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 <strong>Lipizzan</strong>, 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 <strong>Lipizzan</strong> 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 <strong>Fall</strong>, <strong>2007</strong> 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 .
temperament. whthors@hotmail.com Favory Pelaina USLR News <strong>Fall</strong>, <strong>2007</strong> - 25
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