When this bronze horse was first acquired in 1923, its austere majesty led to its identification as an Early Classical masterpiece of the fifth century B.C. It was long heralded as artistically the most important single object in the Museum's Classical collection. In the late 1960s, its authenticity was questioned on technical grounds, causing an international uproar and intense scholarly debate. After extensive scientific analysis, including thermoluminescence dating of its clay core, its authenticity was vindicated. However, reconsideration of its stylistic features in light of our current knowledge of the reuse of earlier styles in Hellenistic art has led to a more probable dating in the Late Hellenistic period.
In the Classical period, such large statuettes were primarily religious in nature. Bronze horse or horse-and-rider statuettes were typically placed on the tops of columns set up at sanctuaries by the animal's owner in commemoration of one or more victories in the horse races held at the Panhellenic sanctuaries of Olympia, Delphi, Isthmia, and Nemea. This practice continued in Hellenistic times, when other uses were also possible for such a sculpture of a horse. For example, it could have decorated a private home. It could also have been made for the Roman art market, for which many Greek artists were producing works in the Classical style in the first century B.C.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Bronze statuette of a horse
Period:Late Hellenistic
Date:late 2nd–1st century BCE
Culture:Greek
Medium:Bronze; direct lost-wax casting
Dimensions:H. 15 13/16 in. (40.2 cm)
Classification:Bronzes
Credit Line:Fletcher Fund, 1923
Accession Number:23.69
Said to come from the sea near Mahdia (I cavalli di San Marco 1981, p. 221, no. 95)
[Until 1923, with Feuardent Frères, Paris]; acquired in 1923, purchased from the Feuardent Frères.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1923. "A Greek Bronze Horse." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 18(4): pp. 81, 89–93.
Reinach, Salomon. 1924. "Deux mille trois cent quatre-vingt statues." Répertoire de la Statuaire Grecque et Romaine, Vol. 5, pt. 2, 2nd edn. p. 438 n. 3, Paris: E. Leroux.
McClees, Helen. 1924. The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans: As Illustrated in the Classical Collections. p. 110, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1927. Handbook of the Classical Collection. pp. 132–35, figs. 89-91, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1929. "Sculpture." The Encycloapedia Britannica, : p. 146, n 4, pl. 1.
Lawrence, Arnold Walter. 1929. Classical Sculpture. p. 146 n. 4, London: J. Cape.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1929. The Sculpture and Sculptors of the Greeks. pp. 31, 85, figs. 349–50, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Magoffin, Ralph Van Deman and Emily C. Davis. 1929. Magic Spades: The Romance of Archaeology. p. 159, New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1930. Animals in Greek Sculpture: A Survey. pp.16, 58, pl. 18, fig. 62, pl. 19, fig. 63, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1930. Handbook of the Classical Collection. pp. 132–35, figs. 89-91, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1930[1929]. The Sculpture and Sculptors of the Greeks, 2d ed. pp. 40, 111, 204, figs. 349, 350, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Rumpf, Andreas. 1930. Bilder zur Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte: Das Altertum, Vol. 1. p. 12, fig. 53, Leipzig: B. G. Teubner.
Jacobsthal, Paul. 1931. Die Melischen reliefs. pp. 134ff, Berlin: H. Keller.
Fleitmann, Lida L. 1931. The Horse in Art, from Primitive Times to the Present. p. 79, London: The Medici Society.
Pijoán, José and Manuel Cossío. 1932. Summa Artis Historia General del Arte: El arte griego hasta la toma de Corinto por los romanos (146 A.J.C.), Vol. 4. p. 113, figs. 154–6, Madrid: Espasa-Calpe.
Arndt, Paul and Georg Lippold. 1932. Brunn-Bruckmann's Denkmäler griechischer und römischer Sculptur, Vol. 6. no. 726, München: Bruckmann.
