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Bayeux Tapestry, 1070s, English or French

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Bayeux Tapestry is one of a kind, cr. 70 metres long, narrative embroidery depicting the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings. It is probable that it was created in the 1070s for Odo of Bayeux, the Earl of Kent and Bishop of Bayeux, who was the half-brother of William the Conqueror. The authorship of the tapestry is disputed; there are reasons to believe it to be either English or French. It is certain however that it represents a unique blend of styles and influences.

According to F. Sidney Walls,

Anglo-Saxon embroideries, which were famous at the time of the Conquest, are a Scandinavian art. … It was a well-established custom among the Teutonic tribes, after their migration from East Asia, to commemorate their exploits by elaborate paintings, sculpture, and embroideries. It was an instinctive urge which was probably. … In judging the Bayeux Tapestry one must take into consideration its artistic analogies with contemporary works of art – mainly, illuminated manuscripts of the tenth and eleventh centuries in England and France. … English and French medieval art was the result of a fusion of many foreign branches of art: Teutonic, Byzantine, and Greco-Roman. Not the least of all was the influence of Oriental art on the Teutons who originally came from the hinterland of East Asia. … The Bayeux Tapestry seems to be a well-balanced fusion of two diametrically opposed styles – Norse and Saxon-Romanesque. The Viking art brought to England nothing but abstract barbaric ornament. Winchester painting and drawing represented classical Hellenistic tradition principally concerned with the natural portrayal of the human figure. … Medieval art has no clear-cut national boundaries; therefore, my conclusion is that the Bayeux Tapestry style is a transitional one bridging the gap between the Saxon-Romanesque and the so-called International Gothic. … The impartial viewpoint makes the origin of the tapestry appear to be more Anglo-Saxon than Norman.

Predictably, the last statement is hotly disputed by French art historians!.. It is difficult not to be lost in the maze of suggested influences:

This tapestry is a “linear” narrative of the Norman conquest of England, very comparable with modern graphic novels. As such, it is similar to Trajan's Column in Rome completed in 113 AD. It is possible that this format has been invented from scratch, but it is also possible that there was a continuity but the art objects that constitute the link have perished.

Floor Tiles, 12th – 20th centuries

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The idea of tiles as mass-produced regularly-shaped objects with the repetitive design used to decorate the buildings is not new – it appeared in the 6th century BC if not earlier.

Later, it was reinvented in cr. 12th century AD. We regularly see the motif of a horseman on a rearing horse on floor tiles in the 12th-15th centuries in England, Wales, modern-day France and Germany. In England, the surviving tiles come from churches and abbeys and the horsemen are almost always Richard I of England and Saladin; in other countries, most were anonymous huntsmen and knights.

In the 19th century, the interest in tiles with knights was revived. It was championed by Grueby Faience Company, an American company that existed in 1894-1920 and was part of Arts and Crafts Movement. Some of its tiles are still decorating the floors, while others are on sale in the picture galleries and are auctioned by the leading auction houses.

While the subjects of Grueby tiles presented here are perfectly Christian, the technique used to make them, cuerda seca, has originated in central Asia in the 14th century and flourished in the Middle East in the 15th – 17th centuries, well before being introduced in Christian Europe.

Renaissance tapestries, 12th – 20th centuries

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Tapestry is an ancient form of textile art which has been practised all over the world for thousands of years. We have already seen the Egyptian (Coptic) tapestries.

One of the most expensive and time-consuming crafts, tapestry-making only truly flourished in Europe from the Middle Ages onwards, at the hands of French and (later) Flemish weavers. The major tapestry-making centres existed at Arras, Tournai and Brussels. While the designs have become very sophisticated, the linear perspective, while widely used in painting from the beginning of the 15th century, was ignored in tapestry until the 16th century.

Illuminated manuscripts, 12th – 14th centuries

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Italy

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Liber ad honorem Augusti: Praise For Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, 1196

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The Liber ad honorem Augusti sive de rebus Siculis (“Book in honour of the Emperor, or on Sicilian affairs”; also called Carmen de motibus Siculis, “Poem on the Sicilian revolt”) is an illustrated narrative epic in Latin elegiac couplets, written in Palermo in 1196 by Peter of Eboli.

It tells the story of Tancred of Lecce‘s attempt to take control of Sicily, an attempt thwarted by the successful military campaign of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor. Liber ad honorem Augusti is a poem composed in honour of Henry VI, lavishly illustrated and intended to be presented to him. The fierce caricatures of Tancred, who is depicted as almost ape-like in stature and features, match the propagandistic bias of the text.

Convenevole da Prato, Carmina regia: Plea To Robert of Anjou, King of Naples, cr. 1335-1340

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Convenevole da Prato, Carmina regia is the address to Robert of Anjou, King of Naples of the city of Prato from the town of Prato in Tuscany, which had placed itself under his protection in cr. 1335-1340. This address in Latin verse is attributed to Convenevole da Prato (c. 1270/5-1338), a professor of grammar and rhetoric most famous as Petrarch‘s teacher. The horseman illustration is attributed to Pacino di Buonaguida. In the address, the city of Prato beseeches the King to unite the Italian peninsula under his rule and restore the papacy to Rome.

The horseman from this manuscript has later achieved prominence by featuring on the coat of arms of the province of Prato, which is located in Tuscany and is the second smallest Italian province.

And, of course, Italian unification would only be completed in 1871 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, along with his Brazilian wife Anita.

Nuova Cronica of Florence, mid 14th century

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Nuova Cronica is a 14th-century history of Florence written by the Italian banker and official Giovanni Villani (c. 1276 or 1280–1348). It has been described as the first introduction of statistics as a positive element in history. The illustrations to the first edition (now in the Vatican Library) were executed by the Florentine artist Pacino di Buonaguida.

Illustration of Decameron, early 15th century

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There is one illustration to Giovanni Boccaccio‘s Decameron, it shows a scene from Nastagio degli Onesti. Later in the 15th century, Sandro Botticelli will create a much more elaborate depiction of the same scene.

Codex Capodilista, mid 15th century

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Giovan Francesco Capodilista (cr. 1380 – 1459) was an Italian lawyer and diplomat from Padua. In 1433 he participated, as legate of the Republic of Venice, at the Council of Basel.

During his stay in Basel he was able to consult some manuscripts, which had already belonged to Bartolomeo di Guglielmo della Scala. Among them, there was a code compiled since 1258 by a Paduan citizen, the judge Antonio d’Alessio, who attracted the annals of Padua, drawn from more ancient memories of other medieval writers, aroused his interest. In particular, the code contained numerous biographical information about the families of Padua. The Capodilista was able to extrapolate a lot of information about his ancestors, and compiled his own code, Codex Capodilista. In this manuscript, there are twenty-six rich miniatures, representing as many family characters, knights, prelates and men of arms, dating back to the most ancient times of the High Middle Ages.

europe north of the alps

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Medieval tournaments, 13th – 16th centuries

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A tournament, or tourney, was a chivalrous competition or mock fight in the Middle Ages and Renaissance in the 12th to 16th centuries. Tournaments centred on the mêlée, a general fight where the knights were divided into two sides and came together in a charge.

Jousting, a single combat of two knights riding at each other, was a component of the tournament, but was never its main feature.

