Leonardo da Vinci planned to represent a horse with his giant mechanical sculpture.
Known as Leonardo’s horse, the project was commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, duke of Milan, in the late fifteenth century. Leonardo intended to cast a monumental bronze horse, reportedly about 24 feet high, in honor of Sforza’s father, Francesco Sforza.
Leonardo spent years studying horses and preparing the design. He completed a large clay model, which was displayed in Milan in 1493. The bronze casting never took place because the metal reserved for the project was redirected to weapons during wartime.
The clay model was later destroyed when French troops used it for target practice after invading Milan. The modern “Leonardo’s Horse” in Milan is not the original. It was created centuries later from Leonardo’s surviving drawings and notes, with a full-size version unveiled in 1999.