Henry Duke of Cumberland by David Morier 1765

An equestrian portrait is a

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...

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 Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

, and the portraits can also carry a suggestion of

chivalry Chivalry, or the chivalric language, is an informal and varying code of conduct that developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It is associated with the medieval Christianity, Christian institution of knighthood, with knights being members of ...

History

Equestrian statue An equestrian statue is a statue of a rider mounted on a horse, from the Latin ''eques'', meaning 'knight', deriving from ''equus'', meaning 'horse'. A statue of a riderless horse is strictly an equine statue. A full-sized equestrian statue is a ...

s were made at least as far back as

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

and the

Hellenistic period In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

. Images of the

Thracian horseman The Thracian horseman (also "Thracian Rider" or "Thracian Heroes") is a recurring Motif (visual arts), motif depicted in reliefs of the Hellenistic period, Hellenistic and Roman Empire, Roman periods in the Balkans—mainly Thrace, Macedonia (reg ...

were recurrent in

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

s and small statues between the fourth century BC and the fourth century AD, especially in

Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...

and

Moesia Inferior Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; ) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River. As a Roman domain Moesia was administered at first by the governor of Noricum as 'Civitates of Moesia and Triballi ...

. The bronze

Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius The Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius (; ) is an ancient Roman art, ancient Roman equestrian statue on the Capitoline Hill, Rome, Italy. It is made of bronze and stands 4.24 m (13.9 ft) tall. Although the emperor is mounted, the sculptur ...

in the

Capitoline Museums The Capitoline Museums () are a group of art and archaeology, archaeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The historic seats of the museums are Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo Nuovo, facing ...

of Rome, of which a replica stands in

Piazza del Campidoglio Piazza del Campidoglio ("Capitoline Square") is a public square (piazza) on the top of the ancient Capitoline Hill, between the Roman Forum and the Campus Martius in Rome, Italy. The square includes three main buildings, the Palazzo Senatorio (Se ...

, 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 The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

around the fifteenth century.

Examples

Many equestrian portraits have been made of monarchs.

Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

painted his '' Equestrian Portrait of Charles V'' in 1548.

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy. The seventh child of ...

painted ''

Charles I with M. de St Antoine ''Charles I with M. de St Antoine'' is an oil painting on canvas by the Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck, depicting Charles I on horseback, accompanied by his riding master, Pierre Antoine Bourdon, Seigneur de St Antoine. Charles I became Kin ...

'' in 1633 and '' Equestrian Portrait of Charles I'' in 1635, as well as ''

Charles I at the Hunt ''Charles I at the Hunt'', also known under its French title ''Le Roi à la chasse'', is an oil-on-canvas portrait of Charles I of England by Anthony van Dyck, dated to c. 1635, and now in the Louvre Museum in Paris. It depicts Charles in civilia ...

'' (an equine portrait rather than an equestrian portrait as the king is dismounted) in 1637–1638. Equestrian portraits of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

include ''

Napoleon Crossing the Alps ''Napoleon Crossing the Alps'' (also known as ''Napoleon at the Saint-Bernard Pass'' or ''Bonaparte Crossing the Alps''; listed as ''Le Premier Consul franchissant les Alpes au col du Grand Saint-Bernard'') is a series of five oil on canvas eq ...

'' (1801–1805) by

Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

. A modern painting based on David's original entitled '' Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps'' was painted in 2005 by

Kehinde Wiley Kehinde Wiley (born February 28, 1977) leaving Freddie to raise the couple's six children on her own. 3/sup> Wiley has said that his family survived on welfare checks and the limited income earned by his mother's "thrift store"—which consiste ...

, who also painted a version of

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

' '' Philip II on Horseback'' (1628) with

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

replacing the king. In the iconography of Saint George and the Dragon, George is often portrayed on horseback, as in Rubens' painting ''

Saint George and the Dragon In a legend, Saint Georgea soldier venerated in Christianity—defeats a dragon. The story goes that the dragon originally extorted tribute from villagers. When they ran out of livestock and trinkets for the dragon, they started giving up a huma ...

'' (1605–1607). The same is true for some other

warrior saint The military saints, warrior saints and soldier saints are patron saints, martyrs and other saints associated with the military. They were originally composed of the early Christians who were soldiers in the Roman army during the persecution of ...

s, including

Demetrius of Thessaloniki Saint Demetrius (or Demetrios) of Thessaloniki, Thessalonica (, ), also known as the Holy Great martyr, Great-Martyr Demetrius the Myroblyte (meaning 'the Myrrh-Gusher' or 'Myrrh-Streamer'; 3rd century – 306), was a Greeks, Greek Christianity, ...

and

Theodore of Amasea : ''For another Saint Theodore, see: Theodore Stratelates or Saint Theodore (disambiguation)''. Saint Theodore (Άγιος Θεοδώρος), distinguished as Theodore of Amasea, Theodore the Recruit (Θεοδώρος ό Τήρων), and by o ...

, who are sometimes paired with George. Equestrian portraits of knights include those of the fictional

knight-errant A knight-errant (or knight errant) is a figure of medieval chivalric romance literature. The adjective '' errant'' (meaning "wandering, roving") indicates how the knight-errant would wander the land in search of adventures to prove his chivalric ...

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

, of which there are many examples including a famous 1955 sketch by

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

References

Equestrianism Portrait art {{painting-stub