Piccolo miracolo

After Marini turned to sculpture in 1928 his works were almost exlusively limited to two themes; the female figure and the rider with horse. The latter, according to Herbert Read in Marino Marini, Complete Works, 'is a symbol of man riding and controlling his instincts, the horse being the symbol of the animal component in man, often specifically the erotic instincts' (p. 11). His inspiration came from Etruscan art and other medieval equestrian statues rather than the classical Marcus Aurelius in Rome or other classical or Renaissance examples. At first he created a horse in a normal upright position with a rider but it gradually changed into many variations and, as the time went by, they became increasingly dramatic.

He first conceived the Miracolo subject in about 1943 and later in the 1950s he created Cavalieri both of which were variations of rider and horse. He kept working on those two themes intermittently. When asked about this, Marini said, 'When you consider one by one my equestrian statues of the past twelve years, you will notice each time that the horseman is incapable of managing his mount, and that the animal, in its restlessness ever more riderless, comes more and more to a rigid standstill instead of rearing. I believe in the most serious way that we are heading towards the end of a world' (Patrick Waldberg, Marino Marini, Complete Works, New York, 1970, p. 187).