Four horses from St. Mark's Basilica Piazza in a courtyard, Italy, 1945

Description: 

Photograph. Four horses from St. Mark's Basilica Piazza, crated for protection, now out of storage in San Marco/St. Mark's Square. Official Caption: "The four bronze horses (in the background) of St. Marks are the most traveled horses in history. Although their origin is unknown, they are believed to be a Greek work of the Hellenistic period. After the conquest of Greece by Rome they were brought to Rome where they adorned one of the imperial monuments. Constantine, or one of his successors, retransferred them to Greece and put them in front of the Hippodrome. In 1204 they once more returned to Italy, as part of the booty of the Fourth Crusade. In 1798, Napoleon took them to Paris; then they were returned to Venice in 1815. During the last war, they were brought to Rome for safekeeping after the Italian defeat at Caporetto. The horse in the foreground is part of the Colleoni statue. 6505 C." Venice, Italy. 1945

Image Information

Donor: 
Dylan Utley
Accession Number: 
2012.019.012
Date: 
1945
Location: 
Hometown: 
Branch: 
Theater of Service: 
Unit: 
Campaign / Event: 
POW / KIA: 
Topical Subjects: 
Art objects-- Italy
Sculpture--Italy
Plazas--Italy
Collection Level: 
Items from the service of Isaac "Ike" Bethel Utley, who was born in Smith Mills, Kentucky on 3 March 1920. Ike enlisted in the Army Air Corps on 19 January 1942. He was shipped overseas to the European Theatre and worked with a supply division based out of the city of Naples with an office set up in a residential villa. Utley worked with the Office of War Information and used their photographs in news articles to inform soldiers of the progress of the war. At war's end, Utley returned stateside. A trunk full of over 800 photographs from the O.W.I. arrived on his doorstep from his office in Italy, sender unknown. This collection consists of those photographs.
Geography: 
Venezia
Latitude: 
45.583
Longitude: 
12.567
Thesaurus for Graphic Materials: 
Art objects-- Italy
Sculpture--Italy
Plazas--Italy