Studies of Scythed War Chariots
Two horse-drawn chariots with rotating scythe blades cutting down soldiers
The Biblioteca Reale catalogues this sheet as studies of scythed chariots (carri falcati, ca. 1485). In pen and ink it shows two horse-drawn war chariots armed with great curved blades that turn with the wheels, driven at speed through a mass of foot soldiers who are cut down and trampled beneath them. Lines of Leonardo's mirror-script run along the top and bottom of the sheet; this text is not transcribed in this edition, and further untranscribed writing is present.
On this page
Scythed chariot mowing through foot soldiers
The upper register shows a chariot armed with long curved scythe-blades, driven at a gallop across a battlefield. Soldiers scatter and fall around and beneath the blades, several shown sprawled on the ground.
Rotating scythe mechanism on the wheels
Great curved blades radiate from the wheel hubs and axle so that they whirl as the chariot rolls forward. The lower chariot is drawn more clearly to show how the cutting arms are mounted around the wheels.
Teams of horses at the gallop
Each chariot is drawn by horses shown in violent motion, straining forward with tossing manes. The teams are studied in vigorous foreshortening as they charge into the fray.
Fallen and fleeing soldiers
Nude and lightly clad figures are shown running, falling, and lying cut down beneath the chariots. They give the scene its sense of carnage and set the scale of the machines.