Horse

The iron plastic and volumetric measure recognised in Marino's sculpture does not in the least conflict with the highly refined polychromy with which he embellishes many of his sculptures, plasters, woods and bronzes alike: he attacks them with varnishes and tempera, with acids and with tar; in every case, however, this intervention never appears additive and purely ornamental, because the polychrome skin adheres perfectly to the volumetric structure and indeed strengthens it, enhancing its extension and spatial concentration and establishing subtly varied relationships of light and shade, often out of step with the natural play of light and shadow. The little horse of 1952, finely chased like a mysterious idol, is an exemplary document of this transfiguration of opaque matter by Marini.