Leonardo's horse
Encyclopedia
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
in 1482 by Duke of Milan Ludovico il Moro
Ludovico Sforza
Ludovico Sforza , was Duke of Milan from 1489 until his death. A member of the Sforza family, he was the fourth son of Francesco Sforza. He was famed as a patron of Leonardo da Vinci and other artists, and presided over the final and most productive stage of the Milanese Renaissance...
, but not completed. It was intended to be the largest equestrian statue in the world, a monument to the duke's father Francesco
Francesco II Sforza
Francesco II Sforza , also known as Francesco Maria Sforza, was the last Duke of Milan from 1521 until his death.He was the son of Ludovico Sforza and Beatrice d'Este...
. Leonardo did extensive preparatory work for it, but produced only a clay model, which was destroyed by French soldiers when they invaded Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
in 1499, interrupting the project. About five centuries later, Leonardo's surviving design materials were used as the basis for sculptures intended to bring the project to fruition.
Modern replicas
In 1977, Charles Dent began work to complete the unfinished sculpture in Allentown, PennsylvaniaAllentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown is a city located in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is Pennsylvania's third most populous city, after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and the 215th largest city in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 118,032 and is currently...
. His efforts to set up an organization to finance the project proved a difficult task that required more than 15 years. The projected cost of the horse came to nearly US$2.5 million. Dent died of Lou Gehrig's disease in 1994, leaving his private art collection to LDVHI (Leonardo da Vinci's Horse, Inc.), the sale of which brought more than $1 million to the fund. In 1988, LDVHI enlisted sculptor/painter Garth Herrick to begin part-time work on the horse.
By 1997, Tallix Art Foundry, in Beacon, New York, the company contracted by LDVHI to cast the horse, had suggested bringing Nina Akamu, an experienced animal sculptor, on board to improve upon the Dent-Herrick horse. After several months, Akamu determined that the original model could not be salvaged and concluded that a completely new sculpture needed to be executed.
Leonardo had made numerous small sketches of horses to help illustrate his notes about the complex procedures for molding and casting the sculpture. But his notes were far from systematic, and none of the sketches points to the final position of the horse, with no single definitive drawing of the statue. Akamu researched multiple information sources to gain insight into the original sculptor's intentions. She studied both Leonardo's notes and drawings of the horse and those of other projects he was working on. She reviewed his thoughts on anatomy, painting, sculpture and natural phenomena. Her research expanded to include the teachers who had influenced Leonardo. Akamu also studied Iberian horse breeds, such as the Andalusian, which were favored by the Sforza stables in the late 15th century.
Two full-size casts were made or Akamu's 24-foot (7.3 meter) design. One was placed at the Hippodrome
Hippodrome
A hippodrome was a Greek stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. The name is derived from the Greek words "hippos and "dromos"...
de San Siro in Milan. The other is at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park is a botanical garden and outdoor sculpture park located in Grand Rapids Township, Michigan in Kent County. Commonly referred to as Meijer Gardens, it has quickly become one of the most significant sculpture experiences in the Midwest and an emerging...
, a botanical garden
Botanical garden
A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...
and sculpture park in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...
, paid for by billionaire Frederik Meijer.
Another copy of the horse has been placed in downtown Allentown, PA's Community Art Park adjacent to the Baum School of Art in honor of Charles Dent. It is smaller (twelve feet) bronze replica of the two larger statues. A fourth (eight feet) bronze replica has been installed on 15th September 2001 in the Piazza della Libertà, Vinci, Italy
Vinci, Italy
Vinci is a town and comune of Firenze province in the Italian region of Tuscany. The birthplace of Renaissance polymath Leonardo da Vinci lies just outside the town.-Geography:The town is surrounded by the Tuscan Hills...
- the birth town of Leonardo.
A 24-foot-high recreation of the Sforza horse, based on different design interpretation was manufactured by the Opera Laboratori Fiorentini S.p.A., in collaboration with Polo Museale Fiorentino and the Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence, Italy. It is made of steel frame with special resin coated fibreglass, to make it look like bronze. It is made of six pieces and can be transported and re-assembled. It has been at display at various locations during exhibitions on Leonardo. Some of these are;
- "The Mind of Leonardo" at the Museum of Modern Art, Debrecen, Hungary. (16 August to 2 December 2007).
- "Leonardo: 500 Years into the Future" at the Tech Museum, San Jose, USA (27 September 2008 to 25 January 2009)
- "The Mind of Leonardo" at the Palazzo Venezia, Rome, Italy (1 May to 30 August 2009)
- "Leonardo da Vinci - Hand of the Genius" Sifly Piazza at the High Museum of ArtHigh Museum of ArtThe High Museum of Art , located in Atlanta, is the leading art museum in the Southeastern United States and one of the most-visited art museums in the world. Located on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district, the High is a division of the Woodruff Arts Center.-History:The Museum was...
in Atlanta, GeorgiaAtlanta, GeorgiaAtlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, (6 October 2009 to February 6, 2010).