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The warrior wearing armour of an antique fashion, is seated on a pacing horse, his head turned to the right his mouth open in a fierce grimace. His right hand holds the hilt of a broken sword, his left is extended to hold a missing sceptre. The helmet is decorated with shells, children and fantastic monsters. The cuirass has a winged grotesque figure. The horse has a short curling mane and an elaborately knotted tail. The surface is mainly treated by hammering.
Riccio developed from his master's (Bartolommeo Bellano's) style the synthesis of subtle variations of surface working and infinite ingenuity of design for which he is justly famed. The rich, soft surface modelling, enlivened by brilliant work with chisel and punch, makes his Shouting Horseman one of the great masterpieces of High Renaissance classicism, and an equestrian monument in miniature.
This bronze was repaired and repatinated in the 19th century.
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