The Horses of St. Mark's

by Charles Freeman

  These are far more than simply four horses taken as plunder. For fifteen hundred years, from 1000 BC to AD 500, a team of four horses represented status. (So much so that some emperors portrayed themselves with six or even ten horses, to push their status still higher!) In the Greek world the chariot drawn by four horses reinforced the role of the games, at Olympia and other sites, as aristocratic gatherings. The gods, and even the citizens of Athens in their most arrogant representation on the Parthenon frieze, travelled in quadrigae. In the Roman period a quadriga drew the victor in his triumph in Rome and quadrigae were adopted by the emperors as their symbol of eternal victory. So they are infused with meanings from the classical world.

  In later centuries, however, the horses’ significance proved ambiguous enough for them to take on other roles. They could stand as a religious emblem, as ‘quadriga of the Lord’, and this could justify their position on a Christian basilica while at the same time, a few miles away in a fresco in the Scrovegni chapel in Padua, Giotto could portray them as a symbol of pagan idolatry. Were they even placed on the loggia to endow the Piazza with the aura of a ceremonial hippodrome in which the doges asserted their imperial authority? Perhaps; but times moved on, and by the fourteenth century the horses had acquired a new role as a symbol of Venetian national pride.

  If we are to understand the continuing success of the horses as icons, then, we must grasp that it is precisely because they have proved so adaptable to the history which they have watched evolve around them that their power has endured. Some reminder of this long history is to be found in an evocative nineteenth-century poem, ‘I Cavalli di San Marco’ by Giacomo Zanella.* In it, each horse speaks in turn, reflecting back on their past. The first horse remembers the great times when the bell of St Mark’s welcomed back thousands of ships from as far afield as Egypt and Scandinavia. The nobler citizens were brought back precious stones coloured with the sun of Asia to weave into their hair, and even the poor of the city could wear silk. The recollections of the second horse are more cultural. He has memories of Byzantium, the hippodrome, the theatres full of statues and the imperial palaces by the sea. Now, in Venice, there is the architecture of Palladio and Bramante to admire, and the great palaces of merchants. At the height of the city’s artistic achievement Titian could be watched walking among the admiring crowds, while humanists such as Pietro Bembo were to be seen deep in conversation.

  The third horse remembers Venice’s political and naval power. He wishes he could have been with the doges on their expeditions to the east and at the great battles between Venice and the Turks. Even today, he goes on, the name of Venice is remembered from the Aegean to the Byzantine waterways. Although the flags of the city’s enemies are now destroyed, memories of their being dragged in as icons of victory still linger. Finally, the fourth horse reflects on how, on his return from Paris, he saw the yellow and black flag of Austria fluttering on the standards before St Mark’s. He turned his head away and could not even neigh until the moment he heard the crowd roaring for Manin. The people of Venice cannot be tamed and the virtue of the old days cannot be extinguished. Yet, if ever a challenge so great as that of Lepanto arose, he wonders, would the spirit of the lion of St Mark still be alive in the youth of the Adriatic?

  For the time being the horses have lost their proud vantage point; but it is not impossible that they will be restored to the loggia of St Mark’s. In July 2001 Vittorio Sgrabi, the under-secretary for culture in the Italian government, announced that the scientific evidence that the horses had suffered from pollution did not stand up. The intricacies of decision-making in the Italian national and regional bureaucracies make immediate changes unlikely, but it is possible that the horses will one day be triumphantly presented yet again to the people of Venice.

  In November 1966, freak weather conditions sent the sea surging through the openings into the Venetian lagoon. For some twenty hours, Venice was covered by 2 metres of water. As its inhabitants waited in darkness there were some who feared that the waters would never recede and that this was indeed the end of the city. Venice is fragile. Its population dwindled in the 1990s and it is continuously assailed by two forms of waves: those of the acqua alta, the floods, and those of the tourists whose daily influx now exceeds the number of residents. Its death has been predicted in almost every generation; an anxiety that it will crumble into the lagoon pervades its history. Yet somehow it endures. The horses, in their porous copper, are equally fragile – but they endure too. In Aldo Palazzeschi’s novel, Il Doge, published in 1967, Venice is in a state of collapse and at one dramatic moment the basilica of St Mark’s disappears, just as the Campanile had done in 1902. The doge appears on the balcony of his palace, attended by the four golden horses, and like a sun-god of old he disappears with them into the sky. When all else has gone, the horses are the saviour of the last remnants of Venice’s pride.

  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

  I list here the books which made the writing of my own easier and more pleasurable. I have not listed those consulted for general background information. I am also grateful for material or observations provided by Michael Vickers, Lydia Fetto, Tony Harvey and Terry Harris, and for the help given with the translation of the Zanella poem by Ferdinando Giugliano.