McClees, Helen and Christine Alexander. 1933. The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans: As Illustrated in the Classical Collections, 5th ed. p. 110, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1934. Guide to the Collections: Ancient and Oriental Art--Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Roman Far Eastern, Near Eastern Oriental Armor. p. 29, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Scheffer, Thassilo von. 1935. Die Kultur der Griechen. pl. 36, Wien: Phaidon Press.
Blümel, Carl. 1936. Sport der Hellenen: Ausstellung griechischer Bildwerke. no. 46
, Berlin: Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft.
Albright Art Gallery. 1937. Master Bronzes, Selected from Museums and Collections in America. no. 81
, Buffalo: Burrow.
February 1, 1937. "Five Thousand Years of Bronze Sculpture in Buffalo Exhibit." Art Digest, 11: p. 8, frontispiece.
Süsserott, Hans Karl von. 1938. Griechische Plastik des 4. Jahrhunderts vor Christus: Untersuchungen zur Zeitbestimmung. p. 5, pl. 8, Frankfurt am Main: Vittorio Klostermann.
Rizzo, Giulio Emanuele. 1938. Saggi preliminari su l'arte della moneta nella Sicilia Greca. p. 16, fig. 9, Rome: La Libreria dello Stato.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1939. Guide to the Collections: Ancient and Oriental Art--Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek and Roman Far Eastern, Near Eastern Oriental Armor, Vol. 1, World's Fair Edition. pp. 191ff., fig. 298, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Robertson, Martin. 1939. "Archaeology in Greece 1938–39." The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 59(2): p. 197.
Blavatskiĭ, Vladimir Dmitrievich. 1939. Grecheskaia Skulptura. pp. 66, fig. 60, Moscow: Iskusstvo.
Homann-Wedeking, Ernst. 1940. "Zu Meisterwerken des strengen Stils." Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Römische Abteilung, 55: p. 208.
Blegen, Elizabeth Pierce. 1942. "News Items from Athens." American Journal of Archaeology, 46(4): p. 486.
Markman, Sidney David. 1943. The Horse in Greek Art. pp. 16, 59, 62–3, 65, 112, 117, 165, 168, fig. 31, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1945. "The Metropolitan's Classics." Art News p. 15.
Seltman, Charles Theodore. 1948. Approach to Greek Art. pp. 54, 57, New York: Studio Publications.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1949. Archaic Greek Art Against Its Historical Background; A Survey. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lippold, Georg. 1950. "Die griechische Plastik." Handbuch der Archäologie, Vol. 3, Walter G.A. Otto and Reinhard Herbig, eds. p. 135, n 4, Munich: Beck.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1950. Small Sculptures in Bronze: A Picture Book. p. 18, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1950. The Sculpture and Sculptors of the Greeks, 3rd edn. pp. 111, 206, 461, figs. 349–50, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Holme, Bryan. 1951. Horses. pl. 7, New York: Studio Publications.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1952. Art Treasures of the Metropolitan: A Selection from the European and Asiatic Collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. no. 17, pp. 28, 218, New York: H. N. Abrams.
Richter, Gisela M. A. 1953. Handbook of the Greek Collection. pp. 65, 206, pl. 46, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Vermeule, Cornelius Clarkson. 1955. "Review of Arms and Armor, by T. T. Hoopes." American Journal of Archaeology, 59(2): pp. 190–91.
Bowra, Cecil Maurice Sir. 1957. The Greek Experience. p. 151, pl. 42, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
Schuchhardt, Walter Herwig. 1959. Die Epochen der griechischen Plastik. pp. 63, 78, fig. 51, Baden-Baden: Grimm.
Crome, Johann Friedrich. 1961. Das Viergespann des Kimon des dreifachen Olympiasiegers. nos. 9–10, pp. 7-9, Berlin: Reiterwelt-Verl.
Poulsen, Vagn. 1962. Griechische Bildwerke. p. 39, Königstein im Taunus: Karl Robert Langewiesche Nachfolger.
Denis, Valentin and Tjomme E. de Vries. 1967. Picture History of World Art: Old Stone Age to Gothic Art, Vol. 1. p. 135, fig. 106, New York: H. N. Abrams.
