A Horse's Rearward Glance—Otherworld

horses, but lined in a row and striding forward. The artist modeled whip-like force into the lines and planes of their muscular bodies, conveying dynamism from head to tail. Even more noteworthy is the stillness enveloping that dynamism. As to Lysippos’ motive for creating these horses, we have no way of knowing, but he must have felt driven not to let the beauty of his artwork rely upon external resemblance. Instead, it was rooted in sacred geometrical relations, whereby number and proportion were instantiated in bronze shapes, endowing them with a highly precious characteristic – a subtle rhythmic sense which embodies harmony between microcosm and macrocosm.

In 1482, Leonardo da Vinci received a commission from the Duke of Sforza and began work on an equine statue, which was historically called “Cavallo di Leonardo.” (Fig. 2-3) The work was unfinished: otherwise it would have been the largest bronze equine statue in the world. The Italian scholar Carlo Pedretti evokes this scene for us: “One can well imagine the skyline of such a peaceful landscape, bathed in the yellow light of a misty morning of a September day in the Lombard plain. . . . and see that skyline suddenly interrupted by the imposing silhouette of Leonardo’s colossal clay model, standing there with the foreboding of a Trojan horse.”

Pedretti’s emphasis on the silhouette indicates that the great Renaissance master Leonardo was the true inheritor of Andrea del Verrochio (1425-1488). The latter’s masterpiece, an equestrian statue of Bartolommeo Colleoni (Fig. 4), presents clear outlines from every angle. Leonardo made a close study of equine body structure and anatomy, of which he left many drawings. Even so, he remained convinced that empirical study should be founded upon the numerical basis of ideal structure. Number is an implicit principle of purely rational thought: it can chime with harmonies of the whole cosmos and regulate underlying imperatives, creating true miracles in the world. Such miracles are indelible, noble traces of going beyond determinate fate in the natural world.

Unlike the commissioned works of those two masters, Xiang Jing’s horse is wholly an outgrowth of her own inner motives. In the British film The French