Out of the Mists of
History, a New Leonardo Horse Emerges in America as a Gift to the Italian
People
By Milan J. Kralik, Jr.
Imagine a horse as big as a house. Leonardo da Vinci did in the late 15th
century. Charles Dent did in the late 20th century. The 500 years that span
these two dreams encompass extraordinary romance and dedication, seeming failure
and then triumphant success: the resurrection of "the horse that never
was" and its placement in Milan in 1999 as a gift to the Italian people
from the American people.
At a height of 24 feet, it is the largest bronze horse sculpture in the world.
The durability of its silicon bronze exterior and stainless steel interior
armature suggests that the horse will gleam in the Milanese sunlight for centuries.
The story of the modern horse is intertwined with Charles C. Dent, retired
airline pilot, artist and art collector. But first came the story of Leonardo
and his horse.
Leonardo's greatest artistic challenge began when the Duke of Milan, Ludovico
Sforza, decided to honor his father Francesco Sforza in the manner of the
day with an equestrian statue. In 1482, Ludovico commissioned Leonardo to
design and build the largest equestrian statue in the world. Leonardo saw
this project, far more than the Last Supper or any of his paintings, as the
means to fix his place in history.
Over a period of 16 years, with other artistic and engineering endeavors intervening,
Leonardo established a systematic approach to the Sforza monument. He began
by sketching horses in the Duke's stables, went on to sketch plans for the
sculpture itself, and designed a new casting process by which inner and outer
molds would form a thick-walled horse in a monolithic pour of some 57 tons
of bronze. Outside a studio in vineyards near the castle, Leonardo and his
assistants created an earthen 24-foot model of the horse, and pulled molds
from it for casting. Leonardo had planned to bury the assembled molds in the
ground and ring the area with furnaces in order to melt enough bronze to achieve
the pour.
However, Fate intervened to destroy Leonardo's dream of ever completing his
historic sculpture. A political situation between Louis XII of France and
the Duke had degenerated. Faced with imminent war, the Duke sent the bronze
he had gathered for the horse to Ferrara to be cast into cannon. The French,
under Trivulzio, invaded.
Scholar Dr. Carlo Pedretti describes the event:
One can well imagine the skyline of such a peaceful landscape, bathed in the
mellow light of a misty morning of a September day in the Lombard plain .
. . and see that sky suddenly interrupted by the imposing silhouette of Leonardo's
colossal clay model standing there . . . That must have been the way the Gascon
bowmen of the French troops saw it when they entered Milan . . . on 10 September
1499.
The French archers used the clay model for target practice, chipping away
pieces of the form; the model's destruction was completed by weather, and
the molds were lost forever. It is said that Leonardo died regretting, more
than anything else, his failure to complete the horse. As a final irony, many
of Leonardo's key drawings for the project were misplaced in the folds of
time.
That might have been the sad ending to a great story. But in 1965, the "lost
notebooks" of Leonardo were rediscovered in Madrid's Biblioteca Nacional.
Life Magazine wrote about the drawings in March 1967 as did National Geographic
in September, 1977.
Also in 1977, Charles C. Dent retired from United Airlines after 36 years
as a pilot, and bought a farmhouse and barn near Fogelsville, Pennsylvania.
Sitting in his living room one afternoon in 1978, Dent read the National Geographic
article. A lifelong student of the Renaissance and Leonardo, and a lifelong
collector of Renaissance and Medieval art, Dent was uniquely qualified to
resurrect a 500 year old idea and guide it to completion. He was entranced
by the legend of Leonardo and his horse, and decided that Leonardo's dream
would be fulfilled: Italy should have a horse as a gesture of appreciation
from the American people for all that Leonardo and the Renaissance have meant
to our culture, and as an expression of international goodwill and peace.
"The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the United States from France. Il
Cavallo will be our gift to Italy," said Dent.
So began the story of Leonardo da Vinci's Horse, Inc. (LDVHI) and Dent's 16-year
odyssey to research, design and build the world's largest bronze horse.
Dent sought the advice of leading Leonardo scholars and art historians, such
as Dr. Carlo Pedretti and Sir John Pope-Hennessey, and made an early visit
to then-mayor of Milan, the Honorable Carlo Tognoli, who was so excited about
The Horse that he presented Dent with a small bronze city medallion just for
having thought of the idea.
Several years passed as Dent and his associates made clay and wax maquettes
for study using Leonardo's drawings as a guide. On his property in Fogelsville,
Pennsylvania, Dent constructed a Dome building 50 feet high and 50 feet in
diameter as a headquarters for LDVHI, which was established as a non-profit
organization. By 1993, a preliminary 8-foot clay model was completed. Also
in the early 1990's, serious fundraising began, as the American people began
to contribute to Dent's historic idea.
Over and over, Dent emphasized that the modern horse is not "Leonardo's
horse." There was only one Leonardo and it is inconceivable to think
of replicating his horse exactly. Instead, the goal has been to interpret
his drawings as accurately as possible so that the 20th century horse would
honor Leonardo's genius. Dent often said, "It is the gesture of the gift
itself that is most important." Dent solved many of the challenging problems
associated with creating the monumental horse, but finally faced one problem
that was insurmountable: ALS, known in Europe as motor neuron disease. He
chose to forego a lengthy hospital stay, opting instead for quality of life.
He died peacefully in his sleep, before sunrise on Christmas Day, 1994. Following
his wishes, he was cremated and returned to earth and air.
Before his death, Dent's friends had promised to complete The Horse, a promise
they have kept. Since only a preliminary model of The Horse existed, LDVHI
hired accomplished sculptor Nina Akamu, who had studied in Italy for eleven
years, to create a new final model and bring the dream to reality. Through
a program of research and study, Akamu used Leonardo's drawings, especially
RL-12344r, and a knowledge of the Iberian, Andalusian and Lipizzaner horses
of the Renaissance to sculpt a final eight-foot clay model, completed in 1997.
This model was enlarged, and the full 24-foot clay model constructed at Tallix
Art Foundry in Beacon, New York. Molds were pulled from the 24-foot model,
and bronze casting began at the end of 1998.
Almost twelve tons of bronze were required for the sixty sections of the sculpture
which were welded together into seven subsections for disassembly and transport
to Milan. The Horse arrived at Malpensa on 19 July 1999 and was reassembled
that month on the site of a new cultural park to be established by SNAI, the
parent company of the San Siro Hippodrome, who also provided the Carrara marble
pedestal. The Horse was unveiled to over 1,000 people and the world press
in a ceremony on 10 September hosted by the Commune of Milan and attended
by Mayor Albertini, city officials, representatives of SNAI, the LDVHI board
of Trustees, and over 750 American donors.
Leonardo led one of history's most significant lives. He embodied the idea
of "the Renaissance man," and represented perhaps the greatest combination
of curiosity, imagination, and creativity the world has ever seen or will
ever see.
Charles Dent was a marvelous Uncle to his nieces and nephews, a close and
caring friend, but above all a dreamer. His love of art and his gift for thinking
on a large and creative scale gave the world something it thought it would
never again see: a horse as big as a house.
It is tragically ironic that neither Leonardo nor Charles Dent lived to see
a great horse built, but it is certain that, unlike Leonardo, Dent passed
away knowing his dream would be realized. It is also certain that not one
but two spirits hover over the colossal bronze horse in Milan.
