|
|
     
 Racegoers are a busy group, bustling in through the
turnstiles, eager to get their first bet on. I
was one of those on a stifling hot day at the majestic San Siro
Racetrack in Milan, Italy on
Sunday June 16 2002.
With an interesting field of 2-year-olds due to
line up in the opening event, I was keen to take my place at the mounting
yard fence - but as it turned out, the races had to wait, for adjacent to
the entrance of San Siro was the most spectacular tribute to the equine
that I have ever witnessed.
Already awestruck that week by Stubbs’ famous “Mares and Foals” in the
Tate Gallery in London, I could not believe what stood before me a
magnificent 24ft, 15 tonne clay and bronze statue of a horse. And what a
horse!
The horse's story
Standing on a white marble pedestal on a large granite base, “Il Cavallo”
as he is known by the Italians, is an inspiring sight. His head strong,
his eyes commanding, his neck a flowing curve down to a long, thick back
and girth, his tail raised, his near fore and his off hind legs struck
out as though midway through a determined stride. One could only stare
and marvel Phar Lap’s statue at Flemington is nice but this is well,
amazing! Where did he come from?
His story, as it turns out, is a long and fascinating one one that has
its roots deep in renaissance history. Way back in 1482 the then
30-year-old Leonardo da Vinci was preparing for a move to Milan, and
writing to the Duke of the city Ludovico Sforza - he offered to build
a statue for “the immortal glory and eternal honor of the pleasant
memory of the Lord, thy father and of the glorious House of the Sforza.”
And that statue would take the form of a horse, a horse like no other
the tallest in the world. As it turned out Leonardo was kept rather busy
during his many years in Milan, as tourists who make the worthwhile trip
to see The Last Supper can confirm. He worked on various projects from
portraits of Milan’s upper crust to the direction of gala parties and
the composition of riddles and rhymes for the court’s amusement.
But he was passionate about his horse and eventually a 24 foot clay
model was built in a field not too far out of the city. He must have
looked quite incredible standing out there. As the Da Vinci scholar
Carlo Pedretti says - “One can well imagine the skyline of such a
peaceful landscape, bathed in the yellow light of a misty morning of a
September day on the Lombard plain
and see that skyline suddenly
interrupted by the imposing silhouette of Leonardo’s colossal clay
model, standing there with the foreboding of a Trojan horse.”
The death and
resurrection of a sculpture
Unfortunately it was not just Da Vinci and his
helpers who were amongst the lucky few to take in this sight French
troops coming across it on their way to invade Milan found it as they
invaded the land. Using it for shooting practice they reduced it almost
to rubble and nothing exists of it today. Although despondent, Da Vinci
was determined to one day see his horse stand proudly, but he was not to
see his vision materialise. And so through history, his uncompleted
project was known as “the horse who never was.”
In the mid 1970’s, Da Vinci’s sketches and designs, up to that time missing,
resurfaced and the story of his lost dream made it into a 1977 edition of National Geographic. Reading this in his lounge room in Fogelsville,
Pennsylvania, retired airline pilot Charles Dent was deeply moved. A
student and collector of fine renaissance art, he felt an affinity for Da Vinci’s horse and decided that the project should, after 500 years,
come to fruition.
After extensive travel, research and discussion with art experts around
the world Dent, in 1982 established Leonardo Da Vinci’s Horse Inc, a
non-profit organization with the aim of finally building what is now
known simply as “Leonardo’s Horse.” Meeting most of the expenses
himself, selling many valuable pieces from his own private art
collection, Dent went about building a 50 foot high domed studio on his
rural property.
Home to the emerging horse, that dome saw a myriad of artists and
sculptors (including Nina Akamu, who put the finishing touches on the
project) devote their time, with donations pouring in and the media
becoming interested. All was going well until tragedy struck in 1994,
Charles Dent diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease and subsequently
passing away on Christmas Day. A few days before, however, his friends
had gathered around his bed, vowing that his beloved project would go
ahead.
And so it did and a few years later a horse packed in seven cases on a
cargo flight made its way to Milan as a gift from the people of America
to the people of Italy. September 10, 1999 saw the long awaited
unveiling, and how apt that the park at a racetrack was chosen as home
for the world’s biggest bronze horse. What a privilege for me to have
seen him a trip to Milan worthwhile in so many ways, but even if only
to stand at the feet of Leonardo’s Horse.
Book Milan Hotels
here
|