Labels:text | letter | paper | ink | handwriting | document OCR: Design for a Casting Hood for a Horse's Head ca. 1491-93, red chalk Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional (Codex Madrid II, 157r) When Ludovico Sforza commissioned an equestrian statue from Leonardo, the artist determined to surpass all previous models in veracity and scale. He made exhaustive studies, visiting stables in search of the finest models. Designed to be three times lifesize and to weigh more than 60 tons, the statue would be cast in multiple furnaces by a technique newly devised by the artist. A full-size clay model, displayed in 1493, elicited wide admiration, and verse was composed in its honor. But the statue was never cast: with the impending French invasion of Italy in 1494, Ludovico recalled the bronze reserved for the monument to be made into cannon.
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