Horse

Object belonging

One's own

Category

Bronze sculpture

City

Rome

Location

Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia

Specific location

Room 17

Inventory

PV 05545

Material and technique

Bronze, brown patina, black lacquer

Author

Severo da Ravenna (1465/1475-1538) and studio

Dating

Late 15th-early 16 century

Dimensions

17.3 x 16.5 x 5 cm.

Origin

Virgilio Spada's Museo di Curiosità (1662); Biblioteca Vallicelliana (1886); Museo delle Terme di Diocleziano (1917); Gustavo Marvasi (1931)

Image copyright

SSPSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di Roma

Short description

This horse was part of the Roman collection of "objects of curiosity" belonging to Virgilio Spada (1596-1662), an important figure who served two popes as a “cameriere segreto”, or "personal attendant". The bronze, which is of excellent quality, exchanged hands several times before becoming part of the Palazzo Venezia collection in 1931. The detailed chiselling in the “worm-like” hair of the mane is typical of the style adopted by Severo da Ravenna in defining human hair and the coats of animals. The right hind leg rests on the ground, rather than being slightly raised, differentiating the bronze from other similar small horse models and clearly showing its derivation from the quadriga of St. Mark’s in Venice.

Pietro Cannata

Bibliography

G. Finocchiaro, Il museo di curiosità di Virgilio Spada. Una raccolta romana del Seicento, Rome 1999, pp. 108 and 217.