Some horsemen on rearing horses can be associated with the milestones in general history or in the history of arts.

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Painting Styles

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Painting Techniques

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1420s- 1430s, Florence: Discovery of the mathematics of linear perspective

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Earlier European paintings were flat, the size of the figures was often dictated by their importance rather than what they could possibly look like in reality. In cr. 1420 Filippo Brunelleschi, a Florentine architect, has discovered the mathematical laws of linear perspective, and it was widely adopted soon after.

Perspective was fascinating many great minds of the time. Paolo Uccello was particularly passionate about it. He would “stand the whole night through beside his writing desk seeking new terms for the expression of his rules of perspective.” When his missus asked him to come to bed Paolo would often decline, saying he had plans with “my sweet mistress perspective.”

Later, in the 1470s-1480s, Piero della Francesca has written De Prospectiva pingendi (On the Perspective of painting), the earliest and only pre-1500 Renaissance treatise solely devoted to the subject of perspective.

15th century, Netherlands: widespread adoption of oil paints

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Earlier European paintins were done using tempera, a mix of egg yolk and pigments. Resulting paintings are very long-lasting, but tempera is difficult to work with, and it has some technical limitations, e.g. creating translucent layers is not possible.

The beginnings of oil painting are recorded as early as the twelfth century in Northern Europe. But it was the virtuoso handling of the medium on panel by early Netherlandish painters such as Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden that represented a turning point in its eventual adoption as the major painting medium in Europe in the sixteenth century. By then, Jan van Eyck had been incorrectly credited with the “invention” of oil painting.

In Italy, Leonardo da Vinci was among the first adopters of oil paints.

Mid-16th century, Venice: adoption of canvas as painting support

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The earlier European paintings were done on wood.

The use of canvas as a support for oil paints allowed for easier transport of larger compositions, canvas is far lighter than oak panels, also a painting executed on canvas can be rolled up and transported more easily than wooden panels. Canvas became prominent in the Italian Renaissance and it was widely used, particularly in Venice.

Venice was a wealthy trading port and, in the many workshops within the city, produced sails made from linen and other fabrics. In fine art, linen is still considered to be the finest support for oil painting. Later examples of oil paintings from the Venetian painters include works by Paolo Veronese and Titian.

Funeral Monuments With Horsemen On Rearing Horses

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Funeral monuments, big or small, were very important to people throughout history.

Cinerary Urns

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Gravestones

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Sarcophagi

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Mausoleums

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There were a few large scale funeral monuments: mausoleums, temple tombs and a necropolis that featured horsemen on rearing horses.

History

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333 BC: Establishment of Alexander the Great’s empire and beginning of the end of Persian empire

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The Battle of Issus (333 BC) was a decisive victory of Alexander the Great and his army. It marked the beginning of the end of Persian power. It was the first time the Persian army had been defeated with the King (Darius III) present.

323 BC: Death of Alexander the Great and beginning of the Hellenistic era

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The death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC resulted in dissolution of his empire and gave way to multipolar Hellenistic world.

31 BC: Beginning of the Roman Imperial era

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This aureus was struck under the future emperor Augustus, probably in preparation for the inevitable confrontation with Antony, the last type to be issued before the Battle of Actium (31 BC). Augustus won this battle and became first emperor of the Roman Empire. Mark Antony and Cleopatra were defeated and committed suicide. The Battle of Actium marks the end of the Hellenistic period with its multipolar world structure, and marked the beginning of an era of the dominance of the Roman Empire known as the Pax Romana.

312 and 1520: Beginning of the Christian era of the Roman empire and transition from renaissance to mannerism

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The Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place between the Roman Emperors Constantine I and Maxentius in 312. It takes its name from the Milvian Bridge, an important route over the Tiber. Constantine won the battle and started on the path that led him to end the Tetrarchy and become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. According to chroniclers, the battle marked the beginning of Constantine’s conversion to Christianity.

Some historians view 1520, the date of the death of Raphael, as the end of Renaissance and beginning of a new art style, Mannerism, also known as Late Renaissance. Raphael is viewed as zenith of High Renaissance, and it was his head assistant, Giulio Romano, along with Parmigianino who launched Mannerism! Thus, the fresco below can be viewed as a turning point of art: it was designed by the youngest of prominent High Renaissance artists, Raphael, and completed by a pioneer of Mannerism, Giulio Romano.

1066: Norman conquest of England

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Bayeux Tapestry is one of a kind, cr. 70 metres long, narrative embroidery depicting the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings. It is probable that it was created in the 1070s for Odo of Bayeux, the Earl of Kent and Bishop of Bayeux, who was the half-brother of William the Conqueror.

1453: The fall of Constantinople

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The Byzantine Empire fell to the rising Ottoman Sultanate in the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

1648: The last major battle of the Religious Wars

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The Battle of Lens that took place in 1648 was the last major battle of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and of the European wars of religion (1522-1648). The Peace of Westphalia marked the end of the age of European empired and beginning of the era of European nation-states.

1709: Establishment of the Russian empire and beginning of the end of the Swedish empire

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This mosaic depicts the Battle of Poltava (1709), the decisive battle of the Great Northern War. The outcome of this battle the beginning of the Swedish Empire’s decline as a European great power. It shows Peter the Great (1672-1725), the first Russian emperor, on a rearing horse. The mosaic that shows this battle was made by Mikhail Lomonosov (1711 – 1765), one of the first notable Russian scholars.

1791: The last absolutist king of France wearing republican tricolour cockade

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This portrait shows Louis XVI of France after the French Revolution of 1789, but while he was still the king of France (until 1792).