Leonardo da Vinci Puzzle
Research of Budapest Horse and Related Bronzes at National Gallery of Art, Washington
MúzeumCafé 13.
The Rearing Horse and Mounted Warrior, a bronze statuette from the Museum of Fine Arts Budapest, is the focus of recent technical examinations by National Gallery of Art conservators and is also the centerpiece of a small exhibition, The Budapest Horse: A Leonardo da Vinci Puzzle. The initial results, involving comparison with similar studies of other bronzes, contribute new material for the discussion of the question considered in this exhibition: do the Budapest horse and rider simply record inspiration from Leonardo’s designs, or could they preserve the forms of a work from his hands? The exhibition is part of Extremely Hungary, a year-long festival in New York and Washington celebrating Hungarian art and culture throughout 2009. After its presentation in Washington, the Rearing Horse and Mounted Warrior will be on view in an exhibition entitled Leonardo da Vinci: Hand of the Genius, at the High Museum, Atlanta, October 6, 2009 through February 21, 2010, and in a smaller show, Leonardo da Vinci and the Art of Sculpture: Inspiration and Invention, at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, March 23 through June 20, 2010. The exhibition has been made possible by the generous support of Robert H. Smith. The similarities of the Budapest horse to Leonardo’s drawings led to the first attribution to him in 1916. New technical evidence gathered from both the Rearing Horse and its accompanying Mounted Rider suggests that the cast could date from as early as the 16th century, although possibly some years after Leonardo’s death in 1519. No scientific data were discovered that rule out an early casting date, but the origins of the clay or wax models from which the horse and its rider were cast remain a mystery. While there is no extant undisputed sculpture by Leonardo, evidence that he made sculpture is extensive. Giorgio Vasari, the Florentine painter and biographer of artists, reported in 1568 that Leonardo had modeled clay heads of laughing women and children; he also referred to a small wax horse by Leonardo, lost by Vasari’s time but “held to be perfect.” In at least one case Leonardo wrote himself a reminder to make a small wax version of one of his drawings. Leonardo made ambitious and well-known attempts to produce two bronze equestrian statues for the city of Milan, each initially designed with the horse rearing: the monuments to Duke Francesco Sforza (in progress, 1483–1493) and to the general Gian Giacomo Trivulzio (in progress, 1508–1512); however, neither of these challenging works was ever cast in bronze. Other Renaissance writers, including the Milanese artist Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo and Florentine sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, mention small sculptural models made by Leonardo or used to work out compositions for painting. Lomazzo referred to a horse modeled of plastica (clay or wax) by Leonardo that belonged to the sculptor Leone Leoni. Rearing and twisting horses occur often in Leonardo’s work as incarnations of spiraling energy, which the artist loved to make visible in depictions of curling hair and swirling water. Leonardo’s drawings, full of movements echoed in the distinctive pose of the Budapest horse, are the main evidence cited to attribute the bronze to him. Researched by Shelley Sturman, head of object conservation; Katherine May, associate object conservator; Alison Luchs, curator of early European sculpture.