Detail View: ADJUNCT MODULE A: ITALIAN ART: Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius

Collection: 
ADJUNCT MODULE A: ITALIAN ART
Preferred Title: 
Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius
Image View: 
Close detail, looking up into the horse's head from the front
Creator: 
unknown (Roman (ancient))
Location: 
repository: Musei Capitolini (Rome, Lazio, Italy) inv. MC3247
Location Note: 
Piazza del Campidoglio, 1; Palazzo dei Conservatori, Marcus Aurelius Exedra
GPS: 
+41.893056+12.4825
Date: 
ca. 161-180 CE (creation)
Cultural Context: 
Roman (ancient)
Style Period: 
Imperial (Roman)
Work Type 1: 
equestrian statue
Classification: 
sculpture
Material: 
bronze; traces of gilding
Technique: 
casting (process)
Measurements: 
424 cm (height)
Description: 
The only Pre-Christian Roman equestrian statue of an emperor to fully survive from the period; in all likelihood erected in 176 CE, along with numerous other honors on the occasion of Marcus Aurelius' triumph over the Germanic tribes, or in 180 CE soon after his death. There were many equestrian statues in Rome at that time: late-Imperial descriptions of the areas of the city listed 22 such statues, called equi magni, that is larger-than-life-size, as this one. It soon assumed symbolic value for all those who wished to present themselves as heirs to Imperial Rome. Its location in the Lateran is first recorded in the tenth century. In 1538 Pope Paul III ordered the Farnese family to have the statue moved to the Capitoline Hill, where it stood in Michelangelo's redesigned Campidoglio. This was replaced with a copy, and the original moved inside in 1981. (Source: Capitoline Museums [website]; http://en.museicapitolini.org/)
Collection: 
Adjunct Module A: Italian Art
Identifier: 
7A3-R-CM-ESMA-D13
Rights: 
© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.