Kraljević Marko – the word kraljević can be translated as “ prince” - refers to the popular traditional folk hero but not of royal blood, who was engaged in fighting the Ottomans and became the symbol of courage and patriotism.
The equestrian bronze sculpture of Kraljević Marko from the year 1910 was made as a study for the equestrian plaster figure, five meters high and exhibited at the Medulić exhibition in 1910. The next year the sculpture was destroyed and only fragmentary parts and sketches have been preserved.
The traditional national hero on a horse in levade is represented as personification of strength and determination. Ivan Meštrović shaped the equestrian as a primordial force, the symbolic national initiator whose figure represents the defender of the national identity.
This is why each part of the composition possesses an initiating energy; the horse is in the levade position, with tightened haunches, stretched neck and open-mouthed. Its whole body gives the impression as if it were going to charge forward at any moment. The rider is represented in the same way; the nude, muscular body is in rotation, so that the torso is turned in profile. In this way it is adapted to the air drag while speeding in a victorious march.
The whole composition is entirely in the service of the theme: Meštrović has very freely treated the anatomy by over-stressing the musculature which is totally in harmony with the symbolic heritage that is linked to the person of Kraljević Marko.
The whole composition is very dynamic: each of the represented parts of the rider and horse is in motion and bursts with indestructible strength.
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