The sculpture repeats on a smaller scale the models of the equestrian monuments created by Giambologna, first of all the one dedicated to Cosimo I in Piazza della Signoria in Florence. Both Giambologna's school and other followers continued to produce horses in the style inaugurated by the great Flemish sculptor.
This one in particular resembles that of the Anton Ulrich-Museum, Brunswick, (cat. no. 68).
Literature: Ursel Berger-Volker Krahn, Bronzen der Renaissance und des Barock, Braunschweig, 1994, p. 112-113