Equestrian statue of Mark Aurel

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The original statue, now in the courtyard of the Conservator 's Palace of the Capitoline Museums
Copy of the equestrian statue on Capitol Square

The equestrian statue of Mark Aurel is a larger than life bronze statue of the Roman Emperor Mark Aurel . The original place of assembly is unknown, but is believed to be in the area of ​​the Lateran . According to medieval sources, a small barbarian figure kneeling in front of the horse was part of the statue. The dating is controversial and fluctuates between the years around 165 AD with reference to the triumph over the Parthians in 166 AD ( Parthian War of Lucius Verus ), the 170s with reference to the Marcomannic Wars and a date only in the Period of sole rule of Commodus from 180 AD. The statue is one of the most famous works of fine art and served as a model for numerous such monuments .

history

There were equestrian statues made of bronze in many cities of the Roman Empire , but only the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius is preserved in this completeness. The basis for preservation was a mix-up: in the early Middle Ages, the statue was considered to be a representation of Constantine the Great . Constantine was the first Roman emperor to tolerate and support Christianity and thus ushered in the Constantinian Turn . Therefore nobody dared to melt down his statue, not even in times of increased demand for bronze. From the 8th century it stood in front of the papal Lateran Palace because of this veneration . Alexander Demandt reports on changing attributions in the Middle Ages, combined with “all kinds of stories and legends” . Accordingly, Marcus Curtius and Theoderich were also seen in the rider, among others . Cola di Rienzo had on August 1, 1347 to celebrate the anniversary of August 30 BC. Chr. Alexandria had taken a folk festival staged in which he proffer the Romans wine and water from lead pipes, which were led by the nostrils of the still picture horse.

If the reason for the installation is just as unknown as the ancient installation site, it was always assumed that the latter must have been near the medieval installation. After the discovery of a 3.80 × 1.80 meter foundation from the 2nd century in the peristyle of a villa, which was excavated between Via Amba Aradam and Via di S. Stefano Rotondo in the area of ​​the Lateran , said the excavator Valnea Santa Maria Scrinari the presumption that the statue originally belonged to this foundation. The villa is interpreted as the property of the grandfather, with whom Marcus Aurelius grew up according to the Historia Augusta ; however, the connection between pedestal and statue remains purely hypothetical.

During the period of Renaissance humanism , a librarian at the Vatican Library discovered in 1447, after examining comparative finds and on the basis of descriptions in ancient literature, that the person depicted must not be Constantine but Marcus Aurelius. Now the newly awakened interest in antiquity protected the statue. However, since it was now a pagan work of art, the statue of the Lateran was removed and in 1538 it was placed on the Capitol Square designed by Michelangelo .

The equestrian statue stood here until 1979. It was damaged in a bomb attack on the Senator's Palace , the Roman town hall. In the course of restoration work it was found that the statue was increasingly corroded . A long restoration phase followed . Since its completion in 1990, the original has been in a specially covered courtyard of the Conservator 's Palace of the Capitoline Museums . On April 21, 1997, on the occasion of the 2750th anniversary of the legendary founding of Rome, a bronze copy was unveiled on Capitol Square .

description

Inscription on the base - in the direction of the emperor on the left

The statue is 4.24 m high and 3.87 m long from tail to muzzle. The height up to and including the horse's head is 3.52 m, the head height of Marcus Aurelius 58.5 cm. The emperor is bareheaded, dressed in a tunic and a heavy general's cloak , called a paludamentum , which is attached to the right shoulder with a disc fibula. He doesn't wear patrician shoes befitting his rank on his feet , but rather light military sandals. He sits on a decorated saddlecloth made of cloth or felt without the stirrups that were introduced later . He raised his right hand - possibly in the gesture of adlocutio , i.e. addressing his troops. The left hand that held the long lost reins wears the senator's golden ring that was used to seal. The bronze sculpture was originally completely gilded. The base for the installation of the monument on the Capitol Square designed by Michelangelo was designed by Michelangelo himself, although he had spoken out against the relocation of the equestrian statue. The base, which was completed in 1565 and thus in the year after Michelangelo's death, was made from a cuboid from the Trajan's Forum . The left-hand inscription is a Renaissance copy of a dedication by the Senate and People ( SPQR ) to Marcus Aurelius with his full titulature of the year 173.

reception

For Alexander Demandt, the equestrian statue of Mark Aurel is one of the ten most famous works of sculpture . Its placement on the Capitol made it world famous and became a model for other equestrian monuments, such as the equestrian statue of the Great Elector created by Andreas Schlueter in the 18th century . The equestrian statue of Frederick the Great , finally realized by Christian Daniel Rauch , for which Frederick William II had specified a Roman costume with a laurel wreath in the “Marc Aurel's Attitude”, came about after 70 years of planning and almost 100 drafts in a modernized version.

In the city of Tulln an der Donau (Austria) there is a cast of the equestrian statue of Mark Aurel. It is intended to commemorate the centuries of presence of the Romans on the Danube border .

An illustration of the Capitoline equestrian statue adorns the Italian 50 cent coin .