In art, we find the depictions of tournaments mostly in illuminated manuscripts and in frescoes. With one exception, all art objects were created North of the Alps. Some of the depictions below show the real battles, but, since the iconography is so similar, they belong to the same category.

English Chronica Majora, mid 13th century

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The Chronica Majora has long been considered a contemporary attempt to present a universal history of the world. The Chronica is the seminal work of Matthew Paris, a member of the English Benedictine community of St. Albans and long-celebrated historian. The work begins with Creation and contains annals up until the year of Paris’s death, 1259. It was written in Latin and richly illustrated.

French fictional novels, late 13th century

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In late 13th century, in the north of France, appeared an illuminatd manuscript containing four fictional novels. It is heavily illuminated; some illustrations feature horsemen on rearing horses!

German Poetry in Codex Manesse, Hungary, early 14th century

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The Codex Manesse is a book of songs and poetry, the single most comprehensive source of Middle High German Minnesang poetry, written and illustrated between c. 1304 when the main part was completed, and c. 1340 with the addenda. The codex was produced in Zürich, for the Manesse family. The manuscript is the most beautifully illumined German manuscript in centuries.

Chronicon Pictum, Hungary, mid 14th century

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The Chronicon Pictum is a medieval illustrated chronicle from the Kingdom of Hungary. It was completed shortly after the year 1358, with the last of the illuminations being finished between 1370 and 1373. The chronicle was given by the Hungarian king Louis I to the French king Charles V, when the daughter of Louis, Catherine, was engaged to Charles’s son Louis I, Duke of Orléans.

Illuminated Manuscript Illustrations of the 15th century

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As the society develops, more images of horsemen (and, interestingly, the horsewomen) start to appear in the illuminated manuscripts.

Wars Of Christians and Muslim And Turkic Peoples in art in the 13th – 16th centuries

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Crusades in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 11th – 13th centuries

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brief history of the Crusades in the Eastern Mediterranean

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Crusades in the Eastern Mediterranean have started with Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos sent envoys to the Council of Piacenza in 1095, requesting Pope Urban‘s assistance in recruiting a body of western knights to serve in the Byzantine army in the fight with the Seljuk Turks. The first crusade resulted in taking Jerusalem from the Fatimid Caliphate and laying the foundations for the Kingdom of Jerusalem and other crusader states.

Eight more crusades have followed.

One noteworthy event is the siege and sack of Constantinople in 1204, during the Fourth Crusade. Crusader armies captured, looted, and destroyed parts of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. After the capture of the city, most of the Byzantine Empire’s territories were divided up among the Crusaders. Byzantine aristocrats also established a number of small independent splinter states, one of them being the Empire of Nicaea, which would eventually recapture Constantinople in 1261 and proclaim the reinstatement of the Empire. However, the restored Empire never managed to reclaim its former territorial or economic strength, and eventually fell to the rising Ottoman Sultanate in the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

The ninth crusade, 1271–1272, was the last of the Crusades to reach the Holy Land. It resulted in several important victories, but the interest of European states in the affairs of Holy Land has died out. In the following decades, the fall of Tripoli (1289), followed by the fall of Acre (1291) and the fall of Ruad (1302 – 1303), meant that the Crusaders no longer controlled any part of the Holy Land.

Crusades in the Illuminated manuscripts

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Illuminated manuscripts constitute a primary source of information (and miniatures with the horsemen on rearing horses!) on the crusades. Among them, we can highlight an Historia Ierosolimitana (“History of Jerusalem”) written between 1170 and 1184 by William of Tyre, an archbishop of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Chronica Majora written and illuminated between 1240 and 1259 by Matthew Paris, a Benedictine monk at St Albans Abbey in England, and Passages d'outremer written by Sébastien Mamerot in 1472 – 1474 and illuminated in 1474 – 1479 by Jean Colombe.

Crusader Bible created for Louis IX of France (Saint Louis) in 1240s

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The Morgan Bible, also called the Crusader Bible or Maciejowski Bible, is believed to be created for Louis IX of France in Paris in the mid-1240s. The book consists of paintings of events from Hebrew scripture, given a setting in the customs and costumes of thirteenth-century France, and concentrating on stories of kings, especially David. There are incredibly violent battle scenes in which the implements of war are so accurately depicted they could be replicated. All scenes are set in thirteenth-century France.

Louis IX of France, commonly known as Saint Louis, is the only King of France to be canonized in the Catholic Church. His religious nature – he was viewing himself as a “lieutenant of God on Earth” – prompted him to conduct two crusades, to forbid all forms of usury, and to expand the scope of the inquisition in France. Louis IX is often considered the model of the ideal Christian monarch. The impact of his canonization was so great that many of his successors were named Louis.

Crusades in church frescoes

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The importance of crusades for the Catholics was reflected in the frescoes showing the knights that have appeared in Catholic churches throughout Europe.

Iberian Horsemen in Al-Andalus Period (cr. 711 – 1492)

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Al-Andalus was a medieval Muslim territory and cultural domain that in its early period included most of Iberia. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied the northwest of the Iberian peninsula and a part of present-day southern France, Septimania, and for nearly a century extended its control from Fraxinet over the Alpine passes which connect Italy with the remainder of Western Europe. The name more generally describes the parts of the peninsula governed by Muslims (given the generic name of Moors) at various times between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada to the expanding Christian kingdoms in 1492, though the boundaries changed constantly as the Christian Reconquista progressed.

Mozarabs

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The Mozarabs are the Iberian Christians who lived under Moorish rule in Al-Andalus. Although their descendants remained unconverted to Islam, they were mostly fluent in Arabic and adopted elements of Arabic culture. The local Romance vernaculars, heavily permeated by Arabic, spoken by Christians and Muslim alike has also come to be known as Mozarabic language. Mozarabs were mostly Roman Catholics of the Mozarabic Rite.

Mozarabic horsemen reflect the dual cultural heritage of their creators. We can see it in the way the four horsemen of the apocalypse look in Valcavado Beatus. We can also see it in the setting of the hunting horsemen depicted in San Baudelio de Berlanga. This church is an important example of Mozarabic architecture for its peculiarities. It was built in the 11th century, in what was then the frontier between Islamic and Christian lands. The hare hunting scene – featuring a horseman on a slightly rearing horse – has a symbolic Christian meaning: in Christian iconography, the hare is a symbol of the fragility of the soul and strong sexual desire or lust, which must be harassed and overcome. So is the elephant – it is the symbol of humility associated with the figure of Christ, who became the smallest and most obedient of humans to prevent his own death. The elephant of San Baudelio carries on its back a castle, allegory of diseases and miseries that have to be borne in the course of earthly life and the weight of the sins of existence. However, we can see Arabic motifs in the depiction of the elephant, which reminds us of a dual heritage of Mozarabic culture.

We must commend the Moorish rulers of Al-Andalus for their religious tolerance, which allowed people of different religions to co-exist in peace and allowed these objects – including the first European horsemen on rearing horses – to come into existence.

Reconquista

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The Reconquista (Portuguese and Spanish for “reconquest”) is the name the period in the history when Al-Andalus existed. This name reflects Christians’ persistent attempts to reconquer the Iberian Peninsula.

There were many battles during Reconquista; among them there is a mythical battle of Clavijo that gave rise to the legend of Saint James Matamoros (Santiago Matamoros) – we will see more of him later.

