Alondra Rodriguez

Four Gilded-Bronze Horses: Memory and Resurgence

Horses of Saint Mark (Wikipedia)

Glistening under soft light, their gold skin shines from beneath aging, green scars, their perked

ears, neat mane, musculature, and ever-gazing eyes are ever so present. The Horses of Saint Mark or the

Triumphal Quadriga are a set of four gilded-bronze horses currently housed in the Saint Mark’s Museum

in Venice, Italy. Their impeccable size and history have attracted many for centuries, even earning them a

set of replicas to stand on the terrace of the Saint Mark’s Basilica. However, these bronze horses have an

even greater stories molded within them, from antiquity to our modern day the Horses of Saint Mark

encompass a multitude of identities and uses. Their being sparks curiosity as things, objects of aesthetic,

faith, and history. The Horses of Saint Mark provide an intimate look into the journey objects of antiquity

can take through the centuries, the constant movement through space and time illuminating Western

Europe’s fascination with collecting ‘things’ that are considered rare, beautiful, and symbolic of power.

These four gilded bronze horses are objects of memory and represent modernity’s take on the past, a thing

to be emulated and revered.

 The Appropriation and Evolution of Identity of the Horses of Saint Mark

The birth and consequential journey of Triumphal Quadriga from antiquity to the present is an

eventful story, highlighting the Quadriga’s continued use as a symbol of authority, conquest, victory and

politics. First, believed to be created by the Greek sculptor Lysippus during the Renaissance (Basilica di

San Marco), scholars now attribute a date in the “second or third century AD” in association with the “the

reign of Septimus Severus, rather than Hellenistic period.” (Cameron 1984, 273) as Sevrus commissioned

the rebuild of Byzantium in 203 BCE. Here, the Hippodrome dominated crowds with chariot races and

above the starting gate or caceres, stood the Quadriga (Bassett 1991, 89). Racing was popular throughout

the Roman Empire, in circus or hippodromes twelve four-horse chariots (quadrigae) were split across

four teams (factiones), the Blues, Reds, Whites, and Greens and competed against each other (Bell and

Willekes 2014). The Quadriga’s placement on top of the caceres would have been absent of a “base or

inscription,” thus attributing the statues to the horses and riders below who are in search of their own,

fresh victory” (Bassett 1991, 89). Their large stature and location in the Hippodrome also suggests that

the statues worked to catch the eyes of spectators, awaiting to see the speed and size of the horses as

embodied in the Quadriga Additionally, the Quadriga is said to have stood without a charioteer (Jacoff

2003, 108-109), thus illustrating the focus on the pageantry of the sport and strength of the horses

themselves. On the Hippodrome, the Quadriga came to represent the spectacle and thrill of racing, the

decision to make them a charioteerless team contributed much to their ability to take on the identity and

purpose of their location. On the Hippodrome the gilt-bronze horses become more than a decorative

element, the Quadriga is an embodiment of entertainment, and spectacle, not just of a charioteer’s skill,

but of horses’ physical strength and majesticity.

Transitioning from being the city of Byzantium to Constantinople, the Hippodrome begins to

become a politicized place with teams being attributed to particular political factions, especially during

the time of Justinian I. However, the proximity to the Emperors palace also allows for a performance of

imperial power to be placed upon the events at the Hippodrome. For instance various Emperors from the

mid fourth century CE to the ninth century instilled a tradition of not only public announcements though
also executions. At the sphendone, the southern end of the Hippodrome, is were Emperors carried out

their own brutal spectacle of punishment; flogging, mutilation, decapitation,and even burning people

alive, as a case under Theophilus (829-842) (Guilland 1948, 681) occurred. The Hippodrome became a

“place of horror” (Guilland 1948, 682) and considering this, the Quadriga now guided attendees not to a

race of spectacle and excitement but to a race of strife and consequence. This illustrates how the

proximity to the Emperor’s palace impacted the Hippodrome’s use, and to an extent the identity of the

Quadriga, now pulled both victory from sport as well as imperial power; as Bell and Willekes state,

racing and their venues “evolved into vehicles of political ideology and popular entertainment” (Bell and

Willekes 2014).

