12 - Justinian’s Column and the Antiquarian Gaze: a Centuries-Old “Secret” Exposed

Summary

During the Renaissance the bronze horseman acquired new meaning as an object of revered antiquity. It spoke to Renaissance antiquarians who dedicated themselves to empiricism, scholarly inquiry, and a quest to recover the ancient past. When an influential early Italian humanist ascended scaffolding to inspect and draw the famous monument in Constantinople, he announced a major discovery that would initiate a new stage in the monument’s biography. Cyriac of Ancona exposed Justinian’s centuries-old "secret": the bronze horseman was originally created for a Theodosian emperor. His discovery was a triumph of antiquarian empiricism, demonstrating that inscriptions could uncover lost truths and correct the errors of the past. This was a paradigm shift in the study of the past. A drawing from Cyriac's circle became the main visual source for reconstructing the horseman’s appearance. It has continued to shape the monument in scholarly imagination to the present day. This chapter also examines representations of Justinian's bronze horseman in Notitia Dignitatum and views of Constantinople by Cristoforo Buondelmonti.