Statue of Alexander and Bucephalus c. 1754 - 1765

Hubert Robert sketched this Alexander and Bucephalus statue. It presents the heroic Alexander the Great atop his spirited horse, Bucephalus, symbols of unmatched prowess. Consider the rearing horse, a motif resonating through time. We see it in Renaissance equestrian statues and even in Delacroix's Romantic depictions of untamed power. It speaks of virility, leadership, and the subjugation of the natural world to human will. Yet, the horse, untamed, also embodies a Dionysian frenzy—a primal energy barely contained. The statue, itself a symbol of immortality, seeks to freeze a moment of triumph. But the act of memorializing is always an act of transformation. The energy of the living man and beast is translated into the enduring, yet static, form of stone. These motifs, charged with emotional and symbolic weight, continue to resurface, evolving and adapting, in an unending dance across the stage of history.