The Gran Cavallo by Leonardo da Vinci

Ludovico il Moro, the Duke of Milan, commissioned Leonardo in 1482 to create the greatest equestrian statue in the world.
Conceived as a tribute to his father Francesco, Ludovico wanted Leonardo to surpass the largest equestrian monuments of the time, Donatello’s statue of Gattemelata in Padua and Verrocchio’s Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice.
Seventy tons of bronze were immediately set aside for the casting of the statue but Leonardo didn’t make any progress on the project for a number of years.
In 1492 a clay model of the horse was completed which was larger than the two statues that Leonardo had been set as his benchmark. The model became known as the ‘Gran Cavallo’ and Leonardo began to make detailed plans for it’s casting in bronze.
By 1494 Milan was under the threat of invasion by Charles VIII of France.
Although known as ‘The Affable’, Charles was militarily and imperially ambitious.
He had bought the neutrality of Austria and Britain and had ambitions to conquer Italy.
Charles entered Italy in 1494 and quickly took Naples and Florence.
The advance of the French terrified the other Italian rulers, including the Pope and Ludovico, who formed an anti-French alliance called the League of Venice.
One of Ludovico’s first acts was to take the bronze set aside for the ‘Gran Cavallo’ to be used to make cannons to see off the invaders.
Charles was eventually seen off but Louis XII of France invaded again in 1499.
This time French troops used the clay model for target practice and it was destroyed.
In 1977 Charles Dent, an American pilot and artist, decided that, as a tribute to the Renaissance generally and Leonardo specifically, construction of the horse should be completed with the statue being presented to the city of Milan.
The cost of the statue was $2.5 million and it was unveiled in 1999.
Charles Dent had however passed away in 1994.
A sculpture by Nina Amaku called ‘The American Horse’ was commissioned by Frederik Meijer, a retail magnate, for inclusion in his Gardens and Sculpture Park in Michigan.
The sculpture is 24 feet tall and is based on Leonardo’s design.
When Michaelangelo saw the clay model for the ‘Gran Cavello’ he expressed doubts that Leonardo would actually be able to cast it.
As it turns out the vagaries of fate took that dilemma out of Leonardo’s hands...