XXIX. Observations on the Brass Equestrian Statue at the Capitol in Rome, occasioned by a small Brass Model, shewn the Society, by Martin Folkes, Esquire

Extract

The brass equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, now in the area of the Capitol, was found in a vineyard, near the Scala Santa, at Saint John's Lateran, where it lay neglected for many years upon the ground, till Pope Sixtus iv. (soon after the year 1470) set it upon a handsome pedestal, with an inscription, in the open place before the Lateran church; and there it remained till the Pontificate of Paul iii. who, about 1538, caused it to be removed to the place where it now stands, on a pedestal adorned by the hand of Michael Angelo: The marble whereof it is made having been brought from the Remains of Trajan's Forum. These particulars are related by Flaminius Vacca the sculptor; and he further adds, that as the statue was found in the ground belonging to the Lateran church, the members of the same went to law with the people of Rome about it; and he intimates this suit was not determined in his time; but that he had heard the gentlemen of the church made a demand of it, in writing, every year.