The Triumphal Quadriga of Horses sculpture in St Mark's Basilica, Venice Italy. 126681_Venice
The Triumphal Quadriga of Horses of St Mark's is a set of bronze statues of four horses, originally part of a monument depicting a quadriga (a four-horse carriage used for chariot racing), which have been set into the facade of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, northern Italy, since the 13th century. The sculptures date from late classical antiquity and have been attributed to the 4th century BC Greek sculptor Lysippos. Although called bronze, analysis suggests that as they are at least copper, they should be seen as an impure copper rather than bronze. Given current knowledge of ancient technology, this method of manufacture suggests a Roman rather than a Hellenistic origin. It is certain that the horses, along with the quadriga with which they were depicted were long displayed at the Hippodrome of Constantinople; they may be the "four gilt horses that stand above the Hippodrome" that "came from the island of Chios under Theodosius II" mentioned in the 8th- or early 9th-century Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai. They were still there in 1204, when they were looted by Venetian forces as part of the sack of the capital of the Byzantine Empire in the Fourth Crusade. Shortly after the Fourth Crusade, Doge Enrico Dandolo sent the horses to Venice, where they were installed on the terrace of the façade of St. Mark's Basilica in 1254. In 1797, Napoleon had the horses forcibly removed from the basilica and carried off to Paris, where they were used in the design of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel together with a quadriga, In 1815 the horses were returned to Venice by Captain Dumaresq. He had fought at the Battle of Waterloo and was with the allied forces in Paris where he was selected, by the Emperor of Austria, to take the horses down from the Arc de Triomphe and return them to their original place at St Mark's in Venice. The horses remained in place over St. Marks until the early 1980s, Since then, the originals have been on display just inside the basilica.
Size: 5616px × 3744px
Location: St Marco Basilica Venice Italy
Photo credit: © DV TRAVEL / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 4, antiquity, art, basilica, beautiful, bronze, cart, classical, greek, horse, horses, italy, lysippos, marco, mark, marks, quadridge, quadriga, quadrige, roman, san, sculptor, sculpture, sculptures, st, statue, statues, triumphal, venice, venitian
