2-320-648 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Study for the casting of the Sforza Monument, c1493 (1954). In the 1480s Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to produce a great bronze equestrian statue of his father and predecessor, Francesco. Leonardo created a life-sized clay model of the statue, but it was never completed as in 1494 Ludovico used the 70 tons of bronze set aside for it to manufacture cannon to fight the invading French. Found in the collection of the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, Windsor. A print from Leonardo da Vinci by Ludwig H Heydenreich. (London, 1954).