A study of a horse rearing to the right, with the head thrown up and mouth open; above this, a study of the hind-quarters and part of the belly of a horse, in profile to the right, with the near leg bent. Melzi's number 111.

This drawing is probably a study for Leonardo’s unfinished painting of the Adoration of the Magi, now in the Uffizi, Florence. For the crowded composition Leonardo made many drawings of animals: oxen, asses, horses, and even a camel. The profile presentation of this horse, with its muscular neck and flowing mane, suggests the inspiration of a Roman relief, though no sculptural source available to Leonardo in Florence has been identified. Horses rearing and bucking are seen in the background of the Adoration of the Magi, both the painting and a perspectival drawing also in the Uffizi, and though none is in this profile pose, the agitated, febrile atmosphere of the drawing must connect it with the later of the two Adorations. See also RCIN 912308, 912324, 912325, 912362.

Text adapted from Leonardo da Vinci: A life in drawing, London, 2018