  Anyone researching the horses of St Mark’s is deeply indebted to the catalogue to the 1979 exhibition of the horses, The Horses of San Marco, by a variety of authors, all translated for the English edition by John and Valerie Wilton-Ely (London, Thames & Hudson, 1979). It contains a large number of essays which have been quarried for this book, and most translations of impressions of the horses come from this source. Specific studies of the horses include Vittorio Galliazzi, I Cavalli di San Marco (Treviso, Editrice Canova, 1981), although Galliazzi’s dating of the horses is challenged by recent research on copper casting. Michael Jacoff, The Horses of San Marco and the Quadriga of the Lord (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1992), sets out the case for a religious rationale for the placing of the horses on St Mark’s.

  On ancient Roman circuses I have used John Humphrey, Roman Circuses: Arenas for Chariot Races (London, Batsford, 1987); and on Byzantium, Cyril Mango, The Oxford History of Byzantium (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002). For the Byzantine circus, two books by Alan Cameron, Porphyrius the Charioteer (Oxford, OUP, 1973) and Circus Factions (Oxford, OUP, 1976), proved especially helpful. On the Fourth Crusade, I consulted Donald Nicol, Byzantium and Venice: A Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1988).

  Books on Venice overwhelm. For recent historical surveys, see John Martin and Dennis Romano, Venice Reconsidered: The History and Civilization of an Italian City-State, 1297–1797 (Baltimore and London, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000; essays on aspects of Venetian history and historiography) and Élisabeth Crouzet-Pavan, Venice Triumphant: The Horizons of a Myth, trans. Lydia Cochrane (Baltimore and London, JHUP, 2002), the second indeed a triumphant overview of the city’s history. On architecture, Richard Goy, Venice: The City and its Architecture (London, Phaidon, 1997), and Deborah Howard, The Architectural History of Venice, 2nd edn (New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2002), are both excellent. On Venetian ritual, Edwin Muir, Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice (Princeton and London, PUP, 1981), is the standard introduction to ceremonial life in the Piazza. I have also drawn on Debra Pincus, The Tombs of the Doges of Venice (Cambridge, CUP, 2000). Quotations from Goethe’s Italian Journey (1786–8) are taken from the Penguin Classics edition translated by W. H. Auden and Elizabeth Mayer.

  For background to the reception of ancient art in general, see Roberto Weiss, Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity (Oxford, OUP, 1973), Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny, Taste and the Antique (New Haven and London, YUP, 1981), and Francis Haskell, History and its Images (New Haven and London, YUP, 1993). Specifically on Venice, Patricia Fortini-Brown, Venice and Antiquity (New Haven and London, YUP, 1996) proved essential.

  On the Renaissance in general, J
ohn Hale, The Civilisation of Europe in the Renaissance (London, HarperCollins, 1993), is a fine overview. On Venice in particular, see Patricia Fortini-Brown, The Renaissance in Venice (London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1997). Excellent on the painting is Bruce Cole, Titian and Venetian Painting 1450–1590 (Oxford, Westview, 1999).

  On Canova, a good starting point is C. Johns, Antonio Canova and the Politics of Patronage in Revolutionary and Napoleonic France (Berkeley and London, University of California Press, 1998). On Napoleon’s Paris, Marie Louise Biver, Paris de Napoléon (Paris, Plon, 1963), has full details of the building of the Arc du Carrousel for those who can read French.

  For Venice over the past two hundred years, Margaret Plant, Venice: Fragile City, 1797–1997 (New Haven and London, YUP, 2002), is outstanding – like other Yale publications, not least for the quality of its illustrations. See also John Pemble, Venice Rediscovered (Oxford, OUP, 1996), and Tony Tanner, Venice Desired (Oxford, OUP, 1992), which deal with the responses to the city of outsiders and writers.

  INDEX

  Aachen cathedral, 209

  Académie Française, 5, 219

  Achilles, 33–4, 35, 37

  Acre, 94, 249

  Actium, 25

  Adrianople, 85, 86

  Adriatic Sea, 75, 79, 85, 117, 118–19, 123, 187, 276

  Aegean Sea, 80, 85, 128, 171, 276

  Aegina, 85

  Aemilius Paulus, 4, 5

  Africa, 4, 47, 64, 70, 269

  Agnadello, battle of, 129

  Agrippina, Empress, 218

  Alberti, Leon Battista, The Art of Building, 147–8

  Alcibiades, 38, 143

  Aldus Manutius, 137, 145

  Alexander the Great, 47, 138, 180; Lysippus as favourite sculptor, 14, 26, 60, 140; reign, 182–3; figure of, 185; gilded statue, 264

