Strain Fields on the Statue of Marcus Aurelius
by G. Accardo, D. Amadio, A. Bennici, P. Cappa, G. Santucci and M. Torre
ABSTRACT-The equestrian monument of the emperor
Marcus Aurelius (Il century A.D.) is experimentally examined.
The strain fields and the displacements of the statue of the
horse, determined by the load of the emperor statue , are
G. Accordo, A. Bennici and M. Torre are Researchers, Centra/ Institute
far Restoration, Rome, ltaly. D. Amadio and P .. Cappa (SEM Member)
are Assistant Professors, and G. Santucci is Associate Professar, Depart-
ment o! Mechanics and Aeronautics, University of Rome "La Sapienza",
Via Eudossiana, 18 00184 Rome, ltaly.
Paper was presented at the 1989 SEM Spring Conference an Experimental
Mechanics held in Cambridge, MA an May 28-June l.
Originai manuscript submitted: May 1990. Fina/ manuscript received:
August 29, 1990.
372 • December 1990
recorded. The experimental values point out that the localiza-
tion of the contaci areas can significantly influence the
behavior of the monument. By comparing the experimental
results with the numerica! ones, a satisfactory agreement
emerges.
lntroduction
The monument of the emperor Marcus Aurelius is one
of the three Roman equestrian statues that has survived
to the present day. It is, certainly, the most impressive for
its majesty and beauty and is mainly in good repair .
The story of this monument is accurately documented
from the fifteenth century during the Renaissance, the
Fig. 1-Equestrian monument to
Marcus Aurelius
transitional movement between medieval and modern applied by means of heat lamps. The gage installations
times marked by a humanistic revival and by the beginnings were checked before and after the tests by measuring the
of modern science. In fact, in the fifteenth century resistances between the gages and the ground. The values
Michelangelo placed it at the center of Capitoline Square, observed, always higher than 20,000 M O, assured good
a large flat area enclosed by buildings on three sides at the mechanical properties of the adhesive layers. The connec-
top of the historic Capitoline Hill. The fourth side of the tions of the gages to the bridges utilized the three-lead
square faces a long stairway that runs from the bill to wire system.
Venezia square (Fig. 1). The test area temperature was recorded during each test
As a result of its location, the monument is exposed to with an uncertainty always less than ± 0.1 o C. These
cold wind; but surrounding buildings offer a partial readings were, obviously, carried out to properly evaluate
protection from direct solar radiation depending on the the apparent strains.
position of the sun during the day. This protection ob- The metrological characteristics relative to the auto-
viously varies with the seasons. matic multichannel sequential data-manipulation system
In 1981, an extensive inspection was carried out and utilized assures unnoticeable linearity error and neglectable
cracks were observed along with deep corrosion of the error due to random resistance variations introduced by
bronze. These cracks, especially on the borse, were the multiplexer. The maximum resolution was equal to
distributed in such a manner that justified doubts con- 0.1 ~t m/m.' The reduction of experimental data was
cerning the static stability of the statue. carried out with the help of a computer program that
The monument, which originally stood on a stone base, included the following features: corrections of the effects
is made up of two separate statues: the horse and the caused by transverse sensitivity•·' and those produced by
emperor that rests on the edge of a large hole located on test-area temperature variations; calculation of principal
the back of the borse. The restoration work required the strains;' evaluation of the effects determined by the
separation of the statue of Marcus Aurelius from the uncertainty associated with gage factors;•_,, storage of
horse, the disconnection of the borse from its ancient experimental and reduced data on a hard disk; graphical
pedestal, and, finally, moving both to the Centrai lnstitute presentation of the obtained results.
for Restoration. Before the move, the temperature field The right foreleg displacements were recorded by
was measured for days and in different seasons.' By utilizing three linear-variable-differential transformers
examining the results, it was observed that the left foreleg (LVDT). The power supply unit has a stability equal to
appeared to suffer more thermal stress than the two
hind ones.
After an extended restoration of the surfaces of the
statue, preliminary experimental studies were carried out.
The possibility of employing speckle interferometry was
evaluated.' From the results obtained, the change in
amplitude and in orientation, especially near the horse's
neck, was observed. This revealed an inhomogeneous
behavior of the materia! under test. lO
Then the techniques utilized for casting and assembling
the statue were examined. The chemical composition, the
chemical-physical and the mechanical properties of the
alloys used were also determined. Photogrammetric and
ultrasonic techniques were also utilized to obtain informa-
tion on the shape, dimensions and thickness distributions
of this masterpiece.
Finally, by employing FEM, the stress fields of the
horse loaded by the rider, by the temperature distribution
due to the solar radiation and, finally, by the natural
convection effects were examined. ,_. This numerica!
analysis was carried out to obtain more detailed informa-
tion about the areas that must be examined experimentally Fig. 2(a)-Rosette locations near the left foreleg.
View of the internai surface
and, also, to design auxiliary structures needed to stiffen
the horse.
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate experimentally
the stresses caused o n the horse by the rider, and to
compare the results thus obtained with numerica! and
photogrammetric ones.