Saint Ladislaus In Central Europe in the 13th – 19th centuries

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Ladislaus I of Hungary (cr. 1040 – 1095) was a king of Hungary since 1077 and a king of Croatia since 1091. He was known for his piety. His military victories stopped invasions of nomadic Turkic peoples and thus helped with the consolidation of the Christian monarchy. Ladislaus “seemed expressly designed to personify the knight-king ideal” of his age. It was fully recognized when in 1192 he was canonized by Pope Celestine III.

In addition to many state-level achievements of this king, there is also a romantic Saint Ladislaus legend. It is often shown on church frescoes in Central Europe. The story goes as follows: “While fighting against nomadic peoples in steppes, he caught sight of a pagan warrior holding a Hungarian girl in his saddle. Saint Ladislaus begins to pursue him. In the last metres, before Saint Ladislaus could reach the pagan to stab him, he could not catch up to him. So Saint Ladislaus shouted to the girl: “Catch hold of the pagan at his belt and jump to the ground!” The girl does so, and the two warriors, the king and the pagan, begin wrestling. Saint Ladislaus can not subdue him, therefore the girl helps the king. She cuts the pagan’s Achilles tendon. Saint Ladislaus beheads the pagan with the help of the girl, then he is resting in her arms.”

Our next horsemen is also a saint who has killed an evil creature and saved a young girl, and he is much more well known…

Saint George in Europe in the 11th – early 16th centuries

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Western Europe has been introduced to the cult of Saint George thanks to Norman crusaders, as explained in the blog In Search Of Saint George.

One of the first depictions of Saint George in Western Europe, that also happened to be dated and produced by an artist we know of, Barisano da Trani. He is best known for his bronze relief door panels on the doors of Trani Cathedral (1185), Monreale Cathedral in Monreale (1190), and for the churches in Astrano and in Ravello (1179) on the Amalfi Coast. They all feature almost identical depictions of Saint George on a rearing horse.

More depictions of Saint George have followed.

Beyond Saint George, The 15th Century

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Italy

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The the last antique and first renaissance equestrian monuments of horsemen on non-rearing horses

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Before being introduced to the first project of a large-scale bronze statue of a horsemen on a rearing horse, it is worth looking at the large-scale bronze equestrian monuments that were known at the time.

According to Armelle Fémelat, the last European public equestrian bronze monument before the Middle Ages was created in the 5th century AD. It was Regisole (“Sun King”), the equestrian statue originally located in Ravenna, Italy, showing Theodoric the Great, or, possibly, Roman emperor Septimius Severus (145 – 211). It remained on public display along with the equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius and a few more monuments.

The first Renaissance equestrian statue is actually a fresco of a statue. It is a Funerary Monument to Sir John Hawkwood created by Paolo Uccello in 1436 in for Florence Cathedral. Its companion fresco, Equestrian Monument of Niccolò da Tolentino, was created 20 years later, in 1456, by Andrea del Castagno.

Three bronze statues have followed.

The first one was the statue to Niccolò III d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara, commissioned by his illegitimate son Leonello d'Este, who succeeded Niccolò III d’Este despite the presence of legitimate children. It will become common among the rulers to commission statues of the predecessors, mostly fathers, to reinforce the claim to the throne. We don’t know exactly when and by whom the statue was created, but presumably, it was in the early 1440s by Leon Battista Alberti. Unfortunately, it was destroyed in 1796.

The second one was majestic equestrian statue of Gattamelata, created by Donatello, dating from 1453, located in Padua, which was part of the Republic of Venice at that time. The third one was the equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni, created by Andrea del Verrocchio, dating from 1480–88, located in Venice. Verrocchio was the first to solve the problem in having the horse supported by three legs. They wereboth commissioned by the Republic of Venice.

It is notable that all five men were condottieri, Italian captains contracted to command mercenary companies during the middle ages and multinational armies during the early modern period.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519): drawings, paintings and sculptures

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Secular paintings showing horseman on rearing horses until Leonardo da Vinci were very rare. It was Leonardo who has put the subject to a rearing horse in a prominent position. Indeed, according to Fitzwilliam museum research, Leonardo seems to have had a personal fascination with the horse and he is known to have written a treatise on the subject, now sadly lost.

The horsemen on the rearing horses we see on the right of a palm tree that is in the centre of the composition of 'Adoration of the Magi' painted by Leonardo in 1480-2 probably would have been the first secular depiction of a horseman on a rearing horse done using newly developed oil paints if the painting were completed.

Unfortunately, this painting was left unfinished. Leonardo wrote to the Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza, offering the Duke his services, and was given the employment. Among other projects mentioned in the letter, Leonardo has described his idea of a gigantic bronze equestrian monument to commemorate the glory of the Duke’s father Francesco Sforza.

It appears that Ludovico Sforza liked the idea and asked several artists to submit their designs. On Antonio Pollaiuolo’s drawing, the horse is also rearing, but the horseman holds a sword. On Leonardo’s drawing, which won the competition but had to be redesigned because it proved impossible to cast, Ludovico’s father holds a baton in his right hand (which is outstretched towards the back) and the reins in his left hand.

Another Leonardo’s design was chosen instead, and Leonardo delivered a clay model. Shortly after, in 1499, Milan was invaded by French troops led by Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, Leonardo had to flee Milan; French troops used the clay model as a target during their shooting exercises.

Leonardo has eventually found himself in Florence. There, he has been commissioned a wall painting. The subject was to be the Battle of Anghiari (1440), where Florentines had vanquished the Milanese army. Leonardo's depiction of the battle of Anghiari, despite its expressiveness and ingenuity, has been abandoned for technical reasons, and, subsequently, was painted over by Giorgio Vasari. We only know Leonardo’s painting through the preparatory drawings and copies, most famous of these being Peter Paul Rubens‘s version. Leonardo’s representation of the horsemen and rearing horses is astonishingly dynamic. Vasari’s depiction of the Defeat of the Pisans at the Tower of San Vincenzo, painted in the same Hall of 500 in Palazzo Vecchio, is clearly inspired by Leonardo’s painting, but, unfortunately, the quality is not comparable.

Leonardo returned to Milan in 1506 to work for the very French rulers who had overtaken the city seven years earlier and forced him to flee. Ironically, Gian Giacomo Trivulzio followed in his foe’s footsteps and commissioned da Vinci to sculpt a grand equestrian statue, one that could be mounted on his tomb. Leonardo had designed it, but the statue was never begun.

Judging by the fact that Leonardo’s drawing of Sforza’s monument was in the possession of Francesco Melzi after the death of Leonardo, we can assume that they took it to France when Leonardo was invited by king Francis I of France to live there as “Premier Painter and Engineer and Architect to the King”. Finally, in France, in circa 1516-1519 Leonardo has completed a three-dimensional depiction of a horseman on a rearing horse, presumably depicting king Francis I of France. This 42 centimetres tall statue is a far cry from 8-metre statue conceived by Leonardo 20 years earlier, but, at last, resulted in a completed object of art.

Leonardo was using the image of a horseman on a rearing horse not only for his art projects but also for his engineering studies. His image of a war machine with revolving scythes, designed to cut infantry’s legs, also features a horseman on a rearing horse.