Racing continues, though in declined use, up until the Fourth Crusade. In 1203, after helping

Alexius IV take the throne (Madden 2012, 312), the Venetians broke out into war with the Byzantines as

they were only paid half of what was owed and then looted the gilt-bronze horses from Constantinople in

1204, an “extravagant statement of pride” (Madden 2012, 313). In Venice, the Quadriga becomes

attributed to the celebration of triumphal conquest and thus politicized in relation to representing Rome’s

past. For instance, the decision to place the horses on the church of Saint Mark “was fundamentally

political, based less on the elegance of the sculptures than on their unique suitability as war trophies''

(Perry 1977, 28) similar to how Roman generals would take with them spoils of war and present them in

Rome. It is during the medieval period that people begin to search and explore more of the Roman past,

this in particular helped attribute the Quadriga with the warlike symbolism of a triumphal quadriga

(Jacoff 2003, 109), abandoning the embodiment of entertainment.

During the Renaissance, the connection of the Quadriga to the triumphal notions of ancient Rome

become so great that Venetians begin to place the Quadriga’s origins in Rome as detailed in Delle cose

notabili della città di Venezia, a brief guidebook of Venice from 1561. A dialogue from this source

between a Venetian and a visitor “explains how the horses, originally on the Arch of Vespasian in Rome,

were taken by Constantine to Constantinople'' and from there arriving in Venice after the Fourth Crusade

(Perry 1977, 36). Additionally, the Venetian political view of the bronze horses is mainly literary with
few visual representations, however a Doge does visually use the Quadriga to his political advantage. For

instance, “on a scallop-shell a warrior-Doge” stands with the Quadriga and “enacts a sea-borne triumph”

while a Victory “unfurls the banner of Saint Mark on the Ducal standard” as he “presents the quadriga to

a figure (Saint Mark or allegory of Venice)” (Perry 1977, 39). Though the original does not remain a

nineteenth-century Austrian print was adapted when the Quadriga was returned to Venice after being

taken by Napoleon. (Perry 1977, 39). Despite being placed on top of Saint Mark’s, during Medieval and

Renaissance Venice the Quadriga becomes closely tied to the political agendas of the Venetian state and

to notions of imperial power of Rome, overlooking and reminding Venetians of their pride and past.

In 1798 Napoléon held a procession called “Fête De La Liberté,” where spectators sang a song

stating that “Rome is no more in Rome. It is now in Paris…” (Mainardi 1989, 155). It becomes clear that

Napoleon not only wishes to emulate Rome’s grand past, as the Doges of Venice before him, though also

evolve Paris as a successor to Rome. The political agenda of his exhibition is explicit, particularly when

the bronze horses of Venice appear in the procession, introducing the arts looted in Napoleon’s conquest

(Mainardi 1989, 158) and the banner presented with them read “Horses transported from Corinth to Rome

and from Rome to Constantinople, from Constantinople to Venice, and from Venice to France. They are

finally in a free land.” This further illustrates Napoleon’s attribution of his political agenda to make Paris

the cultural and political capital of Europe as well as justifying his acquisition of the horses by stating that

they were taken from place to place as a result of conquest. The horses in the exhibition represented

“cultural and political authority” (Mainardi 1989, 158) and in 1807 they were placed on the Arc du

Triomphe du Carrousel where they stood until Napoleon lost at the battle of Waterloo, in 1815 they were

returned to Venice by the Austrians. Napoleon’s acquisition of the horses were for aesthetic reasons, as is

with the rest of the art looted, however, once more politics play a large role in attributing an identity to

the bronze horses, evolving and imbuing itself with more notions of conquest and power as it moves from

place to place.

