Five-year-old Annemarie watched TV and had two loves: Fury the Horse and Lassie the Dog. Both are featured in Andrea Mantegna’s 1470 fresco, recently renovated in the Ducal Palace in Mantua, Northern Italy. The room where this fresco is located is called the Camera deli Sposi, the room for the bride and groom. Sigh.

The artist Mantegna was never one of the big boys of Renaissance art, but he inspired Raphael and Pinturicchio. His paintings on the walls of palaces in Venice and Padua are said to have inspired Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel.

One day I’d love to visit this handsome, white stallone. Such a proud stallion. And his grand, burgundy, velvet saddle suits him perfectly.

As for the pair of dogs in the painting, well, even as an adult I’ve never been a fan of a dog flashing the Full Monty.

Thank God Mantegna drew the horse face-first.