White, R. Kerry2024-08-152024-08-1519791979https://hdl.handle.net/1828/20086This thesis is a survey of the image of the man on horseback, principally as it occurs in painting and sculpture throughout history, but also as it has appeared in literature, film and television. The image is seen as the heroic motif of ruling classes which evolved from both the nomadic culture of the Central Asian steppes and the civiliza­tions of the river valleys during the second millennium B.C. The twofold purpose of the survey is to document the archetypal characteristics of the image and to note their specific function as they appear in different social contexts. This implies that depictions of the horseman have meaning on at least two important levels: they refer to or recall the primary traditions of the class and they serve specific ideological purposes in given situations. Initial criteria for the survey are derived from a brief analysis of images and themes in Hollywood Western films, which in turn are seen as products of nineteenth century American romanticism--the mythos of the "0ld West." The archetypal origins of these ideas are then examined in the context of ancient life styles and mythological traditions. From this period representations of horsemen emerge as heroic images of supremacy and they are utilized as such by the leaders of Greek and Roman societies until the fall of Rome. Thematic and stylistic varia­tions on this tradition are then traced in the art and literature of the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods to the time when middle-class values and revolutionary aspirations began to modify the aristocratic bias of equestrian art. This was the romantic age of national "popular" heroes, when traditional imagery was employed not only by European leaders such as Napoleon, Wellington and Garibaldi to win popular sup­port, but also by their American counterparts, who added the "natural" virtues of frontier life to their political images . With the deliber­ately cultivated portraits of Theodore Roosevelt as the "cowboy President," the survey has come full circle, and a concluding chapter briefly examines the persistence of romantic equestrian themes in commercial media, from films to advertising. It is finally proposed that the popular arts of North American society have continued the archetypal characteristics of historic art, both directly, through works which feature the "Old West" and its legen­dary heroes, and indirectly, through programs in which modern technology and urban settings are employed simply as analogous substitutes for traditional images.496 pagesAvailable to the World Wide WebThesis