Cortile Vecchio of the Castello at Milan

Even though Da Vinci's placed so much importance and time into his creation of the Sforza monument horse, he never had an intended location for it. Due to the immensity of the statue and the political message it would send, he chose to place it in the Corte Vecchia, the Castello Sforzesco (Hanson, 2012). There, its colossal height would represent and directly point to the power of the Sforza family. The clay model of the horse stood there until 1499 when the French army destroyed by using it as target practice (Grierson, 1959).

Sources:
Grierson, P. (1959). ERCOLE D'ESTE AND LEONARDO DA VINCI'S EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF FRANCESCO SFORZA. Italian Studies, 14(1), 40-48.
 

Hanson, E. J. (2012). Inventing the sculptor: Leonardo da Vinci and the persistence of myth (Doctoral dissertation, Washington University). All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs),765. doi: https://doi.org/10.7936/K7PN93MQ

Parent Map

da Vinci and the Renaissance Map

Coordinates

Latitude: 45.469430300000
Longitude: 9.177690300000

Timeline of Events Associated with Cortile Vecchio of the Castello at Milan

Date Event Manage
1493

Da Vinci Completes Sforza Monument Clay Model

Da Vinci's initial works contained too abstract ideas and could not be cast into bronze with a single pour, retendering them incompletable. In his first two main designs, he had a horse rearing up over a fallen foe (Hanson, 2012). Although the fallen foe aided with the stability of the horse, it prohibited a single pour casting. His third design significantly differed from the other two, as it did not contain the fallen foe and was in a frozen trot with two suspended legs (Hanson, 2012). By 1490, Da Vinci began more intense work on the monument and completed a 24-foot clay model of a more detailed version of his third design by 1493, which sat in the Cortile Vecchio of the Castello at Milan (Grierson, 1959). Before Da Vinci’s attempt with his clay horse, no one had created such an equestrian statue with two suspended legs. One suspended leg, as in the Colleoni monument, poses a great challenge with stabilizing the center of gravity; having two suspended legs further heightens this challenge. 

To account for the instability of the statue with two airborne legs and to protect it against several environmental factors, Da Vinci had an intricate structure of the horse. He designed the inside of the horse to have a steel “skeletal structure,” essentially trusses within the horse, and thick metal walls (Ahl, 1995, p. 136). Even though such framing led to other problems, it miraculously maintains the structure of the horse. Such a comprehensive design stands as a feat for the 1400s and 1500s. 

Sources:

Ahl, D. (1995). Leonardo da Vinci's Sforza monument horse: The art and the engineering. Bethlehem [Pa.]: London; Cranbury, NJ: Lehigh University Press; Associated University Presses.

Grierson, P. (1959). ERCOLE D'ESTE AND LEONARDO DA VINCI'S EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF FRANCESCO SFORZA. Italian Studies, 14(1), 40-48.

Hanson, E. J. (2012). Inventing the sculptor: Leonardo da Vinci and the persistence of myth (Doctoral dissertation, Washington University) [Abstract]. All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs),765. doi: https://doi.org/10.7936/K7PN93MQ
1499

French Army Destroys Sforza Monument Clay Model

Da Vinci's clay model of the Sforza monument horse was a feat of engineering, with two horse legs suspended and a total height of 24 feet. It remained standing in the Cortile Vecchio of the Castello at Milan until it was destroyed in 1499. It is believed that when the French army came across the statue they brutally destroyed it, using it as "target practice" (Grierson, 1959, p. 40). The French army's destruction was the ultimate factor in the incompletion of the monument. Since Da Vinci died in 1519, he never recreated the clay model and his horse was not attempted until centuries later with greater advancements in technology. Thus, his brilliance and Renaissance combination of art and engineering were not fully realized and appreciated until centuries later.

Sources:
Grierson, P. (1959). ERCOLE D'ESTE AND LEONARDO DA VINCI'S EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF FRANCESCO SFORZA. Italian Studies, 14(1), 40-48.