The sculptures of Leonardo da Vinci
Monumental projects, lost works and attributions: what is certain, probable, discussed or modern.
The paradox is striking: Leonardo was trained in one of the largest sculpture workshops in Florence and devoted years to two equestrian monuments, but no preserved sculpture is unanimously recognized as being by his hand.
Was Leonardo really a sculptor?
Yes, but his sculpted work is known to us above all through drawings, contracts, technical notes and testimonies. Leonardo learned the trade in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, where earth and wax were modeled, marble cut and bronze cast iron prepared. In the letter addressed to Ludovic Sforza, he claims to know how to make sculptures in marble, bronze and terracotta.
The Royal Collection Trust, however, formulates the essential conclusion: no sculpture can be attributed with certainty to Leonardo. The colossal Sforza monument reached the stage of a life-size clay model before being destroyed. The Trivulzio monument remained at the stage of studies and calculations. The small sculptures sometimes offered as autographs - the bronze of Budapest or the Virgin and Child laughing of the V&A - remain discussed.
We must therefore avoid two opposing errors: denying that Leonardo sculpted because no certain original remains, or transforming each "Leonardesque" object into a rediscovered masterpiece. Its importance lies as much in its thought of volume, movement and cast iron as in a catalog of preserved objects.
How to file the file?
Not all sculptures associated with Leonardo have the same status. Separating them avoids giving the public a false list of originals.
Documented, lost
The Sforza horse: orders, designs and model of attested clay, but no original cast iron.
Projected
The Trivulzio tomb: drawings and cost estimate, without proof of a material beginning.
Collaboration
Rustici's bronzes: work by Rustici, marked by the advice and influence of Leonardo.
Assigned
Budapest and the V&A: ancient objects, close to its language, but author not demonstrated.
Reconstructed
The Horse of 1999: modern homage based on the drawings, without pretension to be the original.
Learn to think in three dimensions
At Verrocchio, painting and sculpture are not waterproof disciplines. Apprentices model clay or wax figures to study a gesture, prepare a drape or rotate a composition under the light. They also learn how to make molds, assemble parts and the constraints of bronze.
Verrocchio's Colleoni monument, melted after Leonardo's departure for Milan, shows the challenge the young artist could face: holding an enormous mass on the four legs of a moving horse, giving a political presence to the rider and anticipating the deformations of the cast iron.
This sculptural culture then runs through his paintings. Twists, opposing profiles and pyramidal groups are often conceived as volumes that the eye could bypass. Modeling is not a secondary activity: it becomes a compositional tool.
The Sforza Monument: The Lost Colossus
Commissioned to honor Francesco Sforza, father of Duke Ludovic, the project became Leonardo's most ambitious sculptural enterprise. Its story is that of a masterpiece announced, technically prepared, then sacrificed to war.
Leonardo studies the proportions, neckline, limbs and step tension in Milanese stables. The tiny silhouette at the bottom of the sheet fixes the general attitude envisaged.
The posture is spectacular but almost impossible to support and sink on this scale. Around 1490, Leonardo chose a walking horse, more stable and more credible.
First studies
Leonardo explores a prancing monument, with support and a defeated figure under the horse.
New start
The project becomes a horse moving at a walking pace, designed for a more realistic monumental cast iron.
Clay model
A life-size model is presented in Milan. The cast iron must be the largest since Antiquity.
Bronze becomes canon
The metal reserved for the monument is diverted for armament in the face of the French threat.
Destruction
After the capture of Milan, French archers used the clay model as a target.
How to sink a horse almost seven meters?
The challenge is not just artistic. Hollow cast iron requires a model, an inner core, a regular thickness of wax or metal, a network of conduits and furnaces capable of feeding the mold before the bronze freezes. At this size, an interruption can doom the entire operation.
Leonardo designed the horse, but also the infrastructure that would give rise to it. His casting studies propose vertical arrangements, casting channels and methods for controlling several masses of metal. The sculpture becomes a temporary machine of which the final work would be the result.
As the monument was never melted down, we don't know if the process would have worked. The clay model, however, proves that the company had gone beyond the simple graphic dream. What is missing is not an idea, but the final transformation of the earth into bronze.
Trivulzio: a tomb left on paper
Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, Marshal of France and conqueror of Milan, envisions a funerary monument in which his equestrian statue was to dominate a marble sarcophagus. Leonardo studies several devices: advancing or rearing horse, rider, prisoners, niches, columns and allegorical figures.
Unlike the Sforza horse, there is no source to prove that a life-size model was started. The sheet, however, retains a detailed estimate of the materials and work: bronze for the horse and rider, stone blocks for the base, remuneration of practitioners. The calculation testifies to a real order, without guaranteeing its execution.
This late project shows that the Milanese failure did not distract Leonardo from monumental sculpture. He now thinks of the horse within a complete funerary program. But the multiplication of variants and the cost of the whole probably contribute to its abandonment.
Rustici: the most tangible echo
The three bronzes designed by Giovan Francesco Rustici for the Baptistery of Florence form the best material testimony to Leonardo's sculptural environment. Vasari reports that he helped Rustici, and the notices in the Louvre and Opera del Duomo highlight his role in the design.
The central Saint John, reaching out towards his interlocutors, and the two listeners with distinct reactions recall the art of Leonardo: gestures which transmit thought, contrasts of characters and group readable from several angles. However, the relationship does not authorize the renaming of the whole "leonard sculpture".
The contractual and artistic author remains Rustici. Leonardo may have advised, modeled certain essays or discussed the composition, but no precise part is isolatable. The work shows an active influence, not a hidden signature.
