The Horses of St. Marks: A Story of Triumph in Byzantium, Paris and

For seven centuries four gilded horses stood proudly on the loggia above St Mark's basilica in Venice. They are remarkable as the only team of four horses to survive since antiquity. Such teams have always been symbols of triumph and power and, over a history of at least eighteen hundred years, these horses have graced three major cities, Venice, Constantinople and Paris, where Napoleon installed them on a triumphal arch after his destruction of the Venetian Republic. They have watched over the rise and fall of three empires, the Byzantine, the Venetian and the Napoleonic. They are not only survivors but important works of art which have enthused onlookers over the centuries. They remain one of the great treasures of Venice, itself the most romantic city in the world. Few works of art combine such splendour with such experience of history and it is their fascinating story that this book tells.