  Alexander sarcophagus, 258

  Alexander, Tsar, 208

  Alexandria, 71, 72, 87

  Alexius Angelus (Alexius IV, emperor), 79–81

  Alexius I, emperor, 106

  Alexius III, emperor, 79, 80–1

  Alexius V, emperor, 81, 82

  Alfieri, Vittorio, 214, 217, 240

  Amalfi, 68

  Anagni cathedral, 99

  Anastasius, emperor, 65

  Ancona, 118, 137

  Andros, 85

  Angel Gabriel, 93

  Anna Amalia of Saxe-Weimar, Dowager Duchess, 189

  Annals of Fine Arts, 231, 233

  Annunciation, 70, 93

  Antinous, 184, 267

  Antiochus IV, king of Commagene, 17

  Antonine altar, 17

  Antwerp cathedral, 199

  Apelles, 47, 139–40, 149, 180

  Aphrodite 159; of Cnidus, 139, 175

  Apollo, 17; statues, 24, 59; sanctuary at Delphi, 50

  Apollo Belvedere, 2, 170, 181–2, 183, 200, 208, 210, 221, 230, 233

  Aquileia, 70, 71

  Aretino, Pietro, 146

  Arezzo, 133

  Argos, 147

  Aristotle, 13, 130, 200

  Arrotino, 170

  art: seizure of treasures, 6–7, 199–200, 207–10; classical (ancient), 12–1, 145–6, 233, 236, 259–60, 274; Christian, 98–9, 260; Platonic ideal, 146–8, 180, 228, 232; Venetian, 148–9, 168, 176; pagan, 154; sublime, 180–1, 184; Greek, 180, 182, 238, 259; Renaissance, 181; Roman imperial, 185; Napoleonic, 211; Egyptian, 234; Etruscan, 234; Roman, 238, 259; gothic, 247; Hellenistic, 257, 259–60, 262; psychological effect, 273; see also sculpture, ancient

  Ascension Day, 117, 212

  Asia, 129, 275

  Athena, 142

  Athens, 17, 34–5, 41, 141–3, 229, 234, 274; falls to Turks, 141; sack by Sulla, 200 LANDMARKS: Acropolis, 141, 143, 238; Parthenon, 35, 59, 138, 139, 141–3, 175, 229, 231, 232; Piraeus, 59; tomb of Philopappas, 17, 138; see also Parthenon sculptures

  Attila the Hun, 70

  Auerstadt, battle of, 238

  Augustus, emperor, 23, 25–7, 46, 177, 201, 259–60, 267; triumphal arch, 47, 141; on coins, 133; mausoleum, 141; Prima Porta statue, 260

  Aurelii family, 136

  Austerlitz, battle of, 203

  Austria, 191–3, 196, 207, 224, 242, 244, 276

  Baldwin of Flanders, 77, 85, 86

  Balkans, 21, 24, 108

  Barletta, 88

  Bassae, 229

  Belgium, 199

  Belisarius, 64, 65

  Bellini, Gentile, 149, 159, 167; Procession in the Piazza San Marco, 112, 113, 114, 122, 152

  Bellini, Giovanni, 145, 148, 149, 167; The Madonna and Child Enthroned, 196

  Bellini, Jacopo, 149, 150, 159

  Belluno, 141

  Beltrame, Achille, 253

  Belvedere Torso, 183, 221

  Bembo, Pietro, 144–5, 275

  Bergamo, 156

  Berlin, University of, 238

  Bern, 4

  Bernini, Gian Lorenzo, 172

  Bessarion, Cardinal, 134–5, 161, 163

  Black Sea, 118, 129

  Boeotia, 237

  Bologna, 118, 130, 199; church of San Giacomo Maggiore, 150, 151

  Bonaparte, Elisa, 206, 215

  Bonaparte, Napoleon, see Napoleon Bonaparte

  Bonaparte, Pauline, 206, 217

  Borghese, Prince, 206, 217

  Boyle, Nicholas, 186

  Bozzotti, Maria, 275n

  Bramante, Donato, 275

  Brandenburg, 238

  Britain, 191, 207; Roman conquest, 46

  British Museum, 209, 257; krater, 35

  bronze, 50, 160, 171, 182, 185, 263–5; see also metal casting

  Bruges, 199

  Bulgars, 86

  Byron, Lord, 187, 229, 245; Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage quoted, 223

  Byzantine empire, 16, 62–3; relations with Venice, 68, 70–1, 75–7, 123; disputed throne, 79–81; fall, 85–6; revival, 118