With their return to Venice, the bronze horses become even more tied to the floating city,

characterized as a Venetian treasure and symbol of identity both in terms of art and politics. Such a
distinction is still present today, however, in the 1980s the horses moved once more into the basilica over

concerns of preservations. Its notable scratch-like marks are “drippings'' of corrosive damage done by

water and humidity (Alunno-Rossetti and Marabelli 1976, 169). In the museum potion of Saint Mark’s,

the horses seemingly no long represent their long ties to politics as visitors admire their beauty and

representation of horses as physical qualities of the horse, such as “soulful eyes, delicately pointed ears,

and flaring nostrils,” which have “always appealed deeply to human sensitibilies'' (Johns 2006, 126). It is

with thin in mind that one can perceive the horses as objects of memory, within them stories of spectacle

and conquest, yet also an aesthetic and identity to admire and echo in the present.

The Materiality and Construction of The Quadriga

The Quadriga is a beautifully preserved example of bronze statuary from antiquity and the aspects

of production and scarcity of bronze are what link the Quadriga with being an object of rarity. Bronze

statuary from the fourth century BCE onwards was created using the “lost-wax” method, getting its name

from the wax model that would become “lost” to help shape the bronze casting. The Quadriga is believed

to have been cast in multiple parts such as the head, trunk, hooves, tail, etc. (Basilica di San Marco, n.d.),

in addition to being almost completely copper, requiring a “far higher temperature than ordinary bronze”

(Basilica di San Marco, n.d.). Then after the “bronze” had cooled, it was “rare if not actually a unique

case” for the Quadriga to be gilded with “leaf [gold] and mercury” (Basilica di San Marco, n.d.).

The horses underwent a complex process of production and being bronze with gilding not only

made it valuable in antiquity though also within modern day. A typical bronze statue would begin as a

generic clay or plaster model created from a different original model, hot wax is then poured into the

mold, once the inside is coated, the excess is poured out and a hollow wax model is left. Fine details are

then carved, then wax rods are attached and bronze pins inserted. Then another large mold is created to

cover the wax figure. The mold is placed into a kiln where the wax is run out due to the heat, leaving an

empty space within the layers, at which point bronze is melted and poured into the mold. Once cooled the

plaster model is broken leaving behind a hollow bronze statue that goes on to finish with gilding (Aldor

and Vogman 2016).

 A typical bronze statue is made up of an alloy made up of “90 percent copper and 10 percent tin”

(Hemingway 2003), however because the Quadriga is almost entirely made out of copper, it indicates that

there is a “lower percentage of alloying metals…[which] must have made the casting process very

difficult” (Alunno-Rossetti and Marabelli 1976, 162). Additionally, gilding was not applied to all bronze

statues and was subject to finances and it increased a statue’s value significantly (Mattusch 2015), which

further illustrates the Quadriga as an exception to typical bronze statuary, specifically as a decorative

feature in a public place. In antiquity, public monuments were mostly “standardized images that

celebrated the familiar” and as a public monument they had to be “easily recognizable” (Mattusch 2015).

Considering the Quadriga was on top of the Hippodrome, it supports the idea that other quadriga statues

resembled the Triumphal Quadriga and were commonplace both in entertainment venues like the

Hippodrome or in more imperial locations such as a triumphal arch. This also illustrates that the meanings

of the quadriga were well understood in antiquity, particularly depending on their location; if on a race-

track it was meant to symbolize spectacle and thrill of racing and the power of the horse as opposed to on

a triumphal arch where conquest and pageantry took center stage.

In terms of the Quadriga as a rarity, bronzes in general are rare and their material alone “ensures

that their value on today’s art market remains higher than that of ancient marbles” and that they study of

bronzes compared to marble statues is not as well understood as others (Mattusch 2015). In antiquity for

instance, the documentation of bronze work and casting is not prevalent and through literary sources, such

as Pliny the Elder’s Histories, it can be determined that visitors to workshops were brought to “admire

and place orders for the artists designs” and did not go to a workshop to “study the production of statues.”

(Mattusch 2015). The Quadriga is an example of how bronze statues are not only rare because of their

materiality though are also a cause for replication.

