Dead Hero On Horseback

[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.

Comments

[algabal.livejournal.com]

I kind of like the idea of statues commemorating mediocre figures. I mean, how else are we going to remember them? They should erect one to poet laureate Alfred Austin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Austin). He's taken a lot of flack in the last 70 years.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Poor Alfred Austin; it's a shame. It's not as if he murdered anybody.

It's strange how hard we are on bad poets. Bad novelists, bad playwrights get off much more easily- they're simply forgotten- but bad poets- or some of them, anyway- get held up as dreadful examples to subsequent generations.