Fall 2007 - United States Lipizzan Federation

By Polly DuPont
Horses in Art
Italian Renaissance, Ancient Rome, and Greece
In this issue, I wanted to write about
the type of horse, so like the Lipizzan,
which we see in much of the Italian art of
the Renaissance. As the article progressed,
I discovered that I could not talk about
the Renaissance horses without bringing
in also the horses of Ancient Rome. The
Italian Renaissance was based in part on
the “rediscovery” of Ancient Rome and
Greece, through Magna Grecia as well as
through the Greek culture introduced
by the Scholars from Byzantium in the
1400s, Roman ruins and sculptures, friezes,
triumphal arches and so forth.
You will find history books saying that
the Romans were not interested in horse
breeding, presumably because, given the
extent of the Empire, they were able to
import whatever horses they wished in
whatever numbers necessary. These came
from the outlying countries of the empire,
many of which were famous for their horse
breeding peoples and tribes. The fact that
loaded ships and caravans were sent to these
outlying military stations, meant that they
could return with goods, including horses.
However, local donkeys, horses, and oxen
were certainly bred in the country estates
around Rome, and it seems to me highly
unlikely that no one in these estates became
fascinated and passionate about the noble
horses that arrived from far lands, wishing
to breed some for themselves...
Roman art shows quite a different type
of horse from those seen in earlier Persian,
Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Etruscan
art. (see Etruscan Winged Horses, horses in
friezes at Persepolis, in frescoes in Egypt, in
frescoes from wall paintings in Etruscan
tombs all of which are of lighter build, more
like the Arab and the Akhal Teke. A horse
more like the Lipizzan is seen in the Elgin
marbles frieze from pediment of the temple
of Apollo on the acropolis of Athens, now in
the National Gallery, London. Examples of
the horse in Roman art are the Equestrian
statue of Marcus Aurelias, the four bronze
horses now in the Loggia of San Marco in
Venice, horses in bas relief on triumphal
arches (featured at right).
Furthermore, the existence of horses suitable
for cavalry are to be found in the legends
about the ancestors of the Camargue
horses and those herds in upper Italy being
remnants of the passing armies of Hannibal
24 - USLR News Fall, 2007
TOP PHOTO:
Four bronze horses,
now in the Loggia
of San Marco in
Venice.
BOTTOM PHOTOS:
The equestrian
statue of
Marcus Aurelius,
which is now
in the
capitoline museum
in Rome.
and Caesar and other Roman generals
who were established in large permanent
camps in the south of France and along
the Pyrenees; along the border with Spain
and in the valley of the Rhone up to the
Seine and further into the north of France
and the low countries. Vestiges of ancient
granaries and other aspects of camps
attest to this Roman presence as well as the
writings of the Romans themselves.
That the Romans were not adept at cavalry
maneuvers is held out by the military
disaster at Adrianopole, where the barbarian
cavalry massacred 30,000 Roman
troops ( these figures change according
to which writer you are consulting, and of
course, there were not really “body counts”
in those times. The figures are arrived at
by some reckoning of the troops that went
into battle and then what was left. Some of
course deserted and never returned, some
were wounded and ended up living out their
lives in the area surrounding Adrianopolis,
just as happened with the Italian troops “lost”
or taken prisoner by the Russians in WWII.
The heavy horseman of the Barbarians
(Goths) was patterned on the Sarmatian
lancer of the steppes and brought
about the defeat of the Romans at
Adrianopolis. This type of heavy horseman
and the type of cavalry maneuvers that
he could accomplish would remain
a prototype on western battlefields for 800
years, long after the Roman Empire had
fallen. We know of him as The Knight.
Says Polly DuPont: “Illustrations of the works
of art that go with this article will be posted
on my web site, at www.lipolifarm.com .