Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius

Discussion

FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

When Michelangelo redesigned the Campidoglio, a civic piazza on top of Capitoline Hill in Rome, he repositioned the ancient Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius in the center of the piazza on a newly designed plinth with antique-style lettering. Just after the piazza was completed, Nicolas Beatrizet made this engraving of the statue and plinth as part of a series of prints of Roman monuments, which were often purchased by travelers to Rome. Michelangelo was uncredited in such images, but his impact on civic design gradually became part of the collective visual memory of Rome.

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