# Equestrian Statues of Philip IV [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [TACCA, Pietro]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Bronze ## Commentary Pietro Tacca's last important commission, the equestrian monument to Philip IV, King of Spain, begun in 1634, is one of the greatest technical achievements in the history of Western sculpture. Influenced by contemporary court painting, Philip had expressed a wish to be represented on a rearing horse, and Tacca's lifelong study of casting helped him to resolve, with advice from Galileo Galilei, the problem of how to achieve this on a monumental scale. The horse was cast in 1639, the figure in 1640, and both were shipped to Spain just before Tacca's death. During the following two years they were united and erected, under Ferdinando's supervision, in the garden of Buen Retiro, Madrid; the statue was moved to the Plaza de Oriente in 1844. ## Related artworks - [Abundance]() - [Abundance]() - [Equestrian Monument ot Ferdinando I de' Medici]() - [Equestrian Monument to Ferdinando I de' Medici]() - [Equestrian Monument to Philip IV]() - [Equestrian Statues of Philip III]() - [Equestrian Statues of Philip III]() - [Equestrian Statues of Philip III]() - [Equestrian Statues of Philip IV]() - [Equestrian Statues of Philip IV]() - [Fountain \(detail\)]() - [Fountain of the Sea Monsters \(east\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()