Horse and Rider (robed)

Edward Lucie Smith (loc. cit.) considers that Horse and Rider (robed) and Horseman, a similar piece from 1984, were inspired by Frink's third husband, Alex Csky, who was descended from an aristocratic Hungarian family: 'These pieces are the representations of a nomadic Magyar rider, roaming the plains, only half-civilized, always on the look out for conquest. This is perhaps the sculpture in which Frink comes closest to Marino Marini (1901-1980), the twentieth-century artist with whom she had most in common - at least this was the opinion of many outside observers. Frink herself said that the only sculptures by him she really admired were his portraits, not his equestrian figures. Marini's horsemen are said to have been inspired by the riders he saw in the fields of north Italy towards the end of World War II, anxiously scanning the skies for hostile aircraft. They are simultaneously timeless and contemporary'.