Jacopo Bellini (cr.1395 – cr.1470) : many drawings and one project of a statue

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However, Leonardo was not the first Renaissance artist fascinated by the rearing horses. Venitian artist Jacopo Bellini was clearly very fond of the subject. Few of Bellini’s paintings still exist, but his surviving sketch-books (one in the British Museum and one in the Louvre) show his fine technique and imaginative vision. Quite a few of his drawings feature rearing horses, sometimes very predictably (when he depicts St. George’s fight with the dragon), sometimes quite unexpectedly (when he depicts David after he has vanquished Goliath). Probably, it was Jacopo Bellini who has suggested the first (since antiquity) equestrian monument of a ruler on a rearing horse – we find the design in his sketch-book. This design is believed to be submitted for a competition for the monument of Niccolò III d'Este, which was commissioned by his son Leonello d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara. Unfortunately, his design was rejected. It will take almost 200 years for a large scale monument of a horseman on a rearing horse to appear.

Giovanni di Paolo (cr. 1403 – 1482): religious paintings and illustrations

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Giovanni di Paolo was an Italian painter, working primarily in Siena, becoming a prolific painter and illustrator of manuscripts. He was one of the most important painters of the 15th century Sienese School.

The artists of Sienese School were keen to differentiate their style from Florentine school. In the case of Giovanni di Paolo, it was about creating paintings with less naturalistic, more medieval, elongated figures, and the use of golden background which would be obsolete in Florentine paintings of the same period.

Spalliere And Cassoni With Horsemen

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A considerable number of paintings produced by Italian Renaissance artists have an unusual elongated format. These paintings were often the wall panels called spalliera (pl. spalliere) or the decorations of the large chests, one of the trophy furnishings of rich merchants and aristocrats, called cassone, pl. cassoni.

Most of the subjects of the depictions relate to Antique mythology, or battles, or both.

Spalliere With the scenes of the Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello (1397 – 1475)

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Paolo Uccello was an Italian painter, mathematician and one of the first Renaissance artists to discover the laws of perspective in art. He was very much popular and touched on all subjects that were popular in his time!

Uccello’s depictions of three episodes of the Battle of San Romano feature riders on rearing horses in the prominent positions oo the painting. The paintings were much admired in the 15th century; Lorenzo de' Medici so coveted them that he purchased one and had the remaining two forcibly removed to the Palazzo Medici. According to Rosamond E. Mack, these are spalliera paintings.

Cassoni By Paolo Uccello

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In addition to independent paintings, Paolo Uccello and his workshop have produced a number of cassoni.

The last painting in this gallery, The Hunt in the Forest, was also Uccello’s last major painting before he died in Florence in 1475. We don’t know if it was intended to be a cassoni panel, but its format certainly suggests such use.

furniture paintings By Sandro Botticelli (c. 1445 – 1510)

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Sandro Botticelli was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. He belonged to the Florentine School. Botticelli was one of the most esteemed artists in Italy during his lifetime. His posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century; since then, Botticelli’s work has been seen to represent the linear grace of Early Renaissance painting.

I have found three of Botticelli’s paintings that feature horsemen on rearing horses.

Two illustrate Nastagio degli Onesti, one of the stories of The Decameron. On the first one, we see the post-mortem punishment of a girl who had rejected true love: every week, her ghost has to be slain by the ghost of the man she had rejected, witnessed by Nastagio degli Onesti, the main character of the story. On the second one, Nastagio is showing this terrible weekly punishment to the girl who keeps rejecting his true love, as well as her family, during a banquet in the forest he had invited them for. The girl changes her mind and accepts to marry Nastagio!

Botticelli created four panels portraying the Nastagio tale, two or which feature the horsemen on rearing horse, for a cassone commissioned by Lorenzo de' Medici.

In contrast, the last one, The Story of Virginia, shows a story without a happy end. Virginia, a plebeian girl who lived in ancient Rome, was abducted by a powerful man who lusted after her. He claimed that Virginia was his slave. During the trial, her father killed her because it was the only way to make her free and save her honour, then fled (we see him on a white rearing horse in the middle of the painting).

According to National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, this is a furniture painting, probably made as a spalliera.

Cassone Panels By Biagio d’Antonio (1446 – 1516) And Jacopo da Sellaio (1441 – 1493)

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Two more early Renaissance artist who would paint horsemen on rearing horses on cassone panels are Biagio d'Antonio and Jacopo da Sellaio. They would work either independently or collaborate.

Cassone Panels By Other Artists (1450 – 1510)

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The subjects of paintings on all these panels are war-related. However, as above, the depiction of war is idealised, everyone is young and beautiful, and we see no suffering, injuries or deaths. The aim of these paintings is to provide a narrative, but not to look into human nature.

Frescoes

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As we have seen just above, many of the horsemen paintings in Italy in the 15th century were designed as parts of furniture, rather than independent art objects.

The other support for the paintings, also for the purposes of decorating the palazzi, were wall paintings, frescoes.

Raphael (1483 – 1520)

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Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, or, simply, Raphael, was an Italian artist. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.

Some historians view the date of his death as the end of Renaissance and beginning of a new art style, Mannerism, also known as Late Renaissance. Raphael is viewed as zenith of High Renaissance, and it was his head assistant, Giulio Romano, along with Parmigianino, who launched Mannerism! Thus, the fresco below can be viewed as a turning point of art: it was designed by the youngest of most prominent High Renaissance artists, Raphael, and completed by a pioneer of Mannerism, Giulio Romano.

Northern Renaissance

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Jan van Eyck (before 1390 – 1441)

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Jan van Eyck, a Flemish painter, was one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art. He was active in Bruges (now Belgium), and worked in the Hague for John III the Pitiless, ruler of Holland and Hainault, and in Lille (now France), as court painter to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy.

Van Eyck initially worked within the International Gothic style, but later deviated from it by putting an emphasis on naturalism and realism.

As for the horsemen on rearing horses, we can find two tiny ones on two religious paintings of Jan van Eyck. Both these paintings feature static or slowly moving figures, so these tiny horsemen are used as “spice”, to give a hint of dynamics to the composition.

Rogier van der Weyden (1399 or 1400 – 1464), another Flemish painter, also belonged to the Early Northern Renaissance school and worked for the same patrons. By the latter half of the 15th century, he had eclipsed Jan van Eyck in popularity. However his fame lasted only until the 17th century, and largely due to changing taste, Rogier van der Weyden was almost totally forgotten by the mid-18th century.

Hieronymus Bosch (1450 – 1516) comp=1|Rogier_van_der_Weyden_-_Saint_George_and_the_Dragon.jpg[/yu_images_DB]

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Hieronymus Bosch is a very enigmatic Dutch artist. While he lived in the era of early Renaissance, his style is very close to medieval paintings, while the complexity of the composition, with multiple layers of meaning, foresees Mannerism.

Bosch is often likened (or contrasted to) Leonardo da Vinci. As fate has it, both have depicted the same biblical subject, Adoration of the Magi. Leonardo’s painting remained unfinished, but one can see his idea very clearly. And both have featured some small-scale horsemen on rearing horses on the background. Other than this similarity, the paintings could not be more different.

