Saturday, 17 February 2007
Marcus Aurelius on the Campidoglio
The facsimile of the ancient equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius was placed on Michelangelo's plinth in the late 1990s. The original statue is displayed in the adjacent Palazzo Nuovo. It had been dismantled from its setting at the start of the Second World war, but was finally removed to prevent further environmental corrosion. Its replacement provides the dynamic, gestural centre to the space, here caught in the fading evening light.