. Leonardo da Vinci, artist, thinker and man of science;. r-^V rt-v. ■ i^à^ STUDIES FOR THE EQUESTKIAN STATUE OF FIÎANCESCO SFOKZA.(Windsor Library, reproduced from Dr. Richters book.) archaic creations, suchas Niccolo dell Areasequestrian bas-relief atBologna. There is a point,however, at which—perhaps unconsciously tohimself—he comes under the influence of the antique. The headsof his horses, with their dilated nostrils, recall the classic type,rather than tiie calmer and more prosaic breed of Tuscany andLombardy. Leonardo hesitated long even over the general outline of the monu-ment. The dr
. Leonardo da Vinci, artist, thinker and man of science;. r-^V rt-v. ■ i^à^ STUDIES FOR THE EQUESTKIAN STATUE OF FIÎANCESCO SFOKZA.(Windsor Library, reproduced from Dr. Richters book.) archaic creations, suchas Niccolo dell Areasequestrian bas-relief atBologna. There is a point,however, at which—perhaps unconsciously tohimself—he comes under the influence of the antique. The headsof his horses, with their dilated nostrils, recall the classic type,rather than tiie calmer and more prosaic breed of Tuscany andLombardy. Leonardo hesitated long even over the general outline of the monu-ment. The drawings at Windsor ^ show how hard he found it to decide He makes a note in his memoranda of Messire Galeazzos great jennet and MessireGaleazzos Sicilian horse (Richter, vol. ii. p. 14). - Richter (vol. ii. p. Ixv., Lwi.) THE STATUE OF FRANCESCO SFORZA 149 between a circular and a square base. The first design shows someaffinity with the mausoleum of Hadrian (the fortress of S. Angelo atRome) and is surmounted^not very appropriately, it must be a. , BY DONATELLO, AT IAl acknowledged—by an equestrian statue. But immediately afterwards,on the same sheet of paper (which shows that these various sketchesmust belong to the earliest of his experiments),^ comes a sketch 1 One of the drawings at Windsor (no. 84) in which the horse rears above a fallenwarrior who tries to defend himself, was certainly among the first attempts. This isevident in the want of breadth of the horses body and in the insignificant treatmentof the base. The course of these fluctuating conceptions has been vividly brought before us by ISO LEONARDO DA VINCI in which he places on the entablature of the base, now ornamentedwith pillars and pediments—seated figures, captives, in bold andvigorous relief (an arrangement adopted later by Michelangelo, andthenceforth a very favourite one during the Renaissance). Abovethis rises the equestrian statue. I think I may say without disparagement to the
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