Prohászka László: Equestrian Statues - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1997)
This masterpiece of medieval sculpture was made in 1373 by the brothers Márton and György of Kolozsvár. The city was one of the cultural centres of fourteenth-century Hungary. (Several statues made by the brothers used to stand in the square outside the Kolozsvár cathedral, including an equestrian monument representing the Hungarian king, St. László (Ladislaus). There are no written documents to explain how this piece by the brothers of Kolozsvár got to the Czech capital. The likeliest explanation suggests that Hungarian king Lajos (Louis) the Great gave it as a present to his future brother-in-law, Charles IV of the Holy Roman Empire. According to an alternative hypothesis, the piece was transferred to Prague from the main altar of the church in Pozsonyszentgyörgy. However all that might have occurred, the cast bronze figure of the rider is a priceless representative of Gothic art. Its style suggests that the makers of the statue must have visited Italy and were well versed in fourteenth-century Tuscan art. The piece shows the Chief of the Celestial Order of Knights joining battle with the dragon. The armoury-clad male figure sinks its weapon with a movement of almost graceful elegance into the throat of the scaly- skinned beast. The horse, with the dragon's tail snaking around its foreleg, fights together with its master. It treads on the dragon’s trunk as it pulls its head to the side. The lizards attending the dragon try to run away in panic. It deserves special mention that the three figures, together with the base itself, were cast in one piece and the method, called wax melting, was one of the oldest and finest of casting technologies. The quality of each minute detail testifies to the additional high standard of craftsmanship the makers must have attained as master smiths as well. The knight originally held a shield to his left, but this, together with the dagger, was lost in the eighteenth century. The Prague Jesuit brother Balbinus read in 1677 the following inscription on the shield that was later lost: This statue of St. George was made in 1373 by Márton and György of Claussenberch. Today even the courtyard of Prague Castle can only boast a copy of the statue, as the original has been kept in a mu12
