5 THE HORSE. 



Raphael, who it is assuredly inappropriate to cite as 

 a painter of animals, after the specimen which he has 

 bequeathed to us at the Vatican, in his picture of the 

 Creation, has painted in the galleries, a little further on, 

 a Jacob upon an ass, departing with his family for the 

 country of Laban ; the animal upon which the Patriarch 

 rides is at a walk, and its members are fairly accurately 

 posed at the regular appui. 



Winkelmann said, in speaking of the horse, with 

 reference to art among the Greeks, book IV., chap. iv. : 

 " I will repeat on this occasion the observations which I 

 have elsewhere made, namely, that the ancient artists 

 were no more of accord about the progressive motion of 

 horses, namely, upon the manner of raising and carrying 

 the feet to the fore, than are. certain modern authors who 

 have treated this subject. There are some who pretend 

 that horses raise the two legs of each side at the same 

 time ; such is the gait of the four ancient horses of 

 Venice, of the horses of Castor and Pollux in the Capitol, 

 those of Nonius Balbus and his son at Portici. Others 

 are convinced that horses move in a diagonal line, or in 

 the form of a cross ; that after having elevated the right 

 fore foot they lift the left hind foot, which is based upon 

 experience and mechanical laws. It is thus that the 

 horse of Marcus Aurelius, the four horses of his chariot 

 upon the base of the Capitol, as well as those of Titus, 

 upon the arch which bears the name of this Emperor, 

 raise their feet." 



I could also cite, in continuation of what Winkelmann 

 wrote, the example of many artistic productions, of which 

 I have ascertained the veracious naivety, in various 

 foreign museums, especially at Florence, Venice, Pisa, 

 Rome, etc. 



Winkelmann is as dubious as the others ; he deceives 

 himself in the citation of the horses of Venice, which 

 perfectly indicate the ordinary appui, although the 

 elevated foot be a little too much in advance of the one 

 which follows it diagonally. 



Whilst compelling myself to describe the horse with 

 the strictest accuracy, in order to place the study at the 

 disposition of conscientious artists, I do not conceal from 

 myself the aridity of this work. Its utility once obtaining 