Brown, L. 1968. "The Right Way to Walk Four-Legged." Natural History, 77(9). pp. 32ff.
Noble, Joseph Veach. 1968. "The Forgery of Our Greek Bronze Horse." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 26(6): pp. 253–56, figs. 1, 3–6.
Blümel, Carl. 1969. "Zur Echtheitsfrage des antiken Bronzepferdes in Metropolitan Museum in New York." Archäologischer Anzeiger, 2: pp. 208–16, figs. 1-6.
Brown, L. 1969. "Two Small Bronze Horses." Curator, 12: pp. 263–92, figs. 1-14.
Rolley, Claude. 1969. Fouilles de Delphes: Monuments figurés: Les Statuettes de Bronze, Vol. 5, pt. 2. p. 170 n. 3, Paris: E. de Boccard.
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Richter, Gisela Marie Augusta. 1971. "Reviewed Work: Fouilles de Delphes, V, Monuments figurés, Les statuettes de bronze by Claude Rolley." American Journal of Archaeology, 75(2): p. 227.
Roncalli, Francesco. 1973. "Il 'Marte' di Todi." Atti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia, Serie III Memorie, 11(2): p. 48 n. 23.
Zimmerman, D. W., M. P. Yuhas, and Pieter Meyers. 1974. "Thermoluminescence Authenticity Measurements on Core Material from the Bronze Horse of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art." Archaeometry, 61(1): pp. 19–30.
Robertson, Martin and Cambridge University Press. 1975. A History of Greek Art, Vols. 1 and 2. p. 190, Cambridge, England.
Kunisch, Norbert. 1976. "Antikenfalschungen." Fälschung und Forschung: Ausstellung Museum Folkwang Essen, Oktober 1976-Januar 1977, Heinz Althöfer, ed. no. 1, p. 20–4, 35, Essen: Museum Folkwang.
von Bothmer, Dietrich. 1978. Antichnoe iskusstvo iz muzeia Metropoliten, Soedinennye Shtaty Ameriki: Katalog vystavki. no. 92, Moscow: Sovetskii Khudozhnik.
von Bothmer, Dietrich and Joan R. Mertens. 1979. "Greek and Roman Art." Notable Acquisitions (Metropolitan Museum of Art), No. 1979/1980. no. 92
, New York.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1980. The Horses of San Marco: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 1-June 1, 1980, New York. no. 24, p. 5, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Sherman, Claire Richter and Adele M. Holcomb. 1981. Women as Interpreters of the Visual Arts, 1820-1979 p. 288, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
1981. I Cavalli di San Marco no. 95, p. 221, Milan.
Schalles, Hans Joachim. 1981. "Zur Deutung der unteren Tarentinerbasis in Delphi." Archäologischer Anzeiger, : p. 70.
Gauer, Werner. 1981. "Ein spätarchaischer Beckengriff mit Tierkampfgruppe." Bericht über die Ausgrabungen in Olympia, 10: p. 142.
Lefferts, Kate C. 1981. "Technical Examination of the Classical Bronze Horse from the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 21: pp. 1–42.
Türr, Karina. 1984. Fälschungen antiker Plastik seit 1800. no. K, p. 238, Berlin: Mann.
Mertens, Joan R. 1985. "Greek Bronzes in the Metropolitan Museum of Art." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 43(2): no. 42, pp. 11, 62–63.
Rolley, Claude. 1986. Greek Bronzes. pl. 91, London: Sotheby's Publications.
Hemingway, Seán A. 2006. "Horse and Man in Greek Art." Sculpture Review, 55(2): no. 2, p. 10.
Picón, Carlos A. 2007. Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Greece, Cyprus, Etruria, Rome no. 250, pp. 214–15, 453, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Picón, Carlos A. and Seán Hemingway. 2016. Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World p. 91, fig. 120, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Hemingway, Seán. 2021. How to Read Greek Sculpture. no. 40, pp. 32, 41, 162–64, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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The Museum's collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than 30,000 works ranging in date from the Neolithic period to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in A.D. 312.
