Horse head by Donatello

 Salvete Omnes, 

a short entry - the Archaeological Museum at Naples, Italy has in their collection a monumental horse head, judging by the teeth it is a stallion. sculpted by Donatello,  active during the XV century Italian Renaissance artist. 

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the Medici-Ricardi ancient Greek bronze horse seems to have been the inspiration. 

Valete

Sir Briggs and other horses by De Prades

 Salvete Omnes,

Tredegar House obelisk, Wales, UK

  from the English countryside come this unusual obelisk to commemorate a horse - a 15 hands tall bay stallion named Sir Briggs. Briggs went to the Crimean War theater as a mount for Captain Godfrey Morgan, of 17th Lancers aka Light Dragoons UK, and galloped with his rider into the Valley of Death during the Charge of the Light Brigade.

Probably in 1854 Sir Briggs, then still just Briggs, was painted by Alfred F. de Prades (French-English, 1825-1885), one of the XIX century British Empire preeminent equestrian and portrait painters.

Sir Briggs lived through the war and died, age 28, at Morgan's estate in 1874.

and here in Cardiff, Morgan and Sir Briggs sculpted in full lancer and war steed glory on a pedestal

sculpture by sir William Goscombe John

Below,  some more of Alfred F. de Prades' works:

starting with his canvas from 1838, when he was but a 13 years old boy.

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a portrait of a horse

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@ Christies

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

Alexander sarcophagus in the Istanbul Archaeological Museums

 Slavete Omnes,

the great Istanbul museum has this amazing piece of ancient  Greek funerary art -  The Sarcophagus of Alexander - from Sidon in the ancient and beautiful land of Lebanon. 
this is the first of my post showing this sarcophagus - and thanks to the photographers and museum policies in Turkiye we can enjoy almost every detail of this amazing sculptural work. 

the top of the sarcophagus ..

more to follow 

Enjoy
Valete