Above the West Door of Basilica di San Marco
Holiday in Italy #33
The composition here is a compromise attempt to show as much as possible of the exuberantly over-the-top detail over the top of the famous Venetian Basilica and around the west doorway, yet as little as possible of the scaffolding and sheeting that covers many Italian buildings at the moment, presumably in preparation for next year's festivities.
The four horses visible on the loggia are not the steeds of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, but replicas of originals that have indeed had a somewhat “apocalyptic” past. They are called the Triumphal Quadriga or Horses or the Hippodrome of Constantinople. With either Greek or Roman beginnings, the original statues have been moved as war plunder from old Constantinople to Venice, then Paris, and then back to Venice. History hasn’t finished yet, but they are currently stabled inside the basilica, safe from the outside world where the replicas represent them.
Above the West Door of Basilica di San Marco
Holiday in Italy #33
The composition here is a compromise attempt to show as much as possible of the exuberantly over-the-top detail over the top of the famous Venetian Basilica and around the west doorway, yet as little as possible of the scaffolding and sheeting that covers many Italian buildings at the moment, presumably in preparation for next year's festivities.
The four horses visible on the loggia are not the steeds of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, but replicas of originals that have indeed had a somewhat “apocalyptic” past. They are called the Triumphal Quadriga or Horses or the Hippodrome of Constantinople. With either Greek or Roman beginnings, the original statues have been moved as war plunder from old Constantinople to Venice, then Paris, and then back to Venice. History hasn’t finished yet, but they are currently stabled inside the basilica, safe from the outside world where the replicas represent them.