Horse and Rider
1950~51.
Gouache on paper.
Signed 'Marino'.
432 x 336 mm.
(17 x 13 1/5 inches).
Provenance: Watkins Gallery, Washington D.C.; Kay Hillman; Baltimore (acquired 1951); Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland (given as gift in 1977); Mrs. Robert Franzblau, Tampa.
Literature: The Marino Marini Foundation documents on the artist's work. Listed under No. 247 in this archive.
Pistoia 1901 ~ 1980 Viareggio
Marino Marini was one of the most prominent Italian sculptors of the twentieth century and is probably best known for his bronze equestrian statue placed 'on guard' in front of the Ca'Venier dei Leoni, on the Grand Canal, Venice, by Peggy Guggenheim in 1949~50. The name of the group was The Town¹s Guardian Angel. During the 1920s Marini travelled frequently to Paris where he met Picasso, Laurens, Braque, Lipchitz and Maillol and in the 1930s he again travelled in Europe, visiting the northen countries and returning to Paris. In 1932 he had his first one-man show at the Galleria Milano. In 1935 he won official recognition with the first prize for sculpture in the second Rome Quadriennales.
Marino Marini's fascination with the equestian group of 'horse and rider' began c.1934. However, it did not stem from an admiration for the Marcus Aurelio on the Campidoglio in Rome, nor from the condottiere monuments by Donatello and Verrocchio in Padua and Venice respectively. While travelling in Germany in 1934, he was deeply impressed by the equestian statue of the Emperor Henry II, dated c.1230 and kept in Bamberg Cathedral. This lonely crowned rider seemed to him to come from a fairytale world far away. Marino stated that he had a weakness for the Nordic myth1 and that spiritually he needed a contrast in form and content to his southern, Italian roots. At this time he was concerned with the myth of the rider, of the man who derives his force and impetus from the beast that he dominates and drives, but by which he is also unsaddled. However, after the Second World War, Marini wanted his equestrian statues to express the torment caused by the events of the twentieth century. His horses had grown restless and their riders seemed to have lost dominance over their steed.
Our drawing, executed in 1950~51, does not match up precisely with any of his sculptures on this theme. The horse seems powerful and full of energy with the right foreleg raised and moving, whereas the rider appears to be clutching his head in a fit of anguish. The powerful effect of light in our drawing adds to the sense of drama and post-war change of mood.
1. Giovanni Carandente, Marino Marini, Catalogue Raisonné of the Sculptures, Milan, 1998, pp. 12 & 13.