  Byzantium, 21–2, 30, 134, 268–9, 270, 275

  Cacault, François, 214

  Calamis (sculptor), 143

  Caligula, emperor, 23

  Canal, Martino da, 92, 107, 109

  Canaletto (Antonio Canal), 158, 159, 176, 224

  Canova, Antonio, 8, 198, 208, 210, 211–22; relations with Napoleon, 211, 214–17; appointed Director of Museums in Rome, 217; negotiates return of art treasures, 218–19, 239; suggests horses be placed on waterfront in Venice, 224, 235; in London, 224–5; examines Elgin marbles, 226, 228–9; death and funeral, 239–40; Cupid and Psyche, 213; ‘Ideal Heads’, 221

  Cape Artemisium, 32

  Cape of Good Hope, 129

  Capitoline Venus, 2, 200

  Caracalla, emperor, 17, 269, 270

  Carpaccio, Vittore, 151, 153; St Augustine in his Study, 160–1

  Carrey, Jacques, 142

  Casanova, Giacomo Girolamo, 177

  Castiglione, Sabba di, 159

  Castlereagh, Lord, 208, 218, 221

  casting, process of, 50–61; see also metal casting

  casts, 171–2

  Catholicism, 239

  Cellini, Benvenuto, 53–8, 171, 263

  Cestius, 133

  Champollion, Jean François, 209n

  Chaptal, Jean Antoine, 206

  chariot racing, 22–3, 26–7, 36–44, 49, 116; teams, 43, 64–5; replaced by imperial ritual, 66–7

  chariots, 12, 34–7, 44, 97–8, 267–8

  Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, 133

  Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, 130, 168, 236

  Charles I, King of England, 172

  Charles IX, King of France, 200

  chemistry, 175

  Chilone, Vincenzo, 224, 227

  Chioggia, 127

  Chios, 14, 30, 140, 237, 257, 259, 267–8

  Choiseul-Daillecourt, M. de, 237

  Chonai, 79n

  Christianity, 63, 70, 101, 108, 132, 146, 238; destruction of pagan art, 154; and fall of Roman empire, 236

  Christians, 15, 18, 20, 63, 236; destruction of statues, 174

  Chronicon Paschale, 112


  Cicognara, Count Leopold, 214, 224, 235–40; Il Bello, 235

  Cimaroli, Battista, 177

  Cimon, 38

  Circe, 26

  Claudius, emperor, 46

  Clement VII, Pope, 130

  Clement XIII, Pope, 213

  Clement XIV, Pope, 213

  Cleosthenes of Epidamnus, 49

  Code Civil (Napoleonic), 201

  Colbert, Jean-Baptiste, 172

  Colleoni, Bartolomeo, 152, 155, 156–7, 158

  Cologne, 27

  Colonna, Giovanni, 132

  Commagene, 17

  Commodus, emperor, 45

  Constantine, emperor: rise to power, 15–16; patronage of Christians, 15, 18, 20; founding of Constantinople, 16, 21–2, 25, 28–31, 62, 112, 268; sun symbolism 16–20, 28; adventus, 17, 24; ‘thirteenth apostle’, 22, 63; hippodromes, 24, 28; association with St Mark’s horses, 48, 60, 141, 173, 258, 268, 270, 271; acclaimed emperor, 64; preservation of Roman empire, 70; aped by Venetian doges, 117; equestrian statue ascribed to, 154

  Constantine V, emperor, 66

  Constantinople: St Mark’s horses in, 5, 13, 14, 48, 63, 141, 173, 237, 254, 257, 274; foundation, 16, 21–2, 25, 28–31, 62, 90–1, 112, 268; falls to Ottoman Turks, 62, 128, 134–5; Nika riots, 65–6, 68; Book of Ceremonies, 67; population, 67; rebuilding, 68, 269–70; Venetian community, 68, 71, 73, 76, 81, 117–18; Venetian conquest, 68, 80–91, 92, 95, 117, 134, 135; Genoan community, 75; trade, 75–7; treasures removed to Venice, 87–91, 93–5, 106; quadrigae used in triumphs, 98; podesta, 105–6; Easter procession, 107–8; imperial coronations, 109

  LANDMARKS: Church of the Holy Apostles, 22, 72, 82, 89; church of St Polyeuktos, 88, 94; hippodrome, 24–30, 60, 63–4, 66, 84, 89, 90, 110–12, 114, 140, 257, 268, 274, 275; imperial forums, 73; Mese, 29; Milion, 29, 63, 90–1, 237, 257, 268–71; Santa Sophia, 22, 68, 86, 88, 99; Stama, 29, 268