Adolph Menzel - horses and soldiers etc

 Salvete Omnes,

a quick illustrative post - on the equestrian etc themes within Adolph Menzel's works.
Adolph (1815-1905), knighted in 1898 as von Menzel, was a native to Prussian Silesia (born in Wroclaw, old seat of the Lower Silesia), and throughout the XIX century became the preeminent German and Prussian painter of the era in the German states and since 1871 the German Empire. 

Herr Adolph was skilled master in oils, gouache, drawing, printing, 

etchings and woodcuts.

enjoy

Valete

Jan Rosen - Amazon

 Salvete Omnes,

Polish painter Jan Bogumil Rosen (1854-1936) is famous for his equestrian and military-themed canvas - like the the immortal battle of Stoczek. 

He also painted portraits (in 1882), and here w have a very large painting - 73,6" by 66,5" (187cmx169cm)
I don't think his art has been published in an album, so it is kind of difficult to find a definitive collection of his life work. There is a collection of Jan B. Rosen' recollections written down by Anna Leo, published in Warsaw 1933. It is in Polish language and available to download on Polona - Polish National library.

His lineage is interesting, on one side he was the descendant of a famous astrologer Jacobus Leo, brought to Krolewiec/Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad), Ducal Prussia, by the Prussian duke Albrecht in the XVI century. His ancestors on maternal and paternal sides originally were of Jewish faith  but they converted back in the XVIII century etc to various Protestant denominations. His Warsaw ancestors were native to Warsaw, of wealthy bourgeois family, doctors and lawyers, scientists and artists etc.

per his art studies, Jan B. Rosen was educated under the tutelage of Jozef Brandt at the Academia of Fine Arts in Munich (Polish artists' veritable 'Mecca' during the Partition period) and later in Paris (Adacemie des Beaux-Artes) under Jean-Louis Gerome and Isidoreer Pils.

He was married to Wanda Hantke, daughter of the famous Polish Partition-period industrialist Bernard Ludwik Hantke, and they had one son who was the famous muralist Jan Henryk de Rosen (1891-1982) and two daughters, Zofia who was a sculptor, and Maria. 

Have a nice Saturday 

Valete 

Luigi I d'Este - tassels, bay horse and flowing scarf

 Salvete Omnes,

Luigi I d'Este one again 

here dear Luigi I carries a very long, narrowing towards the tip sword

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a very detailed portrait - a bay stallion, and plenty of tassels 

typically long-shanked burb-bit

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very nice riding boots with a spur of which we cannot see the tip 

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sort of Sassanian Persian or old Medieval chivalry

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splendid saddle with pistol holster and long-barreled pistol

enjoy

Valete

Heracles & Hippolyte's belt

 Salvete Omnes,

April 1st or April Fools Day -  what a Spring day to behold .. 

so let me invite you to the ancient Greek mythological  hero's adventure - the lion pelt clad and with armed with a bow and club Heracles, son of Alcmene and god Zeus, sailed on his quest for the belt of Hippolyte, the queen of Amazons. Accordingly the name Amazon was meant to mean ' without a breast, because the right breast was cut off, that it might not hinder the use of  bow' and javelin.

According to Apollodorus, in his 9th labor Heracles was ordered by the 'evil' Eurystheus, king of Tiryns, to fetch him the belt of Hippolyte (belt of Ares), the queen of the Amazon warrior-women from the river Thermodon [in Pontus according to Strabo]. 

Apollodorus stated that 'these warrior-women cultivated male virtues,' while Diodorus Siculus wrote in his Book II that the women of Thermodon river held the 'sovereignty in their hand and performed services of was just as did the men. Of these women one, who possessed the royal authority, was remarkable for the prowess in war and her bodily strength, and gathering together an army of women she drilled it in the use of arms and subdued in was some of the neighbouring peoples[..], and as the tide of her fortune continued favorable, she was so filled with pride that she gave herself the appellation of  Daughter of Ares.' Greek god  Ares had a belt made for the queen, known as the belt of Ares. Their capital was called Themiscyra, in the mouth of Thermodon.

Heracles, according to Apollodorus, came by ship with his companions, and having put into the harbor of Themiscyra was visited by queen Hippolyte wearing the belt. Goddess Hera, always trying to derail Heracles in his efforts, arrived in the likeness of an Amazon warrior and went up and down the horde of Amazons saying the strangers who had arrived were carrying off the queen. So the Amazons in arms charged astride their horses down the harbor. But when Heracles saw them in arms, he suspected treachery, and killing Hippolyte stripped her of her belt. And after fighting the rest[of the Amazon host] he sailed awaya dna touched at Troy.'

Diodorus, Book II, 4-16.,  gives a detailed description of the battle between Heracles and the Amazons. 

enjoy

valete

Edgar Degas - some horse-themed art

 Salvete Omnes,

a short posting - horses of Edgar Degas I corralled for this post - 

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Horses in the Meadow

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there are plenty of article on maestro Degas' equestrian art 

eg - Metropolitan Museum - pastel on wood.

Harvard Museum - at the races.

Visual Arts site analysis - in front of the stand.

also  some sculptures - I may want to ask you whether  this is some great equestrian art? 

a bit of cynicism should be in place here - in the early 1920s Degas' heirs decided to make his sculptures more permanent (as the originals were sculpted form perishable materials), although Degas himself never favored making them so (as they appear but sketches & studies of fleeting mementos of his interests and artistic needs),   and authorized metal casting of his wax, clay and plastiline sculptures. They 'invented' the casting series, and 'limited' the number of castings to 21, while the very first series went to the most prominent collectors.

 I am sure all in the best  interest of humanity and history of art ( and wealthy  collectors). 

Valete