Let’s take a closer look at the background horsemen. According to Museum of Prado research team, on the basis of their oriental headdresses Bosch’s horsemen have been identified as Herod’s soldiers seeking out Jesus to kill him. The role of the horsemen on Leonardo’s painting is unclear. To add to the enigma, a recent study has shown that the two horsemen in the upper right corner are just one small part of what was originally a full-blown battle scene. The violence and horror are almost palpable: men flinch as they parry blows with their raised arms; they writhe under rearing horses. Visible through the struggle are more battling men and horses at a distance.

Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472 – 1553) and Lucas Cranach the Younger (1515 – 1586)

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While much of Lucas Cranach the Elder‘s career overlapped with Mannerism, the optimism and gloss of his works make this German painter and printmaker a true Renaissance artist, even if some of his works don’t escape this influence of the times he lived in.

Lucas Cranach the Younger (1515 – 1586), the son of Lucas Cranach the Elder, followed in the father’s footsteps. His style was identical to his father’s style, and he was equally successful professionally and financially.

Emperor Maximilian I (1459 – 1519), Mary of Burgundy (1457 – 1482) and artist who were depicting them

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There is an interesting connection between several pictures in this series. Mary of Burgundy, shown on the first one, was married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, from 1477 until her death in 1482. That was his only happy marriage. Even after 1515, 18 years after her death, he was still depicted with her on the state portraits as if she were alive.

The emperor was also keen on being depicted on horseback, there were two such depictions made by Hans Burgkmair.

Much later, in 1512, Maximilian I has commissioned a set of woodcuts called the Triumphal Procession, which was a result of the collaboration of several artists, including Albrecht Altdorfer, Hans Burgkmair, Leonhard Beck and Albrecht Dürer.

Maximilian I was very keen on being depicted by the leading artists; in some of the depictions he had commissioned, he is on a horseback, but his horse never rears. But just before the emperor’s death Dutch printmaker Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen has depicted him on a horseback, next to his beloved first wife.

Albrecht Dürer (1471 – 1528)

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Albrecht Dürer, one of the founding artist of Northern Renaissance, has created a significant number of engravings that depict horsemen on charging and rearing horsemen, thus embracing the new technology of printing. He chose to depict not only classical Renaissance subjects but also anonymous commoners, such as postmen, which was revolutionary for the end of the 15th century.

Tapestries by Bernard van Orley (between 1487 and 1491 – 1541)

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Bernard van Orley (between 1487 and 1491 – 6 January 1541) was a versatile Flemish Renaissance artist: he was painting, designing of tapestries and, at the end of his life, stained glass. He was mostly working for the court of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
Although he never visited Italy, he was influenced by Italian Renaissance painting, especially by Raphael. Van Orley’s paintings were mostly religious scenes and portraits (sadly, not horsemen), but his tapestries were showing his contemporaries and recent past, in the form of portraits, hunting scenes…

… and battle scenes.

Quantum Leap Into Modernity, The 16th Century – The First Half Of The 17th Century

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It was the worst and the best of times…

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The 16th century was the time of great discoveries, scientific progress, the time when knowledge has reached more people than ever before. But also the time of great uncertainty, the time of religious extremism, the time of the peak of the witch-hunting. It was the times of loss of human life on a truly shocking scale. It is estimated that the population of Americas was reduced by 65% to 90% in the course of the 16th century. Subsequent reforestation could have led to worsening of the Little Ice Age winter colds. In Europe, it is estimated some countries the population reduced by 10% to 25% from 1600 to 1650 as the result of wars and famine.

The 16th century was a period of vigorous economic expansion. This expansion, in turn, played a major role in the many other transformations—social, political, and cultural—of the early modern age. Most historians locate in the 16th century the beginning, or at least the maturing, of Western capitalism.

So, indeed, it was the worst and the best of times.

… As It Can Be Seen Through The Lens Of Horsemen On Rearing Horses

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We can see some of it through the array of horsemen on rearing horses that appeared at that time.

… As Seen By Comparing The Paintings By Raphael, Cranach And Bruegel

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Perhaps the quickest way to see the ambiguity is by juxtaposing the paintings of Lucas Cranach the Elder and Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and comparing them with a similar Raphael‘s painting. All three paintings have Biblical subjects and feature anonymous horsemen. But the atmosphere they create cannot be more different.

Raphael‘s painting has Raphael‘s usual clarity, predictability and balance. It does not add any extra drama to the subject it depicts. Indeed, the overall dynamics of the composition makes it look almost like a dance! There is at most one evil person on this painting, the one who pulls Jesus by the rope, but even he does not look like a villain, more like an elf! The intelligent faces of those depicted on this painting, the full sunlight, the luminous landscape on the background, even the primary colours of the clothing make you think that, somehow, there will be a happy end to the gruesome story this painting depicts.

The subject of Lucas Cranach the Elder‘s painting is crucifixion, the darkest moment of the Bible. But does it fill you with sorrow and sadness? With its black top-part skies (is it day or is it night?), Jesus’s loincloth draping in a physically improbable way, and polished appearance of the horseman is visually dramatic. But it is a glossy sort of drama, well suited to be contemplated by a wealthy successful patron. Even if the figures on his painting are rendered in a somewhat medieval style, his painting is very anthropocentric, it complies with the Renaissance vision of the world, it is very ordered. We can immediately tell the “good” characters from the “bad” ones. The human being is indeed the supreme creation of the Almighty. In this crucifixion scene, it is actually the centurion, dressed a German Renaissance nobleman (perhaps showing the person who commissioned this picture?) who is in the centre of this painted universe.

To explain what I mean by “polished”, I have added a horseman-less crucifixion depiction painted by Cranach’s compatriot Matthias Grünewald. It equally very anthropocentric, also set against the dark sies, unlike Cracach’s version, it is very unpolished, and it indeed makes the viewers think about mortality and fills them with sorrow and compassion, as you would probably expect, given the nature of the subject. Matthias Grünewald is often viewed as an artist who rejected Renaissance, but, in my opinion, his humanity makes him a very Renaissance artist.

In contrast, Pieter Bruegel the Elder‘s masterpiece is all chaos. The humans seem to be insignificant grains of sand, to the point that there are no “bad” or “good” characters, they are all the same, a myriad of little minds going about their lives doing the best they can, within their tiny limits. The subject is a sad one, but we empathise with these insignificant creatures no more than we empathise with dead leaves that fall off the trees in the autumn and winter. None of them deserves the second look, let alone being put in the centre of the universe. It appears as if the winter landscape, that serves as a backdrop of the scene of the massacre, matches the coldness of the painter’s attitude towards the characters depicted in the painting.

… And Seen In The Whole Set Of The 16th Century Horsemen

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We can see how different the 16th century was from the Renaissance, the strong shift towards modernity, that we have already started to see in Albrecht Dürer‘s works, got developed throughout the 16th century. Let us summarize these new features before discussing the individual works.

