Leonardo DaVinci's History (Essay Sample)

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Leonardo DaVinci's Horse
Leonardo da Vinci was a significant figure in the late rebirth. He is considered one of the vital artists who ever lived and contributed to other fields of study like architecture and science. Da Vinci was a prominent artist and a quintessential renaissance man. He is acknowledged for making an exceptional contribution to the field of the artist and impacted artistic trends in his own time and the later rebirth. His passion as an artist inspired many artists who continued with his work even after his death. Da Vinci's legacy lives on in his significant creations like the Last Supper the Mona Lisa, which were his two most recognizable works of art in his existence. Da Vinci is also remembered for his unfinished work of the Horse. Da Vinci's Horse, also referred to as Gran Cavallo, was a modeling Duke of Milan Ludovico ordered to Leonardo da Vinci in 1482; however, it was never finished. It was supposed to be the massive equestrian sculpture globally, a statue of the duke's father, Francesco Sforza. Da Vinci did much work in its preparation; however, it only produced a clay model that was later damaged. The history of Leonardo da Vinci's Horse as part of his artistic work and other significant contributions to the field of art and his influence in the contemporary world are discussed herein.
The Leonardo's Horse History
In early 1482, the Duke of Milan Ludivico Sforza wanted a statue of a horse to offer to his father. The great artist Leonardo da Vinci believed he could create the sculpture. It was not only the size of the statue that challenged da Vinci but also the creation of The Last Supper and other various projects for his patrons. He started working on it while he was only 30 years old; however, he could not finish it before he died at 67. This was the most disappointing of Da Vinci's life. The monument was meant to be the biggest in the world. In preparation for creating the monument, Da Vinci gathered much bronze amounting to 8 meters in height, making it the most prominent monument ever than the ones created by Donatello and Verrocchio (Lombardero & María, 435). Da Vinci had a plan to create a great design than those of his processors.
One of Leonardo's early sketches of the Gran Cavallo statue.
Leonardo da Vinci studied various horses in readiness for the crafting and drafted a commentary on horse anatomy. He also wrote a second commentary named Of Weight, which entailed creating the monument, which was intended to be crafted in different hollow pieces and features iron braces for internal support (Pooler, 168). Towards 1493, Leonardo had already crafted a clay model of the Horse, which he presented at one of the Sforza's weddings, thus, making Da Vinci very famous. Leonardo declared his preparedness to start working on Horse in 1493. However, Ludovico offered the bronze created by Da Vinci to his father-in-law in late 1494 to make cannons to protect the city from being invaded by Charles VII. Michelangelo, Da Vinci's rival, motivated him on one occasion in Florence; however, he later discredited him for failing to perform the casting.
The French soldier used Da Vinci's clay version to target when they stormed Milan during the Second World War. The clay sculpture was damaged later by cycles of rains and frequent freezes (Pooler, 168). Da Vinci crafted another sculpture as a tomb for Gian Giacomo, where he created a unique pose and supported the victim. However, this was never modeled because of the Swiss, Venetian, and Spanish forces driving the French from Milan.
Impacts and Contemporary Interpretations
The first noble sculpture was created by Pietro Tacca, representing a resembling horse and King Philip IV of Spain. During the crafting of this monument, Galileo Galilei assisted in working out gravitational solutions like Da Vinci's to help handle its offset Weight (Bicchieri et al., 157). Also, Etienne Maurice Falconet's bronze horseman achieved the same feat; however, it did not reach the physical scale of Da Vinci's design. In mid-1997, Tallix Art Foundry, based in Beacon, New York, was contracted by LDVHI to cast a horse, and they brought Nina Akumu, an experienced animal modeler on board, to enhance upon the Dent-Herrick Horse. After investigating the crafting requirements, Nina Akumu suggested that the original monument could not be retrieved and a new model needed to be created. Nina decided to craft a new model known as The American Horse and was placed at the Fredrick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park (Bicchieri et al., 158). Nina could not salvage the original sculpture even though Da Vinci had made several small sketches of horses to explain his notes concerning steps for designing and creating the monument. Leonardo's notes were not systematic, and there were no sketches that showed the final position of the Horse. However, Nina found insightful information in Da Vinci's drawings and other projects he was working on. Nina analyzed Da Vinci's views on anatomy, painting, models, and natural phenomena. She expanded her studies to entail those trainers who impacted Leonardo. After thorough investigations, Nina came up with two full-size casts of 7.3 meters design.
The American Horse Statue at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Another bronze version of 2.5 meters was crafted and placed on Leonardo's birthplace, Vinci, Italy, as a special dedication to his significant work in the field of art. For instance, several philanthropists made this possible, including Peter Secchia and his wife, Joan. The Vinci horse encouraged cordial city relations between Vinci, Allentown, and Italy (Piñar et al., 2890). Besides, a 3.6 meters replica sculpture was placed in Charles Dent's hometown and another one at Baum School of Art as a dedication to Charles Dent in 2002. The Opera Laboratori Fiorentina, in association with Polo Museale Fiorentino, created another 7.3 meters model of the Sforza based on various design interpretations. The sculpture was crafted using a steel frame with unique resin-coated fiberglass, which made it resemble bronze. It was created using six pieces and was easy to transport and re-assembled. It has been displayed in several places during exhibitions on Da Vinci.
Leonardo Da Vinci's Influence on Art
Paintings had improved significantly during the early rebirth due to the most influential artists like Verrocchio and Botticelli. Leonardo da Vinci also joined the art to raise painting to the next level and make artistic work very compelling. Da Vinci's work was revolutionary since it was practical and demonstrative (Clarke, 125). He utilized anatomical studies to comprehend the human body and its a