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After a span of five hundred years, from Leonardo's proposal to the Duke of
Milan in 1482, to Allentown's Charles Dent reading about the unfinished work
in 1977, The Horse was unveiled in Milan at the Cultural Park sponsored by
SNAI on September 10, 1999. The Horse, brilliantly created by sculptor Nina
Akamu and cast in bronze by the Tallix Art Foundry, represents the appreciation
of the Americans for the genius of Leonardo and the legacy of the Italian
Renaissance.
On Thursday October 7th 1999 the second casting of The Horse, known as the
American Horse, was unveiled at the Frederik Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids
Michigan. An 8-foot replica of the Horse was placed in the town where Leonardo
was born, Vinci, Italy during the Fall of 2001. The birthplace of Charles
C. Dent, Allentown, PA was tied to this historic Tuscan town as sister cities.
At the Charles C. Dent Memorial Garden in the Community Arts Park at the Baum
School of Art in Allentown, PA, a 12 foot horse was dedicated October 4th,
2002 and celebrated by the Leonardo's Imagination event.
The LDVHI organization
continued its work with educational and cultural projects related to Leonardo
da Vinci's Horse and the amazing history of this inspiring project. Leonardo
da Vinci was commissioned 500 years ago to construct an enormous bronze horse
for Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, Italy. It was to be the largest equine
statue ever built, standing 24 feet high. Leonardo's full-scale clay model
was destroyed by war and the bronze horse was never constructed.
The goals of this project were to honor the genius of Leonardo and pay homage
to him by building a colossal horse based on his drawings; to recognize all
Italians for enriching every aspect of our society by presenting The Horse
to the Italian people as a gift from the American people.
This gift acknowledges
the immense cultural, artistic, and scientific legacy of the Italian Renaissance
which, in America today continues to inspire our curiosity, imagination, and
creativity.
The Horse is faithful to Leonardo's original drawings, and is in keeping with
the spirit of Leonardo and the Renaissance. In a broader context, the significance
of The Horse, much like the Statue of Liberty, goes beyond all natural frontiers.
"Il Cavallo" will stand for a thousand years as a symbol of permanence
against the destructiveness of war and as a symbol of friendship between nations.
