During the week I spent in Madrid this summer I visited the new Galería de las Colecciones Reales (translated as the Royal Collections Gallery). It’s a great museum with a fantastic exposition of carriages that ends next month (and some seriously cool bathrooms). As usual, I spent more time looking at horses, and after a while decided to blog about horses in art. A few days later, I (re)visited the Prado Museum. I alsot snapped pictures of various statues seen about the city. I ended up with lots of paintings and sculptures to write about, and decided to do (at least) two blog posts. This first is about bits and bridles on statues of horses.
(Coming soon: Headgear in paintings of horses.)
My goodness those poor horses!
Yep, this is meant to be funny… If you want real life bits and bridles, see my old post Bits, bosals, hackamores, and sidepulls.
Here I am just going to show you what headgear the horses I saw depicted in paintings and statues wore. With commentary.
Jump to:
Let’s start outdoors
Indoor equestrian statues
At the racetrack
Let’s start outdoors
I’ve been familiar with these outdoors statues for decades, ever since I first lived in Madrid in 1991. I cannot talk about bits and bridles in art without sharing these favorites!
Monument to Cervantes in Plaza de España
The Monument dedicated to Cervantes in Plaza de España has been one of my favorites for years. I used to take all of my visitors there. It features the famous author Miguel de Cervantes holding his most famous work, Don Quixote de la Mancha, or “El Quixote.” In front of Cervantes ride don Quixote and his servant Sancho Panza. I had never noticed how pissed off Rocinante is!
I have no idea when don Quijote/ Rocinante and Sancho/Rucio statues were finished, but the monument was commissioned in 1915 and took most of the century to finish.
Above: Don Quijote de la Mancha riding his horse Rocinante accompanied by Sancho Panza on his burro Rucio. Behind them you can see Cervantes.
Above: One cranky Rocinante on the left or top wears what apepars to be some sort of Pelham bit with one rein attached to the snaffle loop. Cheerful Rucio the burro is wearing a halter or possibly sidepull.
Felipe III en la Plaza Mayor
Another iconic equestrian statue is that of Felipe III in the Plaza Mayor. Pietro Tacca sculpted it in 1614, and it demonstrates characteristics of the high Mannerism period of late Rennaissance when artists purposefully avoided excessive realism. (Hence the Disneyesque horse below!)
Above: Left/top, the entire statue. Right/bottom: In the close-up you can see the horse has a very weird muzzle. The bit looks like a curb with a long shank and very small purchase.
Carlos III in Puerta del Sol
Puerta del Sol in Spain serves a useful function: the lowest number on any road is at its closest point to Sol. This makes finding your way easier! The equestrian statue of Carlos III was made in 1994 and based on a much smaller sculpture from 1790.
Above: Puerta del Sol and the statue of Carlos III. In the close-up, you can see an interesting bit with a snaffle and curb rein attached, which would make it a sort of Pelham. It’s not attached to the bridle but…
Felipe IV in Plaza de Oriente
Just south of Plaza de España, between the Opera and Royal Palace, lies the Plaza de Oriente.
Above:
Alfonso XII in the Retiro, overlooking the artificial lake
The statue of Alfonso XII
Above:
Monument to General Martínez Campos in the Retiro
Also in the Retiro, the Monument to General Martínez Campos captures a horse very realistically. The entire monument is interesting, because there are reliefs around the base. You can read about them in the above link I believe. (Or go to Madrid! It’s a wonderful city.)
Above: The statue on the monument ro General Martínez Campos has a very realistic horse. The bridle looks like a Weymouth (double bridle), but I think it’s a long-shanked Pelham bit. He needs to tighten the snaffle rein or loosen the curb 😉
A non-military equestrian statue in the Retiro
The
Above:
Some indoor equestrian statues
At the Royal Collections Gallery
The Royal Collections Gallery is a new (and new-to-me) museum in Madrid that showcases the art collected by the Spanish Royal Family over the centuries, now considered Patrimonio Nacional. It’s housed in an impressive new building behind the Catedral de la Almudena, near the Royal Palace.
Bridle from the armor of Carlos V
Ok so this is not techincally a statue, but it’s still a bridle!
Above: The whole shebang, and a close-up of the bridle and bit. (I do wish I’d taken a real camera!) It’s a curved medium shank surb bit with minimal purchase and decorative concha on a traditional Spanish bridle.
Horses on the end of a magnificent centerpiece “Glories of Spain” made for the Casa del Labrador in Aranjuez
Unfortunately I only took a picture of one of the equestrian figurines, and I don’t know if it’s the one corresponding to Carlos IV or Principe Fernando. The horse seems to be wearing an interesting curb bit. Below you can see a video I took of the entire centerpiece.
Carlos III (c. 1770… Can’t you tell from his clothes?)
Above: Carlos III on horseback. Horse is mainly silver, the king is mainly gold… It appears to be a snaffle bit.
Carlos IV (1806)
Above: Close up of Carlos IV equestrian statue (it’s small!) They really needed to raise the bit in that horse’s mouth! It appears to be a curb, but still…
Isabel la catolica, horseback, sculpted c. 1850
Above: This statue of Isabel the Catholic Queen on horseback features what appears to be a short-eared Arabian. That appears to be another curb bit in its mouth.
At the Prado
You aren’t allowed to take pictures at the Prado Museum, and it’s big enough I got tired before seeing everything. (As usual.) There are also very few statues of horses. O opnly found one! (But there are many paintings that will appear in the next blog on this topic.)
The only equetrian statue I found was of Carlos II, made in 1698.
Above: Carlos II’s horse wears a curb bit and, interestingly, a bridle that appears to be twisted rope or perhaps rawhide. The bit has no purchase and I am curious about the attachment to the bridle.
Statues at the racetrack, el Hipódromo de la Zarzuela
Those who know me are aware that I rode at the Hipódromo de la Zarzuela for years. I wish I had had time to ride this summer! I did get to visit when I met an old friend there at the Cantina. The Cantina was in a new place, the third locale I have known for it since 1991. As I wandered around looking for it, I came across the following statues.
No, I don’t know who they are. Maybe I did know about a few at one time, but I have long forgotten if I did! If you know, please comment and I will add to this blog post.
Bits, where present, are snaffles, of course.
