This celebrated drawing was made by the Florentine painter, sculptor, engraver, and goldsmith Antonio Pollaiuolo. The sixteenth-century historian Giorgio Vasari, who may have owned the sheet and added the brown wash around the figures, seems to be describing this drawing in his 1568 biography of the artist. It represents a design for the bronze equestrian monument commissioned by Ludovico Sforza (1480-94, de facto ruler of Milan; 1494-99, Duke of Milan) in honor of his father, Francesco Sforza. This sheet may have served as a presentation drawing for Ludovico in the early 1480’s, when Leonardo da Vinci was also producing studies for the monument, perhaps in a competition for the commission. Leonardo continued to work on various designs until 1499, though the monument was never completed. The ambitious pose of the rearing horse, which is also found in Leonardo’s early studies, may have been inspired by the ancient Roman Dioscuri, Milanese coinage, or painted works by the two masters.