Experimental Arrangement
The experimental analysis of the strain fields was
carried out by utilizing 21 three-element rectangular
rosettes applied to the internai surface of the horse (Fig.
2). The points where the rosettes were mounted were
chosen on the basis of a comparative examination of the
results obtained by means of a numerica! approach (FEM)
and the state of the internai surface.
In order to achieve maximum stability, the strain gages
were subjected to a hot curing (40-50° C) with beat Fig. 2(b)-Rosette locations on the horse's back

Experimental Mechanics • 373

 ±(0.01 percent +l mV). The LVDT linearity is of ±0.2
percent of full range. Finaily, tbe accuracy of tbe voltmeter
is equa! to ± (0.01 percent + 3 counts).
Experimental Procedure and Results
Tbe statue of tbe borse was placed during tbe restora-
tion work and tbe experimentai anaiyses on a steel frame
designed for tbe move of tbe equestrian monument from
tbe originai position at tbe Capitoline square to tbe
Centrai Institute for Restoration.
Tbe loading conditions examined were tbose determined
by placing tbe statue of Marcus Aurelius on tbe back of
tbe borse. Tbis test was repeated seven times and the
placing of tbe emperor's statue was done witb great care
aiso to obtain a sufficient repeatability of tbe relative
position emperor-borse, i.e., of the determined load
condition. The strain fields, the test-area temperature and
tbe displacements were recorded during tbe application
oftheload.
The principai strains obtained from the rosettes placed
near tbe left foreleg, and tbose applied near the large
hole located in the upper side of the horse, are summarized
in Figs. 3 and 4, respectively. The experimental values
sbow a poor repeatability. In fact, tbe differences
among tbe caiculated principai strains are significantly
bigber tban the associated intervais of uncertainty. The
maximum differences were observed for the rosettes
applied near the statue of tbe emperor. This observation
indicates that, in spite of tbe care taken in placing the
emperor's statue on the horse, undetectable differences in
tbe relative emperor-horse position caused significant

Maximum Principal Strain [ JJmlm l

80~------------------~----------------------------~

70

60
50
40
30

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 21
Number of the rosette

+ o
x
Test 1
Test 5 o
Test 2
Test 6
*
L>
Test 3
Test 7 -l!-
Test 4
FEM
Fig. 3-Rosettes applied to the
(a) internai surface of the statue of
the horse near the left foreleg.
(a) Maximum principal strain,
Minimum Principal Strain [ JJm/m l (b) minimum principal strain
40

20
~
o
-20

-40
~
-60 *
-~

-so
100
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 21
Number of the rosette

+ o
x
Test 1
Test 5 o
Test 2
Test 6
*
L>
Test 3
Test 7 -l!-
Test 4
FEM

(b)

374 • December 1990

contact shifts in load. Thus the interposition of a
chemically inert cushion between the emperor and the
horse can assure greater distribution of the contact area.
The results obtained by means of the FEM model are
also reported in Figs. 3 and 4, see Ref. 4. By comparing
the experimental values with the numerica! ones, a
satisfactory agreement appeared relative to the points
examined. Nevertheless, Figs. 4(a) and 4(b) show that
the chosen load conditions are not completely verìfied
by the measurements; in fact, rosette #17, for instance,
shows the presence of a load concentration not con-
sidered in n umerical calculations. On the contrary,
various other reasons cause the shift shown in Figs.
3(a) and 3(b): the uncertainty associateci with the horse's
constraint conditions; the impossibility to represent
with the FEM the rapidly variable shapes, the folds
of the skin, the materia! cracks, the thickness gradient,
etc. All these shape singularities, so numerously present
in this monument from the II century A.D., determine
large stress concentrations not considered in the finite-
element model. Considering all the previous observations
it is possible to consider the FEM model sufficiently
representative of the equestrian monument behavior. It
then appears reasonable to utilize the adopted FEM model
to design and to examìne the capabilities of different
internai frames devised to carry the emperor's weight,
and, then, to decrease the stresses on the horse statue.
The internai frame has to transmit the weight of the statue
of Marcus Aurelius directly to the horse's legs.
Figure 5 indicates the displacements measured by
means of the LVDT and photogrammetric approach, and
the displacements obtained by means of a numerica!