The Quadrigia is unique and the only one of its kind in terms of ancient origin, however,

conservation concerns prompted the need to preserve what is left of them and replicate them to ensure

their life. Currently the Quadriga stands inside Saint Mark’s while a set of replicas stand in their former

home on the façade of the church, additionally, a replica of the horses also stands on the Arc de Triomphe
du Carrousel in Paris where they also once stood. However, the cause for replication in Paris is due to

their return to Venice and were replicated to keep a memory of both Napoleon’s conquest and his

emulation of Rome’s empirical past. The image of the quadriga is further replicated across Europe and the

U.S. as seen on the Brandenburg Gate in Germany, and on the Soldiers’ and Sailors Arch in Brooklyn,

New York. Performances of power, identity, and value are heightened with a physical conduit, the

Quadriga is representative of this as a four-horse chariot carries the memories and weight of the past, that

without them displays and echoes of power (events of pageantry and triumph) “lose much of their impact

without horses” (Johns 2006, 22).

The Quadriga as Art

The Quadriga is significant to the art world, it displays the realism and natural beauty of horses.

Their large eyes, musculature, stance, and perked ears are only a few of the characteristics of a horse that

are highlighted in the Quadriga. However, the image and appreciation of horses stretch far back in time as

the image of a four-horse chariot can be traced to Greece for the ancient Mediterranean. A common

depiction of a quadriga in antiquity comes from their association with being vehicles for the gods, Nike,

or Victory was a commonly depicted driving a quadriga and as engraved on gems or cameos for instance,

could “protect and [bring] good fortune” by both men and women (Johns 2006, 84). This divine

association, though not directly inspired by Nike and her quadriga, can be found with the Horses of Saint

Mark. Being placed on the façade of the church one could assume that the horses became representative

of a Christian message, however, their role as Quadriga Domini, the quadriga of the Lord, was long

“ignored” (Jacoff 1993, 52-53) as literature about the horses rarely make this a point and instead

highlights the role of “quadrigas in Roman triumphal procession” (Jacoff 1993, 75).

A quadriga typically consists of placing four horses side by side in a row, working together as a

team, to be seen as a group rather than individuals making up a group. However, on the church’s façade,

the Quadriga is positioned in pairs of two, attributing more individuality to each statue and further

relating them to the four Evangelists of Christ (Jacoff 1993, 48). The horses as a metaphor for Christ’s

four Evangelists comes from relating the Quadriga to other works in Saint Mark’s. For instance, “mosaics
inside the church’s west arm” demonstrate the role of Christ’s followers as “carrying the word of God”

(Jacoff 1993, 48). Though now considered more for its aesthetic qualities and connections to Roman

triumphs, the Quadriga are not a single art piece in performance alone at Saint Mark’s, other works such

as mosaics go hand in hand in contributing to Saint Mark’s message of continuing Christ’s work.

As an art piece, the Quadriga embodies a variety of identities, particularly those in the eyes of the

beholder. For those in Constantinople, the horses captured the beauty and power of horses. In Venice a

legendary Roman past and pageantry oozed out of the horse’s beings for those wanting political gain and

recognition for the Venetian state and identity; those closer to the Church attributed the image of the

Quadriga with Christ’s quadriga of evangelists, imbedding the horses with religious sentiment. Napoleon

alone saw both the Quadriga as a major player of Italian art that could also conveniently exercise

authority. Finally, in our present the Horses of Saint Mark can encompass both the real beauty of horses,

the aesthetic of triumph and victory, and the beauty of storytelling and memory as the horses themselves

are appealing for their journey from antiquity to the camera of a tourist.

Conclusion

“Things'' take up different identities, learning how to act depending on their environment. The

Horses of Saint Mark have performed before admirers as pieces of art, for rulers as tools of triumph, and

continue to perform today as marvels, and objects of grandeur and story. The Quadriga are objects

representative of memory and emulation, their constant resurgence through time and place in the present

illustrate a fascination with the past and its appropriation of equine imagery. The horses tell more than

just a story of their identity, they share stories, the political strife and agendas of rulers across time and

space, their bronze skin tells of statuary production, and their versatility in presentation and use illustrate

their stories of beauty from the perspective of admirers. The four horses echo their Roman past and

reflect their own time and place in the present as well as everything in between all at once. They are more

than just a “thing” but what word even comes close to encompassing their rarity, beauty, influence, and

luster through time.

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