MARINO MARINI | Cavallo (Horse)

Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York 

Private Collection (acquired from the above) 

Private Collection (by descent from the above in 1976) 

Thence by descent 

Eduard Trier, Marino Marini, Cologne, 1954, illustration of another cast p. 19

Patrick Waldberg, Herbert Read & Gualtieri di San Lazzaro, Marino Marini, Complete Works, New York, 1970, no. 284, illustration of another cast n.p.

Carlo Pirovano, Marino Marini Scultore, Milan, 1972, no. 290, illustration of another cast n.p.

Marco Meneguzzo, Marino Marini - Cavalli e cavalieri, Milan, 1997, no. 65, illustration of another cast p. 221

Fondazione Marino Marini, ed., Marino Marini, Catalogue Raisonné of the Sculptures, Milan, 1998, no. 360, illustration of another cast p. 253

Conceived in 1951, the present work is a remarkable example of Marini's rendering of horses—a motif first inspired after upon seeing medieval models of knights on horseback while in Germany. A dominating theme and near-obsession throughout most of Marini's career, the subject of the horse was rarely invested with such energy and dramatic force as in the present work. In the years before and during World War II, Marini executed his horses with a certain grace and poise reminiscent of classical sculpture. In the 1950s, however, this subject was charged with an energy that would reflect the anxiety and instability of the new era. In contrast to the tranquility and smooth surfaces of Marini's horses of the 1940s, the present work indicates the artist's move towards a more expressive rendering of this theme that characterized his mature work, while retaining the elegance of his earlier pieces. Marini’s artistic achievements and evolving style had by the mid-1950s garnered international attention, winning him the Grand Prize for Sculpture at the 1952 Venice Biennale and the Feltrinelli Prize at the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome in 1954. The extraordinary power and beauty of Cavallo lie in the careful rendering of its surface, showing the artist's almost painterly attention to finish. Inspired like most Italian artists by antiquity, Marini was drawn not to the refinement of Hellenistic sculpture, but to the rougher, more energetic expression of the Archaic period in Greece and Etruscan sculpture in Italy. Among 20th century sculptors, Marini was one of the most actively involved in the finishing of his pieces before they left the foundry, often applying various surface marks and paint to his bronzes. A stunning example of Marini's involvement in hand-chiseling and painting a sculpture, Cavallo exhibits a variety of surface treatments, from smooth and polished to rough and chiseled, that invests the work with an immediacy and versatile quality rarely achieved in this medium.



The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by the Fondazione Marino Marini.