Running head: COMPARISON OF EQUESTRIAN STATUE ARTWORKS 1

Comparison of Equestrian Statue Artworks

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COMPARISON OF EQUESTRIAN STATUE ARTWORKS 2

The art pieces of Equestrian Portrait of Charles the bald and equestrian statue of

Gattamelata represents the statues that demonstrate the manner in which ancient rulers wanted to

be presented. The two artworks are made of highly refined bronze or highly finished bonze of the

ancient monuments. Both of them are examples of the Grand Tour period. They demonstrate

military leaders riding on the horseback, in which the case was drawn during the time the

emperor was in the reign or immediately after their death (Baskett, 2006). The scriptures

represent the potent visual embodiment of power, which in turn came to depict the model of

rulers. These were rulers who came to demonstrate themselves as heirs of the ancient empires.

The art pieces of Equestrian Portrait of Charles the bald and equestrian statue of Gattamelata

shows the re-using of the horse as the antique figure. The inspirations of the pieces work come

from the ancient equestrian statues of the mediaeval accounts, such as the work of the

Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius (ca. 175 CE) (Baskett, 2006). Despite representing a

different time in the history of equestrian statue artwork, both of them shows the creation of the

bronze memorialised with an equestrian statue. In both scenarios, the artworks show a style with

a past that extends deep into antiquity. There also denote the most notably common tropes of the

Roman empires.

The artworks, Equestrian Portrait of Charles the bald and equestrian statue of

Gattamelata play the purpose of glorifying the military rulers riding on the horseback, which

was a style of the Roman rulers. The use of the antiquity horses in the two pieces of artwork

demonstrates the role that the horse played in the Roman Empire (Kleiner, 2010). The

application of the bronze materials in the two pieces of artwork gave a room for a large scale that

in turns improved the essence of the subject. The modelling of the artwork also gave a room for

an in-depth illustration of the subjects alongside the subtle rendering of the composition. The
COMPARISON OF EQUESTRIAN STATUE ARTWORKS 3

military riders on the horse in both cases are to emphasise the intelligence of the soldiers

alongside the inner nature of the anatomy. The equestrian statues were made to depict the

condottiere, who were the army rulers who took part in the classical form of battles during the

Roman Empire.

The artwork equestrian statue of Gattamelata was a creation of Donatello, which was

commissioned in outside of St Antony Padua. The work was done to represent the horse riding

sculpture of Erasmo da Narni, which was also referred to as Gattamelata. This was a ruler or

captain-general for the Venetian military. The sculpture shows the ruler (Gattamelata)

demonstrated in a manner of restrained power of both the man as well as the beast (Kleiner,

2010). The human figure is dressed in amour, a costume that shows the style of the period. The

artist has modelled the features of the face of the human figure in a manner that it most

effectively perceived from the ground level as compared to the at the eye level (Baskett, 2006).

On the other side, the Equestrian Portrait of Charles the Bald is made of bronze material, which

represents the creation of appropriation of Roman imperial typology for glorifying the manifestly

Carolingian leaders. The rider of the horse has a moustached, which shows the Frankish symbol

of nobility. The equestrian portrait of Charles the Bald consists of three part, the head of the

rider, the body of the rider with saddle, and the horse (Kleiner, 2010). The entire height of the

statue of 24 cm. The riding cloak is fastened with a fibula, on the left side is an imperial orb, on

the right hand is a sword (now missing), an open crown on the head, and the moustache depict

the figure of the rider. The riding-horse statue was made about 870 at the time of the reign of the

Charles the Bald (Baskett, 2006). The bronze statue of the army ruler continues to be the Gallo-

Roman norm of the casting. As the artwork equestrian statue of Gattamelata, the equestrian
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portrait of Charles the Bald templates the equestrian bronze statues of for the period of Roman

imperial, for instance, the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius.

The artwork of Donatello is sculpture with a 3.71m height and platform, which is situated

outside of the church in Padua. This reveals that the piece of the artwork as built to withstand the

climatic conditions or the outdoor conditions. On the other hand, the Equestrian Portrait of

Charles the bald was deliberately built for indoors condition as it has been put under a roof. This

shows that the statue cannot withstand the test of time in the outdoor conditions as compared to

the former (Stewart, 2015). The detailing and modelling of the Equestrian Portrait of Charles

the Bald has been done to the proportion of the human sculpture and the horse while the

Equestrian Monument of Erasmo da Narni does not show these features (Stewart, 2015).

However, the detailing of the Donatello piece of art has been more focused on the human figure

as compared to the Equestrian Portrait of Charles the Bald (9th century 10-6) figure.

Moreover, the Equestrian Monument of Erasmo da Narni (Gattamelata) figure of the

horse is not as relaxed in comparison to the Equestrian Portrait of Charles the Bald. The

depiction of the horse on the former appears as if it is emotional and fiercer, which shows the

readiness for a battle (Stewart, 2015). On a careful analysis of the horse in the Equestrian

Monument of Erasmo da Narni, the eyes are wide opened and looking intensely but the detailing

and modelling of the horse’s muscles are not composed (Baskett, 2006). The detailing of the

human figure on the Charles the Bald has been done deeper with in-depth features. The sculpture

of Donatello shows an extremely stern posture of the rider as he wears an armour covering that is

relevant for war event. The figure of the rider on the Charles the Bald is also emotional as it

reveals the manner in which the rider rides a horse, which in turn shows a much alive character.

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References

Baskett, J. (2006). The horse in art. New Haven [Conn.: Yale University Press.

Gardner, H., & Kleiner, F. S. (2009). Gardner's Art through the ages: A global history. Boston,

MA: Thomson/Wadsworth.

Kleiner, F. S. (2010). A history of Roman art. Boston, MA: Wadsworth

Stewart, A. (2015). Why bronze? In J. M. Daehner, & K. Lapatin (Eds.). Power and Pathos.

Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World. Los Angeles: Getty Publications: pp. 34-47