One of the most impressive ancient Roman sculptures to survive, the monumental bronze equestrian statue of the emperor Marcus Aurelius was installed in the square in front of the church of Saint John the Lateran in Rome in Antico’s time. The inventory of Gianfrancesco Gonzaga’s possessions documents that Antico created a small reduction of the statue by 1496. Given the importance of the Roman model, it is not surprising to find that the sculptor also made a reduction of it for the bishop-elect Ludovico Gonzaga, as he informed Isabella d’Este in a letter of April 1519. At that time Antico still had a model of the statuette in his workshop and wrote that a certain Master John (Maestro Iohane) could make a cast for Isabella for a good price. We do not know if Master John (or Antico) ever did undertake that work.
This beautifully cast and finished statuette is the only surviving example of the model by Antico. It is unclear if it is one of the two recorded examples above, or perhaps yet another. The statuette is cast in two parts—the horse and rider are separate elements but are designed to fit together almost seamlessly. The dating of this work is complicated because it is one of only two of the sculptor’s small bronzes that feature oil-gilding, rather than the more durable fire-gilding. The group conforms to Antico’s refined style and technical characteristics in every other way. The rendering of the horse is particularly fine, and many of its features, such as the highly expressive head with the prominent veins and teeth, recall the horses on the Gonzaga Urn.
References: Kräftner 2010, 78–79, cat. 27 (entry by Manfred Leithe-Jasper)
Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius
c. AD 161–180
Palazzo del Conservatori, Musei Capitolini, Rome
Gianfrancesco Gonzaga (1446–1496)
was Antico’s first patron. A younger son of the Marchese of Mantua, Ludovico Gonzaga, he inherited lands to the west and south of Mantua on his father’s death in 1478 and set up a small but elegant court at Bozzolo. The 1496 inventory produced at Gianfrancesco’s death is a key documentary source for Antico’s life and art.
Gianfrancesco Gonzaga di Ròdigo, c. 1486-1490, bronze, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Widener Collection
Ludovico Gonzaga (1460–1511)
became Antico’s second patron after Ludovico’s brother Gianfrancesco died in 1496. Ludovico became bishop-elect of Mantua in 1484 but was never consecrated to that office. He lived instead in his territories outside Mantua, later moving to Antonia del Balzo’s castle at Gazzuolo. His correspondence provides much information on Antico’s work.
Letter of Ludovico Gonzaga (signature), 8 September 1503, Archivio di Stato, Mantua
Isabella d’Este (1474–1539)
became Antico’s principal patron after the death of her husband’s uncle, the bishop Ludovico Gonzaga, in 1511. The daughter of the Duke of Ferrara, Ercole d’Este, Isabella married the Marchese of Mantua, Francesco Gonzaga, in 1490. She became famous in her own time for her dynamic personality and cultural sophistication and was one of the few women to create a studiolo. Antico made bronzes that were preserved on cornices in her studiolo. After her husband’s death in 1519 Isabella became regent of Mantua for her son Federico Gonzaga.
Giancristoforo Romano, Isabella d'Este, after 1498, bronze, National Gallery of Art, Samuel H. Kress Collection
A technique by which thin sheets of gold foil are adhered to the metal using a drying oil or resin. After application, the gold is carefully burnished to create a compact, highly reflective surface.
Antoninus Pius (detail), probably 1524, bronze with gilding and silvering, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Edward Fowles, 1965
A technique using gold combined with mercury to form a paste, or amalgam, that is selectively applied to the bronze surface. The entire object is heated to vaporize the mercury and deposit a thin layer of gold. The gold is carefully burnished to create a compact, highly reflective surface.
Seated Nymph (detail), probably 1503, bronze with gilding and silvering, Robert H. and Clarice Smith
Gonzaga Urn (detail), c. 1487
Galleria Estense, Modena