Pacing Horse

This bronze statuette of a pacing horse derives from one of the four classical bronze horses on the façade of St Mark's in Venice. The pose of the original is combined with a considerable measure of naturalism in the body and a remarkably sensitive and expressive head. The bronze is probably North Italian rather than Florentine, though in view of the exceptional coherence and compactness of its forms the possibility of a Florentine origin cannot be wholly ruled out.