One of the key scenes of the film Nostalghia (director: Andrei Tarkowski ) takes place around the - at that time still original - statue on Capitol Square. Standing on the statue, one of the main characters gives an emotionally charged speech about the state of the world. Then it ignites in front of the eyes of the bystanders.

gallery

  • Detail view (original)

  • Italian 50 cent coin

  • The Capitol Square with the equestrian statue in the 16th century; Engraving (1568) by Étienne Dupérac

  • Copy in Tulln , Austria

literature

  • Johannes Bergemann : Roman equestrian statues - memorials in the public area (= contributions to the development of Hellenistic and Imperial Sculpture and architecture. Volume 11). Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1990, pp. 105-108 No. P 51, plates 78-80
  • Detlev von der Burg (Ed.): Marc Aurel. The rider on the Capitol. Hirmer, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-7774-8340-0
  • Klaus Fittschen , Paul Zanker (Hrsg.): Catalog of the Roman portraits in the Capitoline Museums and the other municipal collections of the city of Rome. Volume 1: portraits of emperors and princes. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1985, pp. 72-74, No. 67, plates 76-77.
  • Elfriede Regina Knauer: The equestrian statue of the emperor Marc Aurel. Reclam, Stuttgart 1968.
  • Peter Steward: The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius. In: Marcel van Ackeren (Ed.): A Companion to Marcus Aurelius. Blackwell, Chichester 2012, pp. 264-277.
  • Alessandra Melucco Vaccaro, Anna Mura Sommella (eds.): Marco Aurelio: storia di un monumento e del suo restauro. Silvana, Cinisello Balsamo 1989.

Web links

Commons : equestrian statue of Mark Aurel  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Vera Heermann-Trömel: Marcus Aurelius Parthicus Maximus Medicus. In: Archaeological Communications from Iran. Volume 21, 1988, pp. 139-144.
  2. ↑ Klaus Fittschen , Paul Zanker (Ed.): Catalog of the Roman portraits in the Capitoline Museums and the other municipal collections of the city of Rome. Volume 1: portraits of emperors and princes. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1985, pp. 72-74, here: p. 73.
  3. ^ Klaus Fittschen: Il ritratto del Marco Aurelio: considerazioni critiche dopo il restauro. In: Alessandra Melucco Vaccaro, Anna Mura Sommella (Ed.): Marco Aurelio: storia di un monumento e del suo restauro. Silvana, Cinisello Balsamo 1989, pp. 75-82.
  4. ↑ Alexander Demandt: Marc Aurel. The emperor and his world. Munich 2018, p. 72.
  5. ↑ Valnea Santa Maria Scrinari: Scavi sotto Sala Mazzoni all'ospedale di San Giovanni in Roma. Relazione peliminare In: Atti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia. Rendiconti. Volume 41, 1968-1969, pp. 167-189, here: pp. 176-181.
  6. ^ Historia Augusta, Marcus 1,7.
  7. ↑ Compare to the discussion Johannes Bergemann : Römische Reiterstatuen - Ehrendenkmäler in the public area (= contributions to the development of Hellenistic and imperial sculpture and architecture. Volume 11). Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1990, p. 106; Peter Steward: The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius leaves the problem open . In: Marcel van Ackeren (Ed.): A Companion to Marcus Aurelius . Blackwell, Oxford et al. 2012, pp. 264–277, here: p. 268; Recently, Alexander Demandt: Marc Aurel commented positively on the villa as the installation site . The emperor and his world. Munich 2018, p. 70 f., With reference to Filippo Coarelli : Guida archeologica di Roma. Verona 1974, p. 186.
  8. ↑ Paul Künzle: The listing of the rider from the Lateran by Michealangelo. In: Miscellanea Bibliothecae Hertzianae in honor of Leo Bruhns, Franz Graf Wolff Metternich, Ludwig Schudt (= Roman research of the Bibliotheca Hertziana. Volume 16). Schroll, Munich 1961, pp. 255-270.
  9. ^ Giorgio Accardo, Reinhold Baumstark, Ulrich Hommes : Marc Aurel: The rider on the Capitol. Hirmer, Munich 1999, p. 170.
  10. ↑ Homepage of the Capitoline Museums , accessed on February 1, 2012.
  11. ↑ Helga von Heintze : Bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius. In: Wolfgang Helbig , Hermine Speier (Ed.): Guide through the public collections of classical antiquities in Rome. Volume 2. Wasmuth, Tübingen 1966 (= 1982), p. 3, no. 1161
  12. ↑ Alexander Demandt: Marc Aurel. The emperor and his world . Munich 2018, p. 69 f. and 74 f.
  13. ↑ "If it had to name the ten most famous works of sculpture, there would probably nine cases disagreements, but in one case agreement: when Marcus Reiter on the Capitol Square, the grande simbolo di Roma ." (Alexander Demandt: Marcus Aurelius. The Kaiser and his world . Munich 2018, p. 68)
  14. ↑ Alexander Demandt: Marc Aurel. The emperor and his world . Munich 2018, p. 75 f.

Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 35.9 ″  N , 12 ° 28 ′ 58.5 ″  E