in theFrench Revolution,though there is a small version in theLouvre.The near life-size equestrian statue ofCharles I of EnglandbyHubert Le Sueurof 1633 atCharing Crossin London is the earliest large English example, which was followed by many. The equestrian statue of KingJosé I of Portugal,in thePraça do Comércio,was designed byJoaquim Machado de Castroafter the1755 Lisbon earthquakeand is a pinnacle of Absolutist age statues in Europe. TheBronze Horseman(Russian:Медный всадник,literally "The Copper Horseman" ) is an iconic equestrian statue, on a huge base, ofPeter the Greatof 1782 byÉtienne Maurice FalconetinSaint Petersburg,Russia.The use of French artists for both examples demonstrates the slow spread of the skills necessary for creating large works, but by the nineteenth century most large Western countries could produce them without the need to import skills, and most statues of earlier figures are actually from the nineteenth or early twentieth century.

Equestrian statue ofFrederick William,Elector of Brandenburg, built 1696–1703

United States

See also:List of equestrian statues in the United States

In the colonial era, an equestrian statue ofGeorge IIIby English sculptorJoseph Wiltonstood onBowling GreeninNew York City.This was the first such statue in the United States, erected in 1770 but destroyed on July 9, 1776, six days after theDeclaration of Independence.The 4,000-pound (1,800 kg) gilded lead statue was toppled and cut into pieces, which were made into bullets for use in theAmerican Revolutionary War.Some fragments survived and in 2016 the statue was recreated for a museum.

In the United States, the first three full-scale equestrian sculptures erected wereClark Mills'Andrew Jackson(1852) inWashington, D.C.;Henry Kirke Brown'sGeorge Washington(1856) inNew York City;andThomas Crawford's George Washington inRichmond, Virginia(1858). Mills was the first American sculptor to overcome the challenge of casting a rider on a rearing horse. The resulting sculpture (of Jackson) was so popular he repeated it forNew Orleans,Nashville,andJacksonville.

Cyrus Edwin Dallinmade a specialty of equestrian sculptures of American Indians: hisAppeal to the Great Spiritstands before theMuseum of Fine Arts,Boston.TheRobert Gould Shaw Memorialin Boston is a well-knownreliefincluding an equestrian portrait.

Twentieth century

Lobey Dosser (and Rank Bajin) on El Fidelio, commemoratingBud Neill

As the twentieth century progressed, the popularity of the equestrian monument declined sharply, as monarchies fell and the military use of horses virtually vanished. Thestatue of Queen Elizabeth II riding BurmeseinCanada,and statues ofRani LakshmibaiinGwaliorandJhansi,India, are some of the rare portrait statues with female riders. (AlthoughJoan of Archas been so portrayed a number of times,and anequestrian statue of Queen Victoriafeatures prominently inGeorge Square,Glasgow). In America, the late 1970s and early 1980s witnessed something of a revival in equestrian monuments, largely in theSouthwestern United States.There, art centers such asLoveland, Colorado,Shidoni Foundry inNew Mexico,and various studios inTexasonce again began producing equestrian sculpture.

Equestrian statue of GeneralJohan LaidonerinViljandi,Estonia

These revival works fall into two general categories, the memorialization of a particular individual or the portrayal of general figures, notably the AmericancowboyorNative Americans.Such monuments can be found throughout the American Southwest.

In Glasgow, the sculpture of Lobey Dosser on El Fidelio, erected in tribute toBud Neill,is claimed to be the only two-legged equestrian statue in the world.

Tallest and largest equestrian statue

Second tallest equestrian statue:General ArtigasinMinas,Uruguay

The monument to generalJose Gervasio ArtigasinMinas, Uruguay(18 meters tall, 9 meters long, 150,000 kg), was the world's largest equestrian statue until 2008. The current largest is the 40-meter-tallequestrian statue of Genghis Khanat Boldog, 54 km fromUlaanbaatar,Mongolia,where, according to legend,Genghis Khanfound thegolden whip.

TheMarjing Polo Statue,standing in theMarjing Polo Complex,Imphal East,Manipur(122 feet (37 m) tall), completed in 2022–23, is the world's tallest equestrian statue of apoloplayer. It depicts ancient Meitei deityMarjing,aMeitei horse (Manipuri pony)andSagol Kangjei(Meiteifor 'polo').

The world's largest equestrian sculpture, when completed, will be theCrazy Horse MemorialinSouth Dakota,at a planned 641 feet (195 m) wide and 563 feet (172 m) high, even though only the upper torso and head of the rider and front half of the horse will be depicted. Also on a huge scale, the carvings onStone MountaininGeorgia,the United States, are equestrian sculpture rather than true statues, the largestbas-reliefin the world. The world's largest equestrianbronzestatues are theJuan de Oñatestatue (2006) inEl Paso, Texas;a 1911 statue inAltare della PatriainRome;and thestatue of Jan Žižka(1950) inPrague.

Other statues of particular note

• Memorial atVlamertingeto commemorate the one million horses killed in WW1
• Memorial of CaptainEdward CheneyatGaddesbyshowing him on a dying horse – he had five horses shot out from under him at theBattle of Waterlooand led the charge of theRoyal Scots Greys– the only equestrian statue in a British church
• Memorial to "Crimean Bob" the last horse to die following service at the Battle of Waterloo, inCahir
• The Kelpies,pair of 30m high horse heads nearFalkirkin Scotland

Hoof-position symbolism

Equestrian statue of Confederate GeneralJames Longstreeton his horse Hero in Pitzer Woods atGettysburg National Military Park,Gettysburg, PA

In many parts of the world, anurban legendstates that if the horse is rearing (both front legs in the air), the rider died in battle; one front leg up means the rider was wounded in battle; and if all four hooves are on the ground, the rider died outside battle. A rider depicted as dismounted and standing next to their horse often indicates that both were killed during battle.For example,Richard the Lionheartis memorialised, mountedpassant,outside thePalace of WestminsterbyCarlo Marochetti;the former died 11 days after his wound, sustained in siege, turned septic. A survey of 15 equestrian statues in central London by theLondonistwebsite found that nine of them corresponded to the supposed rule, and considered it "not a reliable system for reading the fate of any particular rider".

In the United States, the rule is especially held to apply to equestrian statues commemorating theAmerican Civil Warand theBattle of Gettysburg,.One such statue was erected in 1998 inGettysburg National Military Park,and is ofJames Longstreet,who is featured on his horse with one foot raised, even though Longstreet was not wounded in that battle. However, he was seriously wounded in theBattle of the Wildernessthe following year. This is not a traditional statue, as it does not place him on apedestal.One writer claims that any correlation between the positioning of hooves in a statue and the manner in which a Gettysburg soldier died is a coincidence.There is no proper evidence that these hoof positions correlate consistently with the rider's history but some hold to the belief regardless.

See also

• Category:Lists of equestrian statues
• List of equestrian statues

Bibliography

• Joachim Poeschke, Thomas Weigel, Britta Kusch-Arnhold (eds.),Praemium Virtutis III – Reiterstandbilder von der Antike bis zum Klassizismus.Rhema-Verlag, Münster 2008,ISBN978-3-930454-59-4
• Raphael Beuing:Reiterbilder der Frührenaissance – Monument und Memoria.Rhema-Verlag, Münster 2010,ISBN978-3-930454-88-4

External links

• Equestrian statues by Kees van Tilburg
• Equestrian statues in Washington, D.C.(with pictures)