Untacked

78 ja n ua r y/ f e b r ua r y 2 015 U n tac k e d atrium of the tallix Art foundry. Appropriate. Ana- tomically correct. strong musculature. A bold eye. A renaissance romantic grandeur. powerful tension in the pose. sublime and also ferocious—the combina- tion that so frequently appears in Akamu's work. en Akamu and tallix faced a daunting puz- zle. perhaps da Vinci knew how he might cast it in one pouring of bronze—and he had noted a new method—but the foundry experts said it could not be done. e temperature of the molten metal has to be carefully maintained during the pouring process, and this amount of bronze would lose heat as it coursed through the giant horse. ere was no way it could be cast all at once. it would have to be done in pieces. in addition, Akamu said da Vinci had wanted it to be 80 tons, with six inches thick of bronze. "instead," she said, "our horse is half-inch thick bronze and 15 tons (including the armature)." e tallix crew cast about 60 pieces, most of them around 4' square, which were sand cast, while much smaller pieces of mane and tail were lost wax cast. in 1999, one whole horse was completed, and then it was duplicated. each twin was then taken apart in seven massive pieces, handled by giant cranes, lifts and hoists. packaged, the pieces of one were transported by plane to milan, where it was assembled to stand on a Carrera marble pedestal at the hippodrome de san siro and unveiled in september of 1999 as Il Cavallo. meanwhile the pieces of the second horse traveled by semi-truck to the meijer gardens & sculpture park in grand rapids, mich. today it stands there proudly within reach of the people, on the ground, as e American Horse. is this da Vinci's horse? it doesn't have a rider (the key component of the commission, if you'd ask the long-dead duke of milan), and even today many ital- ians don't look on the statue with fondness. while some love and appreciate the piece—which e Guard- ian referred to at the time as "the most spectacular cultural gift between the old and new worlds since france gave America the statue of liberty," some didn't want it at all, saying it had nothing to do with their beloved da Vinci. others saw it as an American imposition, and still others found it simply a gift that would be expensive to maintain. "it's estimated that the italian peninsula contains two-thirds of the world's art; the country has so much art to attend to on their priority list already," said Becherer. in reality, the horses belong to no one. ey're da Vinci's brainchild, dent's passion, Akamu's artistry, the tallix foundry's craftsmanship, and the meijer family's generosity. "dreams may appear to die," fred meijer announced proudly at the grand rapids dedication in 1999, " but they are merely being transformed." tHE HorsE in art PerhaPs da vinci knew how he mighT casT iT in one Pouring oF Bronze— and he had noTed a new meThod—BuT The Foundry exPerTs said iT could noT Be done. While Leonardo da Vinci conceived of this sculpture being built with a single pouring of bronze, experts at the Tallix Foundry in New York recommended a piecemeal approach. PHoTo CourTeSy of MeIjer GarDenS

• Cover