Maximum Principal strain [ llm/m l

600,-------------------~-----------~u--------------~

500

400

300 *
200

100
i
o~
. •
1::. ~

•
-100
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Number of the rosette

Test 1 + Test 2 * Test 3 D Test 4

x Test 5 O Test 6 Test 7 --*- FEM
Fig. 4-Rosettes applìed to the
internai surface of the statue of (a)
the horse near the emperor's
statue. (a) Maximum principal
strain, (b) minimum principal
strain Minimum Principal Strain [ ... m/m l
100.-----------------~----------------------------,

50

or-----~~~----~~==~==~~~~--,.--~

-50
+ 4' l
-100
i !ji
-150
g
-200

-250

-300
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Number of the rosette

Test 1 + D

x Test 5 o
Test 2
Test 6
*
1::.
Test 3
Test 7 ----&-
Test 4
FEM

(b)

Experimental Mechanics • 375

 Displacements [mml
3~------------------------~~o=-----------------------------,
*
+
2 ii
o
1
x y
Displacement direction
Test 1 + Test 2 * Test 3
x Test 5 o Test 6 ---8-- Photogram.
method. Examining this figure confirmed the non-
repeatability of the tests. The good agreement between the
experimentai vaiues and the numericai ones was aiso
confirmed.
Conclusions
The main conclusions which may be derived from this
experimentai anaiysis are as follows.
(l) The uniqueness and preciousness of the masterpiece
examined, the state of its internai surface, tbe inbomo-
geneous behavior of the materiai, and finaily tbe com-
plexity of the shape of tbe statue required speciai attention
in applying application of the strain gages, mainly during
tbe load cycles caused by tbe placing and lifting of the
Marcus Aurelius statue on the back of the borse.
(2) The measured displacements showed that the horse's
right foreleg suffered noticeable displacements in the
range of 3 mm during the load cycles.
(3) The magnitude of strains and stresses indicated a
significant range of variation among the examined areas.
In fact, the stress in the vicinity of the left foreleg of the
horse was aiways less than 7 N/mm'. Near the large bole
located in the upper side of tbe borse tbe maximum stress
was equa! to 50 Nlmm'.
(4) Considerable spread of the measured strains was
noticed in the upper side of tbe borse statue caused
mainly by the unrepeatability of tbe emperor's statue
positioning on the borse. In fact, because the interaction
of the statues is confined to few (four or five) and variable
contact areas of little extension, unnoticeable differences
in the relative emperor-horse position cause significant
shifts in contact load. Moreover, the temporary pedestai,
that was tbe frame utilized for the move, caused un-
constant constraint conditions tbat can be a further cause
of dispersion of experimentai data.
(5) Considering that the intrinsic limitations of a FEM
model in simulating the shape of the monument, the
uncertainty associated witb tbe thickness distribution,
and, finaily, tbe approximations associated witb hypo-
tbesizing the model to be of bomogeneous and isotropic
materia}, the caiculated strain and stress fields are satis-
376 • December 1990
Fig. 5-Right foreleg displacements
z
o Test 4
D FEM
factorily confirrned by the experimentai results. This
observation allows the utilization of a numerica! mode! in
tbe design of structures for a durable, careful protection
and preservation of tbe Marcus Aurelius statue.
Acknowledgment
The authors wisb to thank the Centrai Institute for
Restoration, Rome and the Department of Mechanics and
Aeronautics at the University of Rome "La Sapienza"
for tbe use of tbeir facilities and for tbe financiai support
provided for this research.
References
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Temperature Mapping and Acoustic Emission Analysis: a Case Study of
Marcus Aurelius, "Studies in Conservation, ZII, 67-74 (1983).
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J.M., "The Use of Speckle /nterferometry in the Study of Large Works of
Art," J. Photographic Sci., 33, 174-176 (19R5).
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