Equestrian Portrait. 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. 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. 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 176AD.
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.
Many equestrian portraits have been made of monarchs. Titian painted his Equestrian Portrait of Charles V in 1548. 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 in 1637-1638. Equestrian portraits of Napoleon include Napoleon Crossing the Alps 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 Kehin
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. 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. 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 176AD.
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.
Many equestrian portraits have been made of monarchs. Titian painted his Equestrian Portrait of Charles V in 1548. 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 in 1637-1638. Equestrian portraits of Napoleon include Napoleon Crossing the Alps 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 Kehin
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