[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:06.43,0:00:12.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're in the Capitoline Museums in Rome looking at the equestrian sculpture of the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:12.44,0:00:19.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're not exactly sure of the date, but it's sometime around 176 CE or 180 CE.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.60,0:00:23.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's in a new space, because it was suffering some conservation problems,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.73,0:00:28.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so it had to be removed from the campidoglio where Michelangelo had put it.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.60,0:00:32.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And, actually, that's an important point because we don't know where it originally was in Rome.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:33.20,0:00:40.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What's really important is that this is the only equestrian sculpture of its size to survive from antiquity.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.14,0:00:42.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we know that there had been dozens of them in Rome.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.32,0:00:45.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They were created to celebrate the triumphal return of an emperor.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:45.51,0:00:49.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's so much authority as a result of him on horseback, clearly ruling.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.91,0:00:55.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,His left arm is lightly holding the reigns, or what would have been lightly holding the reigns of the horse.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.18,0:00:59.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The right hand protrudes out, addressing the citizens of Rome.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.86,0:01:04.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's a sense of confidence in his posture, and of course in the scale, it is enormous.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:04.15,0:01:08.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This survived because it was thought to have represented Constantine,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:08.64,0:01:11.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the emperor who made Christianity legal in the Roman Empire,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:11.23,0:01:17.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so this wasn't melted down for it's bronze, the way that almost all other Equestrian sculptures were.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:17.59,0:01:18.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This could have ended up as a cannon.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.96,0:01:22.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Right, so we're lucky it survived and it had enormous influence in the Renaissance,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.83,0:01:26.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for artists beginning with Donatello, and Leonardo da Vinci.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:26.15,0:01:32.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And of course, also, the ability to cast something this size in bronze had also been lost.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.92,0:01:35.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it just shows how accomplished the ancient Romans were,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.27,0:01:38.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,both in their handling of the material, but also in the representation,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:38.47,0:01:41.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the real understanding of the body and its musculature.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:41.00,0:01:46.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And of the anatomy of the horse, striding forward, it's so animated and lifelike.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.35,0:01:49.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The folds of the neck, as his head pushes downwards.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.97,0:01:53.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the folds of the drapery that Marcus Aurelius is wearing.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.49,0:01:57.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,How it comes down and drapes over his leg and the back of the horse.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:57.12,0:02:02.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's also something really wonderfully momentary and also at the same time very timeless here.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.17,0:02:06.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The horse is striding, his arm is raised but there's also a wonderful sense of balance.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:06.10,0:02:09.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The horse is in motion, he's pulling to the right.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.84,0:02:14.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He had, in his left hand, the reigns so there's a tension in that
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.57,0:02:19.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he sort of seems to be pulling back and the horse pulls its head back a little bit.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.45,0:02:25.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At the same time, the right side of his body seems to be moving forward, and leaning to the right,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.42,0:02:28.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there's a kind of animation throughout.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.09,0:02:32.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's also this unity between this incredibly powerful animal and Marcus Aurelius,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:32.82,0:02:35.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and he's in full control of the horse.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:36.22,0:02:41.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And even, kind of, moving forward while pulling the horse back slightly, holding it back.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:41.99,0:02:46.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you're right, his left hand is holding the reigns, but it's a light touch, even though he's in command
Dialogue: 0,0:02:46.08,0:02:48.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of this incredibly powerful animal.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:48.41,0:02:52.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Is it me, or does he seem a little too big for the horse?
Dialogue: 0,0:02:52.46,0:02:55.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Do you know if this was cast in one piece?
Dialogue: 0,0:02:55.11,0:03:00.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It would have been cast in individual pieces, and then it would have been assembled
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.52,0:03:04.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and then the bronze would have been worked so as to erase the seams.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.49,0:03:12.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so this commemorating of a great man and his great deeds was an important idea in the Renaissance
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.52,0:03:16.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the flowering of Humanism, this recognition of the achievement of an individual,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:16.94,0:03:20.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the representation of that individual in a portrait.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.54,0:03:24.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These are things that had been lost in the Middle Ages.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:24.05,0:03:30.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This interest in representation, both of his authority, of his position in society, but also
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.29,0:03:36.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the ability to render the body and the interest in rendering, all those things come together in the Renaissance,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:36.36,0:03:39.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,again, having originally come together, of course, in the Classical world.