There can be no dispute that Leonardo Da Vinci is one of the world's most influential and inspiring artists. His work has been immortalized all over the world, including here in the Lehigh Valley.

Before his passing in 1994, Charles Dent began a project to recreate Leonardo's Horse from a couple of inches image into three-dimensional 12- and 24-foot sculptures.

Charles Dent died before he could see the project come to life, but his nephew Peter C. Dent made sure that it would happen. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Leonardo's Horse being unveiled at the Baum School of Art in Allentown.

The Baum School of Art and the Da Vinci Science Center co-host the 10th anniversary celebration of Allentown's Leonardo's Horse statue with a 5:30 p.m. Nov. 15 dinner that includes a lecture by Peter C. Dent.

Charles Dent had a dream to bring to life one of the last ideas Leonardo Da Vinci had for a sculpture: a bronze horse. This was no easy task: trying to replicate a work of art that was first begun in 1482.

A full-scale clay model had been made and was to be cast. However, the bronze required was instead used to make cannons for war with France. The clay model and molds were destroyed by French soldiers during the invasion of Milan in 1499.

Centuries later, in 1977, Charles Dent began his work to bring honor to the art world and complete the lost work. The project was estimated to cost more than $2 million.

Peter Dent had made a promise to his uncle to complete his dream, which was to place the horse sculpture in Italy.

Dent describes the completed project as "a reverse Statue of Liberty." Charles Dent, a retired commercial airline pilot, "felt compelled to do this, to honor Leonardo's contribution to the art world" after reading a National Geographic article, "The Horse That Never Was," in 1979, Peter Dent recounts.

A nonprofit organization, Leonardo da Vinci's Horse, Inc., which was founded by Charles Dent in 1982, continued to lay the groundwork for the project

Those who know Peter Dent know that making the Da Vinci horse a reality also became his life's passion. He is an expert on Leonardo Da Vinci and dedicated himself to this project and beyond, including the cofounding of the Da Vinci Science Center at Cedar Crest College, Hamilton and Cedar Crest boulevards, Allentown.

It wasn't easy trying to construct a sculpture from a few sketches that were only inches in size. With the help of researchers, craftsmen and with the support of grants and fundraisers, sculptor Nina Akamu was commissioned to re-draw the original renderings and make the horse more proportional.

The bronze castings were made at a foundry in Beacon, N.Y.

The 24-foot "Il Cavallo" was unveiled Sept. 10, 1999 in Milan, Italy. Da Vinci had worked on his plans for the horse sculpture for 17 years in Milan.

One month later, a similar sculpture was dedicated at the Frederik Meijer Sculpture Garden, Grand Rapids, Mich.

The 12-foot replica outside the Baum School of Art is made of bronze. This aspect of the project along cost about $1 million. The sculpture was unveiled Oct. 4, 2002.

Peter Dent says that the horse sculptures "tie 'flesh and bones' to Leonardo and to the Renaissance."