• While acheology was reborn in the 15th century (its Renaissance father is Ciriaco de' Pizzicolli, 1391 – 1453/55), it clearly got more popular in the 16th century. Archeological discoveries have revived the interest in Antiquity, thus the depiction of Antique myths such as the siege of Troy, antique heroes such as Marcus Curtius and Meleager, and also contemporary heroes wearing armours à l’antique. We can see material evidence of the interest in antiques through the objects of composite origin when the objects of the antique past were upcycled by Renaissance artists to give them a new life,
• new technologies that we see here are engraving and printing. Mass production of new media allowed much wider access to information and knowledge and ultimately enabled Reformation,
• two conflicting trends in portraiture. One trend is the depiction of anonymous horseman that don’t represent a person but a function: Turkish horsemen, horsemen that illustrate books and manuals, etc. The other trend will lead to the creation of the format of grand equestrian portrait by the end of the century.
• the art of dressage was revived. In 1550 Federico Grisone, a Neapolitan nobleman, has published the influential “The Rules of Riding”, one of the first works on horsemanship since the time of Xenophon. Obviously, it included Airs above the ground, some of which – the pesade, the levade and the mezair – are based on rearing,
• endless wars have resulted in the proliferation of warfare, which is represented here by shields and helmets,
• hedonism is represented by the hat badges, decorative dishes (Piatto da parata), drinking cups, playing cards and other games.

Horsemen In The 16th Century Fine Art

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Saint George

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Relatively few devotional paintings of Saint George on a rearing horse were produced at the time.

They have the usual features of Mannerist style: distorted poses, unusual colour palettes (bright but as far from primary colours as it is possible), the horses seem to show more muscles than they physically have. Giorgio Vasari‘s Saint George wears an antique tunic, not a medieval armour as on the earlier depictions of Saint George.

In contrast, we have many more secular horsemen on rearing horses than in the preceding century.

Individual Anonymous Horsemen

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The proliferation of anonymous horsemen was largely due to the proliferation of printing. Indeed, printing has reduced the cost of creating a lasting image, thus making them available for a wider audience and for the depiction of a wider range of subjects. The quantity came at the cost of the loss of identity – unlike before, many more horsemen don’t have names or any identifying features. The horsemen on the medals are reminiscent of the horsemen on the coins of Roman empire.

Battle Scenes

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Many battles fought in the 16th century resulted in many paintings that illustrated them. The composition, where soldiers are no longer individuals, more of a surface of intertwined heads, torsos, limbs and arms, reminds of Roman sarcophagi that were made during large-scale Roman conquests.

In general, the painters of the 16th century seemed to be favouring antique battles over the contemporary ones, although there were exceptions.

Palazzo Vecchio

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Palazzo Vecchio was founded in Florence in 1314, under the name of Palazzo della Signoria. Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici (later to become grand duke) moved his official seat from the Medici palazzo in via Larga to the Palazzo della Signoria in 1540, signalling the security of Medici power in Florence. When Cosimo later removed to Palazzo Pitti, he officially renamed his former palace to the Palazzo Vecchio, the “Old Palace”.

During the reign of Cosimo I, the palace was decorated with magnificent wall paintings, including some with horsemen on rearing horses. Unfortunately the older wall paintings, including those created by Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, were lost.

Marcus Curtius

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Marcus Curtius is a mythological young Roman who offered himself to the gods of Hades in order to save Rome. He is not the best known Antiquity hero nowadays, but he was extremely popular in the 16th century.

His popularity could be explained by the atmosphere of the time. Reformation started with the publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Martin Luther in 1517, and resulted in almost 200 years of European wars of religion. The death toll (counting only 6 most important European wars of religion) was between 6,000,000 and 17,268,000, which is enormous, given that the total population of Europe in 1500 was about 90,000,000. Perhaps this explains why Marcus Curtius, the embodiment of loyalty, bravery and self-sacrifice, was popular with both Catholic and Protestant patrons.

Horsemen In The 16th Century Applied Art

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Amunition, Most With Marcus Curtius

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Since wars were so common in the 16th century, there was a great demand for luxurious, ornate ammunition: helmets, shields, etc. According to Victoria and Albert Museum research, by the early seventeenth century it was increasingly common for men to proclaim their military professions by combining pieces of armour or weaponry with civilian clothing. Sometimes this might just be aspirational as gorgets, spurs, swords, and daggers took on the role of dress accessories.

With the exception of Ghisi Shield and gorget, they all are decorated with the depictions of Marcus Curtius‘ leap.

Jewellery And Homewear, Most With Marcus Curtius

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Almost all of the items below are decorated with the depictions of Marcus Curtius‘ leap. The only exceptions are the playing cards designed by Virgil Solis: they show anonymous kings and a queen, and one hat badge showing Saint George. It is surprising how little Saint George was popular in the 16th century compared to Marcus Curtius. Perhaps it is because the loyalty to the country was so important during this turbulent century.

Maiolica ceramics

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The only exception I am aware of is Deruta ceramics. Deruta is a tiny (population 8935 as of 2007) hill town in Central Italy, halfway between Florence and Rome. It is not very well-known today, but it used to be famous for its Maiolica ceramics. The city started producing it in the early Middle Ages, and it still makes it. The pick of its popularity was reached in the 15th and early 16th centuries.

Fierce-looking horsemen were a favourite subject on mid-sixteenth-century Deruta maiolica. Many are dressed as Turkish warriors, but there is a great variety of riders: Roman and Jewish warriors, Saint George, medieval knights and contemporary soldiers, and even children.

The motif of the horseman was also popular in Faenza and Urbino, other Italian towns renowned for their ceramics. They seemed to specialize in depicting Marcus Curtius.

Various Horsemen

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Marcus Curtius

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Royal Horsemen

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The first modern-era portraits of royalty and nobility on rearing horses were created in the 16th century. There were several series of prints and several paintings that depicted living or recently deceased personalities.

Emergence of grand equestrian portrait: series of prints and Titian’s ‘Charles V’

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During the 16th century, we will witness the emergence of a large series of prints that depict royals and nobility of the recent past and antique rulers and heroes, and only one significant painting of the same subject. Together, they will lead to crystallisation of a cliché equestrian portrait that will become ubiquitous in the 17th and 18th centuries.

“The Counts and Counts of Holland” by Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen, 1518

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The series “The Counts and Counts of Holland” was created by Dutch printmaker Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen in 1518. The prints in this series show groups portraits of horsemen (and a horsewoman), with one of the horses rearing.

“Nine Heroes” by Lucas van Leyden, cr. 1520

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Just a few years later, in cr. 1520, Dutch painter and printmaker Lucas van Leyden has created a series that depicts nine heroes on horseback. Two of them, Hector of Troy and Charlemagne, are depicted on rearing horses.

Images of Royalty by Cornelis Anthonisz and Hans Liefrinck the elder, 1536 – 1573

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A series of coloured prints that portray royals was created and published by Dutch printmaker Hans Liefrinck in the manner of Cornelis Anthonisz. starting from 1536. About half of the prints in this series show horsemen on rearing horses.

In addition, Cornelis Anthonisz. has created a painting that depicts a nobleman on a rearing horse. Incidentally, Cornelis Anthonisz. was a grandson of Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen.

The most interesting image here is the picture of Philip de Lalaing, 2nd Count of Hoogstraten – he holds a baton in a hand stretched backwards in a way that reminds us of a project was a monument to Francesco Sforza by Leonardo da Vinci.

“Equestrian Portrait of Charles V” by Titian, 1548

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Very paintings that portray royalty on rearing horses created until the end of the century, and they were perhaps not very interesting from the artistic point of view.

There is only one exception, but it is very significant: it is Equestrian Portrait of Charles V created by Titian in 1548. The lance and the slightly rearing position of the horse remind us of the representation of Saint George. However, researchers of Prado explain that the message of the portrait was not a religious, but a political one.

