LATE 19TH CENTURY

The famous bronze horses, standing five feet in height were probably cast originally for the Arch of Nero in Rome. Constantine the Great had them removed to Byzantium, and in 1204 Doge E.Dandolo on his conquest of Constantinople had them brought back to Venice. They were removed yet again in 1797, this time by Napoleon, and having been triumphantly paraded through the streets of Paris were eventually installed on the Rue de Rivoli. The bronzes were finally returned to Venice as a provision of the Treaty of Paris of 1815, following Napoleon's crushing defeat on the field of Waterloo.