Marino Marini

Mr & Mrs Schnelling, London (acquired directly from the artist in the 1940s)
O'Hara Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2000

Patrick Waldberg, Herbert Read & Gualtieri di San Lazzaro, Marino Marini. Complete Works, New York, 1970, no. 240, illustrated p. 358 (with erroneous dimensions)
Abraham Marie Hammacher, Marino Marini. Sculptures, paintings, drawings, London, 1970, no. 125, illustration of another cast n.p.
Carlo Pirovano, Marino Marini, Scultore, Milan, 1972, no. 247, illustration of another cast n.p. (with erroneous dimensions)
Fondazione Marino Marini (ed.), Marino Marini. Catalogue raisonné of the Sculptures, Milan, 1998, no. 315b, illustration of the plaster p. 221

Chiseled bronze with a golden polished reflections. The surface is highly textured. There are some minor remnants of dust in the crevices. There is a fine crack to the upper side of the raised leg.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A dominating theme of Marini’s art, the subject of horse and rider underwent a number of stylistic transformations throughout the decades, from the simple, rounded forms of the early 1940s, to the highly stylised, almost abstract manner of his late works. Having lived in Switzerland during the second half of the war, Marini returned to Milan in 1946 and immediately started working, developing some of his favourite themes into highly sophisticated and refined images. His role as a leading sculptor on the Italian as well as international scene was reaffirmed at the Venice Biennale of 1948, where he was elected as one of the jury members and assigned an exhibition room for his work. His renderings of the horse and rider theme during this period are characterised by a sense of tranquillity, with both man and animal appearing unperturbed, unlike the more dramatic, falling figures that dominated Marini’s sculpture of the 1950s.

Carlo Pirovano wrote: ‘When he returned to Milan after the war […], Marino began to work again with great enthusiasm. He seemed to be possessed by an uncontrollable creative drive that expressed itself not so much in the formulation of new themes or the proposal of refined narrative motifs as in the sophisticated formal variation of compositions that were apparently banal and predictable in their subject matter’ (Carlo Pirovano in Marino Marini, Mitografia (exhibition catalogue), Galleria dello Scudo, Verona, 1994-95, p. 52). Writing about Marini’s horse and rider imagery from this period, Pirovano further observed: ‘The interaction between the two protagonists increased in intensity, with ever-closer links creating interdependence that was emotional rather than merely functional (in the sense of the use of the animal simply as a means of transport). This merging into a single entity accentuated the metaphorical aspects, while on a formal plane it caused the monocentric equilibrium to slowly deteriorate, leading to a dynamic explosion, with all its excitement and anguish, that was to be the dominant theme of Marino’s work of the Fifties’ (ibid., p. 54).