They also say: “‘The Emperor Charles V at Mühlberg’ lacks precedents in Italian art and scholars have thus generally made reference to classical and Renaissance sculpture, such as Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius and Andrea del Verrocchio’s Equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni, as well as to German art, particularly Albrecht Dürer’s ‘Knight, Death and Devil’. Above all it has been associated with Hans Burgkmair the Elder, who in 1508 produced a woodcut of Maximilian I on Horseback, and in 1509-10 a Project for an Equestrian Sculpture of Maximilian I (Vienna, Graphische Sammlung Albertina). The reference to Maximilian (Charles V was the first son of Maximian’s first son Philip I of Castile, thus the most senior grandchild) is particularly apt as it points to a tradition of equestrian portraits of the head of the Holy Roman Empire with which Charles V had previously been associated at Mühlberg. Images of Charles of this type included the reliefs of 1522 by Hans Daucher and the coloured engravings produced by Hans Liefrinck in Antwerp in 1542-4. It can be assumed that Charles must have intentionally sought out these affinities. Immediately after the battle of Mühlberg he commissioned an equestrian sculpture from Leone Leoni which, although ultimately unexecuted, recalls the project for the sculpture of Maximilian referred to above and which, along with the present work by Titian, was intended to reinforce the image of Charles as Emperor in a way appropriate to the particular political situation of Germany in 1547-8.”

Prado researchers continue: “Despite its seminal nature, this truly exceptional work did not find immediate echoes in art, and the equestrian portrait had to wait until the early decades of the 17th century and the hand of Peter Paul Rubens before it came to occupy a place of honour in court art.”

We could argue that, while comparable paintings are indeed unexistent, many prints with comparable iconography were produced at that time. Thus, this portrait is indeed exceptional in quality, but very well fits with other equestrian portraits produced at that time.

“The victories of Emperor Charles V” by Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert, 1555 – 1556

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Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert (1522 – 90) was a Dutch writer, philosopher, translator, politician, theologian and artist. Coornhert is often considered the Father of Dutch Renaissance scholarship.

In 1555-56 he has engraved a series of 12 plates that were glorifying the victories of the emperor Charles V, after the drafts of Maarten van Heemskerck. Three of them feature horsemen on rearing horses!

“The First Twelve Roman Caesars” by Antonio Tempesta, 1596

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In 1596, Italian painter and engraver Antonio Tempesta has produced a series of prints “The First Twelve Roman Caesars”. All caesars were depicted on horseback, and half of them were on rearing horses.

“The Twelve Emperors/Roman Emperors on Horseback” by Crispijn de Passe the Elder, cr. 1579 – 1637

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In cr. 1579-1637 Crispijn de Passe the Elder has published a series of engravings titled “The Twelve Emperors/Roman Emperors on Horseback”. In this series, three of the emperors are depicted on rearing horses.

“Governors of the Netherlands” by Hessel Gerritsz, cr. 1591 – 1632

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Emanuel van Meteren (1535-1612) was a Flemish historian and Consul for “the Traders of the Low Countries” in London. His father, Sir Jacobus van Meteren, was a Dutch financier and publisher of early English versions of the Bible.

In 1612, just before his death, he published a book about Dutch history, “Historien der Nederlanden, en haar naburen oorlogen tot het iaar 1612”. The engravings by Hessel Gerritsz shown below were used as its illustrations. Hessel Gerritsz (cr. 1581 – 1632) was a Dutch engraver, cartographer and publisher. Some of his contemporaries were considering him “unquestionably the chief Dutch cartographer of the 17th century”.

Individual Drawings and prints that show horsemen on rearing horses

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A number of drawings and prints made in the 16th century have the same subject. Among them the image of Marcus Curtius created by Hendrik Goltzius, a German-born Dutch printmaker, draftsman and painter, in 1586, might be the most influential one, judging by how many copies of it exist.

End of the 16th century: Horseman on a Rearing Horse Clichés Appears

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As we will see further on, the image of a horseman on a rearing horse became very popular in the 16th century. Furthermore, two standard representations of a horseman on a rearing horse have emerged:

1. in the earlier representation, a horseman wears armour with a sash across the chest, and, almost always, holds something, often a martial baton, sometimes a sword, a spear or another arm, in his right hand;
2. in the later representation, a horseman is dressed à l’antique and also holds a baton or another object in his right hand.

According to Walter A. Liedtke, it is difficult to find the origins of this cliché; one likely candidate is the series of engravings “The First Twelve Roman Caesars” created by Antonio Tempesta and published by Giovanni Battista di Lazzaro Panzera da Parma in 1596. All of these caesars are sitting on horses, and six of these horses are rearing; five of these six Caesars (all except Nero) hold a baton.

Another possible candidate is the image of Marcus Curtius created by Hendrik Goltzius, a German-born Dutch printmaker, draftsman, and painter, in 1586, 10 years before Tempesta’s images were published. On this image, Marcus Curtius is bare-chested (dressed in a tunic in later versions) and he also holds a baton. He has also made an engraving depicting Giovanni de' Medici winning the jousting duel, dressed in an antique tunic and holding a piece of a broken spear, which is somewhat similar to baton.

It must be noted that the works of Antonio Tempesta and Hendrik Goltzius were printed by the same Dutch publisher, Claes Jansz. Visscher. This increases the probability of the existence of artistic exchange between them, direct or indirect, through the publisher. However, their two prints below were published by two different publishers.

There were some earlier drawings and prints that were using similar iconography, but, in my opinion, Hendrik Goltzius’s Marcus Curtius remains the best candidate for starting the trend because this engraving was so popular and wide-spread.

Perhaps it would be better to view the emergence of a new trend as a result of continuous progress, rather than the influence of one particular series.

After these engravings were published, the iconography became very popular and more images have followed.

Second half of 16th century – first half of 18th century, Italian and Netherlandish Artists: Statuettes and Sculptures

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Benvenuto Cellini (1500 – 1571) and his pupil Willem Danielsz van Tetrode (1530 – 1587)

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Perhaps the first modern-era statuette showing a horseman on a rearing horse was created by Leonardo in 1516-9 in France. However, it is unclear whether it was well-known or influential for the next generations of artists.

The next, also very interesting bronze horseman has appeared in the middle of the 16th century. It was a restoration of a 3rd century BC Etruscan object: a horseman was discovered, but his horse was missing. So, in 1548 Benvenuto Cellini has created a horse to complete the statuette; you can see it below.

Later, Netherlandish artist Willem Danielsz van Tetrode, who was Cellini’s pupil in 1549-50 (according to other sources, in 1545-49), maybe earlier, has created his own bronze horseman on a rearing horse, also below.

Adriaen de Vries (1556 – 1626), trained by Willem Danielsz van Tetrode and Giambologna

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It has been suggested that Willem Danielsz van Tetrode may have trained young Netherlandish artist Adriaen de Vries and encouraged him to go to Florence. While in Florence, Adriaen de Vries was working in Giambologna‘s workshop. Later, thanks to the generous patronage of Rudolf II, Adriaen de Vries has created several rearing horses in different media, also below. The bronze figure of Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg on horseback, made by Adriaen de Vries in 1605, is the first bronze I am aware of that follows the iconography that will become so familiar: rearing horse (two support points), a horseman wearing armour and holding a baton in his right hand.

