Equestrian portrait
{{Short description|Genre of portraiture}}
File:Henry Duke of Cumberland by David Morier 1765.jpg by David Morier around 1765]]
An equestrian portrait is a portrait that shows the subject on horseback. Equestrian portraits suggest a high-status sitter, who in many cases was a monarch or other member of the nobility, and the portraits can also carry a suggestion of chivalry.{{cite journal |last1=Liedtke |first1=Walter A. |last2=Moffitt |first2=John F. |title=Velázquez, Olivares, and the Baroque Equestrian Portrait |journal=The Burlington Magazine |date=1981 |volume=123 |issue=942 |pages=528–537 |jstor=880474}}{{cite web |title=Glossary – Equestrian Portrait |url=https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/glossary/equestrian-portrait |website=The National Gallery |access-date=24 August 2019}}
History
Equestrian statues were made at least as far back as Ancient Rome and the Hellenistic period. Images of the Thracian horseman were recurrent in reliefs and small statues between the fourth century BC and the fourth century AD, especially in Thrace and Moesia Inferior.{{cite encyclopedia |chapter=Thracian Rider |publisher=Thomson Gale |title=Encyclopedia of Religion |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/thracian-rider |year=2005 |access-date=24 August 2019}}{{cite journal |last1=Dimitrova |first1=Nora |title=Inscriptions and Iconography in the Monuments of the Thracian Rider |journal=Hesperia |year=2002 |volume=71 |issue=2 |pages=209–229 |doi=10.2307/3182007 |jstor=3182007}} The bronze Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius in the Capitoline Museums of Rome, of which a replica stands in Piazza del Campidoglio, was erected around 176{{nbsp}}AD.{{cite web |title=Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius |url=http://www.museicapitolini.org/en/percorsi/percorsi_per_sale/museo_del_palazzo_dei_conservatori/esedra_di_marco_aurelio/statua_equestre_di_marco_aurelio |website=Musei Capitolini |access-date=24 August 2019}} Many other bronze statues of the time were melted down for reuse. After a period out of favour, equestrian portraits in Europe, including paintings, drawings and sculpture, revived during the Renaissance around the fifteenth century.{{cite book |last=Baskett |first=John |title=The Horse in Art |url=https://archive.org/details/horseinart00john |url-access=registration |year=2006 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0-300-11740-X |page=[https://archive.org/details/horseinart00john/page/17 17]}}
Examples
{{Category see also|Equestrian portraits}}
Many equestrian portraits have been made of monarchs. Titian painted his Equestrian Portrait of Charles V in 1548.{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Jonathan |title=Charles V on Horseback, Titian (c1548) |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2003/nov/08/art |access-date=24 August 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=8 November 2003}} Anthony van Dyck painted Charles I with M. de St Antoine in 1633 and Equestrian Portrait of Charles I in 1635, as well as Charles I at the Hunt (an equine portrait rather than an equestrian portrait as the king is dismounted) in 1637–1638.{{cite web |title=Charles I (1600–1649) with M. de St Antoine |url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/405322/charles-i-1600-1649-with-m-de-st-antoine |website=Royal Collection Trust |access-date=24 August 2019}} Equestrian portraits of Napoleon include Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1801–1805) by Jacques-Louis David. A modern painting based on David's original entitled Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps was painted in 2005 by Kehinde Wiley, who also painted a version of Rubens' Philip II on Horseback (1628) with Michael Jackson replacing the king.{{cite news |last1=MacMonagle |first1=Niall |title=What Lies Beneath: Napoleon Leading the Army Over the Alps |url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/theatre-arts/what-lies-beneath-napoleon-leading-the-army-over-the-alps-36159796.html |access-date=24 August 2019 |work=Irish Independent |date=25 September 2017}}{{cite news |last1=Sherwin |first1=Skye |title=Kehinde Wiley’s Equestrian Portrait of King Philip II (Michael Jackson): classical kitsch |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/jul/06/kehinde-wiley-equestrian-portrait-of-michael-jackson |access-date=24 August 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=6 July 2018}}
In the iconography of Saint George and the Dragon, George is often portrayed on horseback, as in Rubens' painting Saint George and the Dragon (1605–1607). The same is true for some other warrior saints, including Demetrius of Thessaloniki and Theodore of Amasea, who are sometimes paired with George.{{cite book |last=Grotowski |first=Piotr|title=Arms and Armour of the Warrior Saints: Tradition and Innovation in Byzantine Iconography (843–1261) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DOB5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA397 |date=24 September 2010 |publisher=BRILL |translator-last=Brzezinski |translator-first=Peter |isbn=978-90-04-19045-0 |pages=379–398 |chapter=Equestrian Equipment}}{{cite journal |last1=Chojnacki |first1=S |title=Note on the Early Iconography of St. George and Related Equestrian Saints in Ethiopia |journal=Journal of Ethiopian Studies |date=1975 |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=39–55 |jstor=44324712}}
Equestrian portraits of knights include those of the fictional knight-errant Don Quixote, of which there are many examples including a famous 1955 sketch by Pablo Picasso.
References
{{Commons category|Equestrian portraits}}
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