Dead Hero On Horseback
Aug. 8th, 2008 09:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphilo So, we now know why the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square hasn't been permanently occupied yet; it has been earmarked (by whatever unelected clique really rules this island) for an equestrian statue of the present queen- to be erected after her death.
That is to say, for something of no artistic worth whatsoever, which future generations will ignore- just as we ignore the memorial statues on all the other plinths.
Because it's almost inconceivable that a real artist would be handed a commission like this, isn't it?
Or would want to undertake it.
It's not just that public expectations will restrict the artist to the bland and generic- though it's that too- it's also that the genre "dead hero on horseback" is completely moribund. For all the implicit drama, there's surprisingly little you can do with it. A horse is a horse is a horse- and there's not much variation you can work in the rider's pose either: the legs can only go so, the back must be straight, at least one arm must be holding the reins.
The problem was solved- back in the 1480s- by Andrea Del Verrocchio. His Colleoni monument (I'd post a picture, but I can't find a decent one online) is the genre's definitive masterpiece. Everything since restates or copies Verrochio- and suffers by comparison.
That is to say, for something of no artistic worth whatsoever, which future generations will ignore- just as we ignore the memorial statues on all the other plinths.
Because it's almost inconceivable that a real artist would be handed a commission like this, isn't it?
Or would want to undertake it.
It's not just that public expectations will restrict the artist to the bland and generic- though it's that too- it's also that the genre "dead hero on horseback" is completely moribund. For all the implicit drama, there's surprisingly little you can do with it. A horse is a horse is a horse- and there's not much variation you can work in the rider's pose either: the legs can only go so, the back must be straight, at least one arm must be holding the reins.
The problem was solved- back in the 1480s- by Andrea Del Verrocchio. His Colleoni monument (I'd post a picture, but I can't find a decent one online) is the genre's definitive masterpiece. Everything since restates or copies Verrochio- and suffers by comparison.
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Date: 2008-08-08 08:12 pm (UTC)There's a grand name, too--something like Invincible or Avante or Coriolis.