Marino Marini

Private collection, UK
Eric Estorick, New York
Private Collection, New York
The Grosvenor Gallery, London
Private Collection, Europe
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1999

Umbro Apollonio, Marino Marini scultore, Milan, 1953, pl. 87, illustration of another cast
Eduard Trier, Marino Marini, Cologne, 1954, pl. 20, illustration of another cast
Jirí Šetlík, Marini, Prague, 1966, no. 3, illustration of another cast
Patrick Waldberg, Herbert Read & Gualtieri di San Lazzaro, Marino Marini, Complete Works, New York, 1970, no. 251a, illustration of another cast p. 360; no. 251, illustration of a ceramic version p. 359
Carlo Pirovano, Marino Marini scultore, Milan, 1972, no. 257, illustration of the original plaster p. 160
Sam Hunter & David Finn, Marino Marini. The Sculpture, New York, 1993, colour illustration of another cast p. 97
Marco Meneguzzo, Marino Marini: cavalli e cavalieri, Milan, 1997, no. 46a, illustration of a ceramic version p. 217
Fondazione Marino Marini (ed.), Marino Marini, Catalogue Raisonné of the Sculptures, Milan, 1998, no. 326, illustration of the original plaster p. 229

Piccolo cavaliere is a wonderful example of Marini’s most celebrated theme, that of the horse and rider, characterised by a uniquely finished surface, hand-painted by the artist in shades of red, yellow and blue. Apart from the bronze edition, Marini also executed four ceramic versions of this work (Fondazione Marino Marini (ed.), op. cit., no. 325). In choosing the subject of horse and rider, Marini draws on a long established tradition of equestrian painting and sculpture, that had its prominent place in more or less every period throughout the history of Western art, from small-scale votive renderings of early civilisations, to the grand, triumphant statues of modern-day rulers and military leaders. While firmly grounding his art in this tradition, in contrast to the often bombastic and politically motivated sculptures created by his predecessors, Marini’s horses and riders acquire a more spiritual, even mystical character and become a timeless symbol of humanity. As the artist himself commented:

‘For many centuries, the image of the rider has maintained an epic character. Its object was to pay homage to a conqueror, as, for example, Marcus Aurelius whose statue on the Capitol, inspired the majority of the equestrian statues of the Italian Renaissance, as well as that of Louis XIV, which ornaments the ‘Place des Victoires’ in Paris. However, the nature of the relations which have existed for so long between men and horses […] has been greatly changed during the last half century: the horse has been replaced in its economic and military functions by the machine […]. It has quickly become a sign of luxury. It can even be said that, for the majority of our contemporaries, the horse has acquired a mythical character. […] With Odilon Redon, Picasso and Chirico, the horse has been transformed into a kind of dream, into a fabulous animal’ (quoted in H. Read, P. Waldberg & G. di San Lazzaro, op. cit., p. 491).