The theme of "The Horse Tamer" has long been a popular subject in sculpture—from Antiquity to the Enlightenment. Greek sculptors portrayed human trainers subduing their equine charges—which the Romans later copied for their own city. Amongst the most famous Roman Horse Tamers are a pair which flank an obelisk and fountain on Rome's Quirinal Hill. The pair—called Dioscuri, the twin half-brothers Castor & Pollux—were copied in the Fourth Century from Ancient Greek predecessors. In 1792, Napoleon considered removing them to Paris, however, they proved too large and difficult to transport. Also in Rome, another pair of Dioscuri, standing atop the dramatic ramp which leads to Michelangelo's Piazza del Campodoglio.
A pair of bronze Horse Tamers stands in Naples—a gift to Ferdinand II from Tsar Nicholas I. Russian sculptor, Peter Klodt von Urgensburg, cast four bronze horses which so impressed the Tsar that he told the artist, "you have made finer horses than any prize stallion could." Nichoas I loved the horses so much that he gave them away: two to the King of Naples and Sicily, Ferdinand II, and two to the Prussian King Frederik William IV (which stand in Berlin to this day). Later, von Urgensburg made four more (different) horses which the Tsar had installed upon the Anichkov Bridge in Saint Petersburg.
The "Marly Horses" were commissioned by the French King, Louis XV, and carved in Carrara marble by Guillaume Coustou from 1743 to 1745. The two groupings, rearing horses and their trainers, were carved to decorate the King's horse trough at his palace, the Chateau de Marly (just outside of Paris). In 1794, the horses were moved to the Place de la Concorde, where they stood for nearly two hundred years—until it was discovered that the annual Bastille Day military parades were damaging them. So they were moved to the Louvre, indoors, where they enjoy pride of place today.
The Art Deco bookends, shown above, carry-on the long-honored theme of The Horse Tamer. They are fashioned of cast iron, finished with an aged, copper patina. They also wink at the Brutalist Movement which was to arrive as the Art Deco period was coming to an end. Click on the photo above to learn more about these handsome bookends.
More horse-themed bookends tomorrow and in the days to come.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
To arrange a visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only), please call 917-446-4248.