365
Days in Horse Country – The Horses of
San Marcos
In the year 1204, four magnificent bronze horses were found in Constantinople and brought to Venice. Much controversy surrounds these sculptures, which some historians believe may have been created in the fourth century by the Greek sculptor Lysippos. The horses are life sized and represent a quadrangle of the type that would be used to pull a chariot.
Whoever created the statues, the four prancing steeds are breathtaking. They are massive and detailed, and they glow in a tarnished copper. Wearing collars around their necks, they seem to be frozen in time.
You can almost see their ears flicker and their muscles ripple, the manes roached (cut short and standing straight up) in a style typical for classical antiquity.
The horses of San Marcos once stood atop the Roman Basilica, but they were removed to the Museo Marciano in Venice to protect them from the scourge of air pollution. Today, four replicas stand in their place atop the Basilica. A sculpture inspired by the San Marcos horses and commissioned by Napoleon can still be seen atop the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
Michael