by Marie Curie 
Da Vinci Notes 18: The Horse: Casting the Sforza Monument
Twelve braccia of clay to the nape, two hundred thousand libbre of bronze to come, and a pit that met the water. I resolved to cast it lying down, and the metal went to war.
Leonardo's colossal horse for Francesco Sforza: the 1493 clay model, the square-cube law, the casting plan in Madrid II, the bronze sent for cannon, the French.
Leonardo da Vinci
November 8, 2026
28 min