The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — CompleteLeonardo, da Vinci
Science
The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — Complete
Leonardo, da Vinci
Leonardo, da Vinci, 1452-1519 -- Notebooks, sketchbooks, etc.
On looking over the numerous studies in which the horse is not
galloping but merely walking forward, we find only one drawing for
the pedestal, and this, to accord with the altered character of the
statue, is quieter and simpler in style (Pl. LXXIV). It rises almost
vertically from the ground and is exactly as long as the pacing
horse. The whole base is here arranged either as an independent
baldaquin or else as a projecting canopy over a recess in which the
figure of the deceased Duke is seen lying on his sarcophagus; in the
latter case it was probably intended as a tomb inside a church.
Here, too, it was intended to fill the angles with trophies or
captive warriors. Probably only No. 724 in the text refers to the
work for the base of the monument.
If we compare the last mentioned sketch with the description of a
plan for an equestrian monument to Gian Giacomo Trivulzio (No. 725)
it seems by no means impossible that this drawing is a preparatory
study for the very monument concerning which the manuscript gives us
detailed information. We have no historical record regarding this
sketch nor do the archives in the Trivulzio Palace give us any
information. The simple monument to the great general in San Nazaro
Maggiore in Milan consists merely of a sarcophagus placed in recess
high on the wall of an octagonal chapel. The figure of the warrior
is lying on the sarcophagus, on which his name is inscribed; a piece
of sculpture which is certainly not Leonardo's work. Gian Giacomo
Trivulzio died at Chartres in 1518, only five months before
Leonardo, and it seems to me highly improbable that this should have
been the date of this sketch; under these circumstances it would
have been done under the auspices of Francis I, but the Italian
general was certainly not in favour with the French monarch at the
time. Gian Giacomo Trivulzio was a sworn foe to Ludovico il Moro,
whom he strove for years to overthrow. On the 6th September 1499 he
marched victorious into Milan at the head of a French army. In a
short time, however, he was forced to quit Milan again when Ludovico
il Moro bore down upon the city with a force of Swiss troops. On the
15th of April following, after defeating Lodovico at Novara,
Trivulzio once more entered Milan as a Conqueror, but his hopes of
becoming _Governatore_ of the place were soon wrecked by intrigue.
This victory and triumph, historians tell us, were signalised by
acts of vengeance against the dethroned Sforza, and it might have
been particularly flattering to him that the casting and
construction of the Sforza monument were suspended for the time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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