The attributions to be examined without forced certainty
An attribution is a hypothesis argued based on style, technique, provenance and material analyses. It can evolve; it does not automatically transform an object into an original.
Budapest, London, Berlin: three different lessons
The little bronze of Budapest
Technical analyzes carried out around the Washington exhibition in 2009 and neutron research in 2017 support an old cast iron, probably from the beginning of the 16th century. This eliminates the idea of a purely modern copy, but does not prove Leonardo's hand. Bronze could come from a model of his circle or translate a graphic invention of the master.
La Virgin and Child laughing
Entering the V&A in 1858, this terracotta has long been compared to Antonio Rossellino. In 2019, Francesco Caglioti presented it as an early work of Leonardo, comparing it to the drapes studies and figures of Verrocchio. The hypothesis is serious, but the museum retains a cautious formulation.
The Berlin Flora
Purchased in 1909 as a Leonardo, the wax bust became the center of a scandal when the family of British sculptor Richard Cockle Lucas claimed it was made in the 19th century. The Bode-Museum today presents it "in the style of Leonardo", dated to the 16th or 19th century. This is a textbook case of the danger of the desire for attribution.
What is really left?
The following table separates the preserved object from the idea that can reasonably be associated with it.
| Folder | What is preserved | Cautious status | What not to say |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sforza Monument | Drawings, cast iron notes and testimonies on the clay model. | Certain project of Leonardo; lost model and monument. | Whether the original bronze exists or the 1999 horse is an exact copy. |
| Trivulzio Monument | Drawings, variants and cost estimate. | Certain project, without demonstrated material beginning. | That a completed monument has been destroyed. |
| Rustici bronzes | Original group of 1506 -1511 in Florence. | Work by Rustici with help or influence from Leonardo. | That it's a bronze signed by Leonardo. |
| Budapest horse | Small old bronze, 24.4 cm. | Attributed to Leonardo; very plausible Leonardesque derivation. | That metal analysis identified the author. |
| Virgin and Child laughing | Florentine terracotta with V&A. | Attribution proposed to young Leonard, still debated. | That a museum consensus has definitively decided. |
| Flora | Wax bust at the Bode-Museum. | In Leonardo's style; 16th or 19th century according to the instructions. | That this is the master's only certain sculpture. |
Nina Akamu's horse in Milan
From the 1970s, pilot and patron Charles Dent imagined creating the horse that Leonardo could never melt. After her death, sculptor Nina Akamu took over the project. She has neither a complete final plan nor the 1493 model: she synthesizes several drawings, studies equine anatomy and constructs her own plastic solution.
The bronze inaugurated in 1999 measures approximately 7.30 meters. A copy is installed at the San Siro racecourse in Milan. Its silhouette gives a public presence to the lost project, but its date and author must always be indicated.
This distinction does not diminish contemporary work. On the contrary, it allows us to understand its true interest: materializing the scale and tension of the Sforza project, while showing that a reconstruction is also an act of interpretation.
Six places to follow the investigation
There is no such thing as a "museum of Leonardo’s original sculptures". The route must link drawings, attributions, collaboration and reconstruction.
Nina Akamu's monumental horse, installed outdoors. To be seen as a contemporary tribute to the Sforza project.
Official information →The little one Horse and rider in bronze, attributed to Leonardo and studied by non-destructive methods.
See the museum file →La Virgin and Child laughing, terracotta at the heart of a proposed attribution to young Leonardo.
Read the V&A instructions →Rustici's three bronzes, formerly at the baptistery: a crucial work for measuring Leonardo's influence.
Official notice →La Flora wax and its controversial attribution, presented as a work "in the style of Leonardo".
See the search folder →The leaves of Sforza and Trivulzio constitute the most direct evidence of Leonardo's sculptural thought.
View drawings →Replace the sculpture in the entire work
Notebooks, anatomical drawings and paintings allow us to follow the same research: understanding a form before making it visible.
Check projects and assignments
Article images are hosted on Shopify. These links lead to institutional records that document works, dimensions, and attribution reserves.
Studies of melting, chronology of the clay model, diversion of bronze and destruction in 1499.
Read the instructions →Variants of the equestrian tomb, estimation of materials and lack of proof of execution.
Read the instructions →Item sheet, provenance, stylistic arguments and possible manufacturing scenarios.
Open folder →Presentation of terracotta and context of its history at the museum.
Read the museum article →Official notice of the bronze group created for the north door of the Baptistery of Florence.
Consult the instructions →Purchasing history, attribution scandal and complex material research results.
Read the folder →Leonardo's sculptures in six answers
Is there a certain sculpture of Leonardo da Vinci?
No. No preserved sculpture is today unanimously recognized as an autograph. Projects are certain and several objects are attributed or linked to its circle.
What happened to the original Sforza horse?
The life-size clay model was completed in 1493. Bronze intended for casting was used for cannons in 1494, then the model was destroyed by French soldiers in 1499.
Is the horse visible in Milan Leonardo's?
No. It is a monumental interpretation by Nina Akamu, inaugurated in 1999 and inspired by Leonardo's drawings. It makes the scale of the lost project perceptible.
Why is the Budapest horse attributed to Leonardo?
Its pose and design derive closely from Leonardo's equestrian research, and the analyzes support an ancient date. But they do not make it possible to determine who modeled or melted the object.
Is the Laughing Virgin and Child by Leonardo?
The attribution to the young Leonardo was defended in 2019 by Francesco Caglioti. It is based on the style, drapes and context of Verrocchio, but does not constitute a definitive consensus.
Did Leonardo participate in Rustici's bronzes?
Sources and stylistic analyzes make help or advice likely during design. The work, however, remains attributed to Giovan Francesco Rustici.
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