In 1640,
Pietro Tacca built the first equestrian monument featuring a (freestanding) rearing horse and King
Philip IV of Spain, for which
Galileo Galilei helped compute gravitational solutions—similar to Leonardo's—to deal with its offset weight.
Étienne Maurice Falconet's
Bronze Horseman accomplishes a similar feat, although neither reach the physical scale of Leonardo's design. About five centuries after the original project failed, Leonardo's surviving design materials were used as the basis for sculptures intended to bring the project to fruition.
The Horse In 1977,
Charles C. Dent—an amateur artist, art collector and flying enthusiast—read in the September issue of
National Geographic its feature article on the history of Leonardo's horse and statue. Dent then began a project to re-create the unfinished sculpture in his home town,
Allentown, Pennsylvania, and founded the nonprofit organization Leonardo da Vinci's Horse, Inc. (LDVHI) to support the project. His efforts to grow the organization to finance the project proved a difficult task that required more than 15 years. Dent's projected cost for the horse came to nearly US$2.5 million. He had a domed studio/workshop constructed in Allentown within which he personally began to conceptualize the re-creation and initial modelling of the sculpture. In 1988, he enlisted sculptor/painter Garth Herrick to begin part-time work on the horse. When Charles Dent died of
Lou Gehrig's disease on December 25, 1994, he left his private art collection to LDVHI, the sale of which brought more than $1 million to the fund. The LDVHI Board acted on its promise to Dent to complete Dent’s vision. 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. Nina 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 of Akamu's design. The primary cast – The Horse – was placed at the
Hippodrome of San Siro in Milan, and unveiled on September 10, 1999. The
Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, holds the rights to Leonardo da Vinci's Horse as a result of its 2003 merger with LDVHI. Additional renderings of The Horse of different sizes are displayed in the United States and Italy.
The American Horse The second full-size cast of Nina Akamu's design became known as The American Horse, which was commissioned by philanthropist
Frederik Meijer and was placed at the
Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, a
botanical garden and sculpture park in
Grand Rapids, Michigan on October 7, 1999.
The Vinci Horse A 2.5-metre (8 ft) bronze version of the sculpture stands in Leonardo's birthplace,
Vinci, Tuscany, Italy, where it was dedicated on November 17, 2001. Made possible with gifts from several benefactors, including
Peter F. Secchia, the former United States Ambassador to Italy, and his wife, Joan, The Vinci horse inspired a sister city relationship between Vinci, Italy, and Allentown, Pennsylvania. A plaza in Vinci also was named in the memory of Charles C. Dent.
The Baum School Horse A 12-foot (3.6 m) replica was placed in Charles C. Dent's hometown of
Allentown, Pa. in the Charles C. Dent Memorial Garden at The
Baum School of Art, where it was dedicated on October 4, 2002.
The Da Vinci Science Center Horse The Da Vinci Science Center – the organization that is shaped by the merger of LDVHI and what was then known as the Discovery Center of Science and Technology – displays a three-foot (1 m) replica of The Horse in its main lobby, which was dedicated when the science center opened its current location on October 30, 2005. The Da Vinci Science Center's sculpture also has appeared on loan at
Discovery Times Square in New York City, New York, and at The
Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Wyoming Horse An eight-foot-tall (2.5 m) replica of The Horse was placed in
Sheridan, Wyoming, where it was dedicated on August 20, 2014. The Wyoming Horse was commissioned by the Wyoming Community Foundation on behalf of the Sheridan Public Arts Committee.
Sforza Equestrian Statue In 1989, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of
Nagoya's municipal status, an attempt was made to restore it for exhibition at
World Design Exhibition 1989 by Hidemichi Tanaka, Hideho Aso, Masato Kageyama, and Akio Ishizuka. First, a clay statue 2 meters tall was created based on manuscripts and drawings discovered in Madrid in 1967, and then a computer-enlarged version of this statue was produced. However, after calculating the weight, it was determined that the legs would not be able to withstand the weight if it were made of bronze, so the material was changed to
Fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) before completion. The completed model measures 8.3m in height, 3.6m in width, and 8.8m in length. After completion, it was exhibited at the
Tokai Bank Pavilion of the World Design Exposition. After the expo ended, it was donated by Tokai Bank to the
Nagoya Congress Center, where it is on display in the courtyard..
Additional interpretations Another 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 on display at various locations during exhibitions on Leonardo. Some of the venues have been; • "The Mind of Leonardo" at the Museum of Modern Art,
Debrecen, Hungary. (August 16 to December 2, 2007). • "Leonardo: 500 Years into the Future" at the Tech Museum,
San Jose, California, USA (September 27, 2008 to January 25, 2009) • "The Mind of Leonardo" at the Palazzo Venezia,
Rome, Italy (1 May to August 30, 2009) • "Leonardo da Vinci – Hand of the Genius" Sifly Piazza at the
High Museum of Art in
Atlanta, (October 6, 2009 to February 6, 2010). == See also ==