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===Medieval Europe===
===Medieval Europe===
Equestrian statues were not very frequent in the [[Middle ages]]. Nevertheless, there are some examples, like the [[Bamberg Horseman]] (German: ''Der Bamberger Reiter''), located in [[Bamberg Cathedral]]. Another example is the ''Magdeburg Reiter'', in the city of [[Magdeburg]], that depicts Emperor [[Otto I]]. There are a few roughly half-size statues of ''[[Saint George and the Dragon]]'', including the famous ones in [[Prague]] and [[Stockholm]]. The [[Scaliger Tombs]] in [[Verona]] include Gothic statues at less than lifesize. A well-known small bronze in Paris may be a contemporary portrait of [[Charlemagne]], although its date and subject are uncertain.
Equestrian statues were not very frequent in the [[Middle ages]]. Nevertheless, there are some examples, like the [[Bamberg Horseman]] (German: ''Der Bamberger Reiter''), located in [[Bamberg Cathedral]]. Another example is the ''Magdeburg Reiter'', in the city of [[Magdeburg]], that depicts Emperor [[Otto I]]. There are a few roughly half-size statues of ''[[Saint George and the Dragon]]'', including the famous ones in [[Prague]] and [[Stockholm]]. The [[Scaliger Tombs]] in [[Verona]] include Gothic statues at less than lifesize. A well-known small bronze in Paris may be a contemporary portrait of [[Charlemagne]], although its date and subject are uncertain.
<gallery>
Bamberger Reiter BW 1.JPG|Bamberg horseman (1225-37), Bamberg
Alter Markt (Magdeburg-Altstadt).Magdeburger Reiter.ajb.jpg|Magdeburg horseman (1240), Magdeburg
Sv. Jiří a drak.jpg|St. George and dragon (1373), Prague
Riemenschneider Hl Georg.jpg|thumb|Tilman Riemenschneider: Hl Georg (1490-95)]]
<gallery/>


===Renaissance===
===Renaissance===

Revision as of 10:47, 17 August 2014

The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill was the prototype for Renaissance equestrian sculptures.

An equestrian statue is a statue of a rider mounted on a horse, from the Latin "eques", meaning "knight", deriving from "equus", meaning "horse".[1] A statue of a riderless horse is strictly an "equine statue". A full-size equestrian statue is a difficult and expensive object for any culture to produce, and figures have typically been portraits of rulers or, more recently, military commanders.

History

Khosrow Parviz is standing here. On his left is Ahura Mazda, on his right is Anahita, 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 goes back at least as far as Archaic Greece. Found on the Athenian acropolis, the sixth century BC statue known as the Rampin Rider depicts a kouros mounted on horseback.

Ancient Middle and Far East

A number of ancient Egyptian, Assyrian and Persian reliefs show mounted figures, usually rulers, though no free standing statues are known. The Chinese Terracotta Army has no mounted riders, though cavalrymen stand beside their mounts, but smaller Tang Dynasty pottery 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 11th century.[2]

Ancient Rome

This horse head was once part of a large equestrian monument. ca. 40 CE. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

Such statues frequently commemorated military leaders, and those statesmen who wished to symbolically emphasize the active leadership role undertaken since Roman times by the equestrian class, the equites (plural of eques) or knights.

There were numerous bronze equestrian portraits (particularly of the emperors) in ancient Rome, but they did not survive because they were melted down for reuse of the alloy as coin, church bells, or other, smaller projects (such as new sculptures for Christian churches); the standing Colossus of Barletta lost parts of his legs and arms to Dominican bells in 1309. Almost the only sole surviving Roman equestrian bronze, the equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome, owes its preservation on the Campidoglio, to the popular mis-identification of Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher-emperor, with Constantine the Great, the Christian emperor.

Bamberger Reiter

The Regisole ("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 the French Revolution. It was originally erected at Ravenna, but removed to Pavia in the Middle Ages, where it stood on a column before the cathedral. A fragment of an equestrian portrait sculpture of Augustus has also survived.

Medieval Europe

Equestrian statues were not very frequent in the Middle ages. Nevertheless, there are some examples, like the Bamberg Horseman (German: Der Bamberger Reiter), located in Bamberg Cathedral. Another example is the Magdeburg Reiter, in the city of Magdeburg, that depicts Emperor Otto I. There are a few roughly half-size statues of Saint George and the Dragon, including the famous ones in Prague and Stockholm. The Scaliger Tombs in Verona include Gothic statues at less than lifesize. A well-known small bronze in Paris may be a contemporary portrait of Charlemagne, although its date and subject are uncertain.

Australia

Europe

North America

South America

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Equestrian statues.

References

  1. ^ Wheelock, Frederic M., The Official Wheelock's Latin Website, retrieved 2009-04-03
  2. ^ Stuart, Jan & Rawski, Evelyn Sakakida. Worshiping the ancestors: Chinese commemorative portraits, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-4263-4, ISBN 978-0-8047-4263-4
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