The Horses of Helios

External image
External image
	Fig. 1. (pg. 84), An Ovid Reader: Selections from Seven Works (2014)

The Horses of Helios
The Horses of Helios
	The sculpture in 2010
Artist	Rudy Weller
Year	1992
Type	Sculpture
Medium	Bronze
Subject	Aethon; Eos; Phlegon; Pyrois;
Location	London, United Kingdom
	51°30′36″N 0°08′00″W / 51.509977°N 0.133413°W

The Horses of Helios, also known as The Four Bronze Horses of Helios,^[1] is a bronze sculpture of four horses by Rudy Weller. It is one half of a commission installed in 1992 when the adjacent Criterion Theatre was refurbished. The other half, the Daughters of Helios or Three Graces, is a sculpture of three women leaping off the building six stories above.

The Horses of Helios comprises three bronze elements with dark patina: one pair of horses weighing approximately 4 tons, and two single horses. The four rearing horses appear to be bursting from the water of a fountain. It depicts Aethon, Eous, Phlegon, and Pyrois - the four horses of Helios, Greek god of the sun.^[1]

The sculpture was installed in 1992 in a fountain under a canopy at the base of the building at 1 Jermyn Street, on the corner where Piccadilly meets Haymarket, near Piccadilly Circus in London.^[2] The building is adjacent to the Criterion Theatre, and was installed when the theatre was refurbished.

The Daughters of Helios or Three Graces depicts the three Charites - Aglaea, Euphrosyne, and Thalia - who in some accounts are the daughters of Helios and the naiad Aegle. The three female figures are made from gold-leaf-covered aluminium. They are installed at roof level, as if leaping off the 6th floor of the building immediately above the horses below.