2-888-048 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Monte Cavallo - Rome, 1850. 'The Piazza di Monte Cavallo...with the Quirinal Palace on the right...occupies the crest of the Quirinal Hill, and is so called from the celebrated groups of "the men and horses"...which stand on each side of the Egyptian obelisk, and close to the fountain...All three form most conspicuous objects of decoration in the open elevated place...and are a portion of the treasures which have rewarded the trouble of excavation...The horses and their riders were found in the year 1589, amongst the ruins of the Baths of Constantine, within a short distance of their present position, where they were planted bv Pope Sixtus V. They are said to be the work of the celebrated Grecian sculptors Phidias and Praxiteles, and to have been brought to Rome by Constantine the Great from Alexandria, in which city they had stood for several centuries previously'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.