An equestrian, from the third century AD portrays the Regisole (Sun King). It was originally erected in Ravenna, the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from AD 402 until AD 476. According to different modern scholars, the subject is possibly Theodoric the Great, King of the Ostrogoths (reigned 471–526), or ‘probably a Roman work of the third century AD’, or ‘possibly Septimius Severus, with several later modifications’ (he was emperor from AD 193 to AD 211). In 1335, the sculpture was taken from Milan to Pavia as a trophy of war.
Regisole proved to be highly influential during the Italian Renaissance. Surviving images show for example the front left leg of the horse raised up, with the hoof resting on, or held by, a dog standing on its hind legs. Donatello re-used the trick of adding a support under the raised leg of the horse when making his Gattamelata statue, in this case using a sphere instead of a dog. Leonardo da Vinci was also an admirer of the work. Unfortunately, the Jacobins in Pavia destroyed the statue after the Napoleonic invasions in 1796, as it was seen as a symbol of the monarchy.
