A sheet of studies for an equestrian monument: the sketch at lower left shows the monument as a three-arched structure, the central arch surmounted by an attic storey, but in the larger studies the sarcophagus sits within a relatively simple framework, either arched or square; captives are visible in the most heavily worked sketch, tethered to free-standing columns, with a detail at bottom left. In two studies the rearing horse is supported by a fallen foe, as in some of the earlier studies for the Sforza monument (RCIN 912358), and the study for the horse and rider alone shows Trivulzio apparently in contemporary armour. Melzi's number 17.

The mercenary commander Gian Giacomo Trivulzio (1440/41-1518) led the French forces in the invasion of Milan in 1499. Some ten years before his death, he seems to have commissioned Leonardo to design an equestrian monument that would serve as his tomb. Leonardo made a number of variant sketches (see also RCIN 912347, 912353, 912356) and prepared a detailed costing for a life-size bronze horse and rider on a marble base containing a sarcophagus. There is no evidence that Leonardo began any physical work on the project.

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