From about 1400, Renaissance artists and
patrons throughout Italy were involved in efforts to revive the glories of
ancient Rome. And in this era, surviving antique sculptures, like the
Marcus Aurelius, often served
as inspiration for Renaissance artists.
In 1447, the Florentine artist Donatello was
commissioned to create a monumental bronze equestrian statue - the first to be
made since antiquity - to honor the leader of the Venetian army,
Erasmo da Narni, whose nickname Gattamelata
means “honeyed cat.” The sculpture was paid for by the late general’s wife
and son who wished it to stand in the city of his birth, Padua.
Indubitably, Donatello turned to the
Marcus Aurelius for
inspiration, though he was not able to figure out how to raise the horse’s hoof
from the ground without placing a support below it. And, the general’s
family must have been pleased to have an equestrian statue so heavily indebted
to a surviving ancient sculpture, for it connected the Venetian condottiere with Roman rulers such as
Marcus Aurelius or Constantine.