Pietro Tacca (1577 – 1640), trained by Giambologna

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Giambologna, born Jean Boulogne, the teacher of Adriaen de Vries, a leading Mannerist sculptor, have created rearing horses and equestrian sculptures, but not one horseman on a rearing horse. It was his best pupil, Pietro Tacca, who became the leading creator of small (less than 1 metre high) bronzes of the horsemen on rearing horses. The most interesting small-scale bronze is the oldest one. The horseman is Ferdinando II de' Medici, but the head is probably Peter the Great’s, added by Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli, the sculptor at Russian imperial court, and the father of Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, the chief architect of Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg.

At the end of his life, Tacca has created a large-scale monument of a horseman on a rearing horse. According to a Wikipedia article, the statue of Philip IV was the first completed large-scale monument of a horseman on a rearing horse. The monument was dedicated in 1640.

Its design was done by Diego Velázquez; it is also said to have been based on the iconography of a lost painting by Peter Paul Rubens.

The daring stability of the statue was calculated by Galileo Galilei: the horse rears, and the entire weight of the sculpture balances on the two rear legs — and, discreetly, its tail — a feat that had never been attempted in a figure on a heroic scale, of which Leonardo had dreamed.

Two more large-scale equestrian sculptures, 1620 – 1684

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The second large-scale Italian monument was the statue of Vittorio Amedeo I. This statue has quite a history. According to this book, Charles Emmanuel I has commissioned an equestrian statue to honour the memory of his father, Emmanuel Philibert. Sculptor Andrea Rivalta from Rome was responsible for the marble part and Federico Vanelli from Lugano was responsible for the bronze part. The sculpture parts were completed but remained in storage in different locations in Turin. Later on Charles Emmanuel II ordered the construction of an equestrian statue to glorify his father, Vittorio Amedeo I, the son of Charles Emmanuel I. Someone has remembered about the unassembled sculpture, and, after the change of facial features, it was unveiled as the statue of Vittorio Amedeo I and is now on display in the Royal Palace of Turin.

The statue of Carlos II was the third such monument. It was dedicated in 1684 in Messina, Sicily, and remained there until a mob has destroyed it during the Sicilian revolution of 1848. Several smaller statuettes of Carlos II were created.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598 – 1680)

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Also in 1684, Gian Lorenzo Bernini has completed the statue of Louis XIV and delivered to Versailles; however, Louis XIV disliked it and has put it in a faraway corner of Versailles park so that few could see it.

In addition, Bernini has created a statuette of Carlos II using very similar iconography.

Giovanni Battista Foggini (1652 – 1725), who worked with Pietro Tacca’s son, and his pupil Giuseppe Piamontini (1664 – 1742)

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Giovanni Battista Foggini worked with the son of Pietro Tacca, Fernando (as we remember, Pietro Tacca was Giambologna‘s first assistant). After Fernando Tacca’s death, Foggini acquired the foundry that had once belonged to Giambologna and had a very profitable business selling sculptures based on Giambologna‘s models.

Giuseppe Piamontini was Foggini’s pupil.

the origins of Baroque, 16th century

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Baroque Pearls

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The term “baroque” comes from from the Portuguese “barroco”, which means “exquisite”, “extravagant”, “bizarre”. Originally, it was applied exclusively to pearls.

The story starts at 1498, when Christopher Columbus sailed along the eastern coast of Venezuela on his third (out of four) voyage. This expedition discovered the so-called “Pearl Islands” off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. Later Spanish expeditions returned to exploit these islands’ once abundant pearl oysters. Between 1508 and 1531, pearls were one of the most valuable resources of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. By 1531, both the local indigenous population and the pearl oysters had become devastated but, presumably, other pearl-rich areas were discovered. Europeans were viewing Americas as the land where pearls were as abundant and readily available as pebbles. The reality was somewhat different. In 1580, Michel de Montaigne wrote: “So many cities levelled with the ground, so many nations exterminated, so many millions of people fallen by the edge of the sword, and the richest and most beautiful part of the world turned upside down, for the traffic of pearl and pepper?”

Irregular pearls were in high demand. In 1525 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, the King of Spain, who received some 34.5 million American pearls over the course of his reign, 2/3 of them from the Venezuelan fisheries, ordered his officials to pick out the baroque peals for him when they claimed the crown’s portion of the harvest.

Starting from the second half of the 16th century, irregular pearls would be integrated, together with gold, other jewels and enamel, into tiny and very precious figurines. Some of them would depict horsemen on rearing horses!

Baroque Style

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The Baroque style of architecture was a result of doctrines adopted by the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent in 1545–63, in response to the Protestant Reformation. The first phase of the Counter-Reformation had imposed a severe, academic style on religious architecture, which had appealed to intellectuals but not the mass of churchgoers. The Council of Trent decided instead to appeal to a more popular audience, and declared that the arts should communicate religious themes with direct and emotional involvement.

It took some time until these doctrines have resulted in art objects. The first art form that have adopted baroque was architecture. The first building in Rome (and probably in the world) to have a Baroque facade was the Church of the Gesù in 1584. Later on, interior design, sculpture, painting and music have followed.

Baroque painting was the most important and major painting during the period beginning around 1600 and continuing into the early 18th century is identified today as Baroque painting. In its most typical manifestations, Baroque art is characterised by great drama, rich, deep colour, and intense light and dark shadows. Unlike Renaissance art, which usually showed the moment before an event took place, Baroque artists chose the most dramatic point, the moment when the action was occurring. Like Renaissance art, and unlike Mannerism, it was putting the man (and the horseman!) in the centre of the picture and the universe, restoring the feeling of predictability in spite of the external drama.

Baroque sculpture was equally characterised by a dynamic movement and energy of human forms that often looked like they were frozen in the middle of action.

European wars of religion and The Peace of Westphalia, 1522 – 1648

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European wars of religion, 1522 – 1648

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The Peace of Westphalia, 1648

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Peace negotiations that have resulted in the Peace of Westphalia have started in 1641 and were concluded by the signature of the treaty in 15 May – 24 October 1648. The treaty was putting an end to both the Thirty Years' War (started in 1618, was taking place in central Europe) and Eighty Years' War (started in 1568, was taking place in the Netherlands).

The negotiation process was lengthy and complex. Talks took place in two different cities because each side wanted to meet on territory under its own control. In total, there were 109 delegations: 16 European states have each sent a delegation, 66 Imperial States Delegations were representing the interests of 140 Imperial States, and there were 27 interest groups representing 38 groups.

The battles were continuing right until the end of the treaty signing. The last major battle of the war, the Battle of Lens (the French army won against the Spanish army), took place on 20 August 1648, halfway through the signing.

The Peace of Westphalia established the precedent of peace established by diplomatic congress. A new system of political order arose in central Europe, based upon peaceful coexistence among sovereign nation-states. Inter-state aggression was to be held in check by a balance of power, and a norm was established against interference in another state’s domestic affairs. As European influence spread across the globe, these Westphalian principles, especially the concept of sovereign states, became central to international law and the prevailing world order.

The treaty was widely celebrated, especially in the Dutch Republic that was finally recognised as an independent state by Spain.