Da Vinci's Great Bronze Horse Sculpture

Colleoni Monument (Equestrian Statue) by Andrea del Verrocchio, 1480s Gilded bronze, height: 395 cm (without base), Campo di Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice

Equestrian Sculpture of Marcus Aurelius Roman Emperor, 2nd c. AD Gilded bronze, Capitoline Hill, Rome

Italian artists like Verrocchio and Leonardo would surely have seen the monumental bronze horse sculpture of the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, in the heart of Rome, the centerpiece of St. Peter’s piazza. This equestrian sculpture and the equestrian sculpture of Colleoni surely later inspired Leonardo to propose the construction of a 24-foot high, bronze horse sculpture for Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan in 1483. In preparation for casting his Great Bronze Horse sculpture, Leonardo constructed a full-scale clay model which was destroyed by war.

Five hundred years after Leonardo da Vinci’s death, his 24-foot Great Bronze Horse sculpture

Great Bronze Horse Sculpture Design by Leonardo da Vinci Bronze cast by Charlie Dent

has finally been cast thanks to the efforts of da Vinci admirer, Charlie Dent. Dent studied Leonardo da Vinci’s notebook and drawings in this effort. He asserts that this effort was a “gesture of appreciation from the American people for all that the Renaissance has meant to our own culture.” Italian Renaissance art history owes a great debt of thanks to Charlie Dent for finally executing Leonardo da Vinci's famous Great Bronze Horse sculpture.

Brenda Harness, Art Historian

For more information on Italian Renaissance Art and recommended books, click here.