Study for an equestrian monument (recto)

Recto: a study of a nude figure on a horse, rearing in profile to the left. A prostrate foe lies beneath the horse's raised fore-feet. In the years around 1490 Leonardo made many studies of horses, in preparation for a projected equestrian monument to Francesco Sforza, the former Duke of Milan. In this early study for the monument the rearing horse is supported by a cowering soldier, a complicated pose which Leonardo later abandoned.