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Lot Essay
The Marino Marini Foundation has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
Gertrude, Piccolo Cavallo is a quintessential example of the most iconic theme of Marini's career. Exploring one of the oldest and most pertinent subjects in the history of art, Marini injected the forms of the horse and rider with a modern sensibility and a new consideration and rendering of form. Gertrude, conceived in 1952, demonstrates Marini's ongoing dissolution of monumental solidity which had characterised his representation of the horse in earlier sculptures, yet the present work simultaneously marks a shift in Marini's equine depictions. Only several years earlier, Marini's horses were shown in graceful union with their riders sitting steadily on their backs. From 1951, however, they began to depict various stages of the rider being thrown from his steed and tumbling to the ground in crisis. Gertrude can be seen to depict the moment following this fall; the horse remains upright, proud and triumphant having unseated its rider.
For Marini, the increased drama and discord imbued in his horses and riders reflected a more universal crisis in the world: 'Personally, I no longer have the intention of celebrating the victory of a hero. I would like to express something tragic, almost the twilight of humanity, a defeat rather than a victory. If you consider, one after another, my statues... you will notice that each time the rider becomes less capable of mastering his horse and the animal becomes increasingly intractable and wilder instead of yielding. Quite seriously, I believe that we are approaching the end of the world' (Marini, quoted in H. Read, P.Waldberg and G. di San Lazzaro, op. cit., p. 491).
Gertrude, Piccolo Cavallo was named after Gertrude Bernoudy, the wife of renowned American architect, William Adair Bernoudy. Gertrude, who owned another version of the present work, was a keen collector and patron, lending her support to artists including Marini, Pablo Picasso and Henry Moore.
Gertrude, Piccolo Cavallo is a quintessential example of the most iconic theme of Marini's career. Exploring one of the oldest and most pertinent subjects in the history of art, Marini injected the forms of the horse and rider with a modern sensibility and a new consideration and rendering of form. Gertrude, conceived in 1952, demonstrates Marini's ongoing dissolution of monumental solidity which had characterised his representation of the horse in earlier sculptures, yet the present work simultaneously marks a shift in Marini's equine depictions. Only several years earlier, Marini's horses were shown in graceful union with their riders sitting steadily on their backs. From 1951, however, they began to depict various stages of the rider being thrown from his steed and tumbling to the ground in crisis. Gertrude can be seen to depict the moment following this fall; the horse remains upright, proud and triumphant having unseated its rider.
For Marini, the increased drama and discord imbued in his horses and riders reflected a more universal crisis in the world: 'Personally, I no longer have the intention of celebrating the victory of a hero. I would like to express something tragic, almost the twilight of humanity, a defeat rather than a victory. If you consider, one after another, my statues... you will notice that each time the rider becomes less capable of mastering his horse and the animal becomes increasingly intractable and wilder instead of yielding. Quite seriously, I believe that we are approaching the end of the world' (Marini, quoted in H. Read, P.Waldberg and G. di San Lazzaro, op. cit., p. 491).
Gertrude, Piccolo Cavallo was named after Gertrude Bernoudy, the wife of renowned American architect, William Adair Bernoudy. Gertrude, who owned another version of the present work, was a keen collector and patron, lending her support to artists including Marini, Pablo Picasso and Henry Moore.