(Drivebycuriosity) - England`s Queen doesn`t have political power anymore but her majesty commands about a huge fortune anyway. She owns a huge art collection which includes lots of drawings by Leonardo da Vinci. The Renaissance genius was an artist, but also a scientist, architect, engineer, anatomist and much more. He was driven by curiosity and explored many aspects of our universe which led to a vast amount of texts, paintings, sketches & drawings.
Last week my wife & I went to "The Queen's Gallery" @ Buckingham Palace and saw the exhibition: Leonardo Da Vinci : A Life in Drawings": "Marking the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, the exhibition brings together more than 200 of the Renaissance master's greatest drawings in the Royal Collection, forming the largest exhibition of Leonardo's work in over 65 years" (rct.uk).
Leonardo's Laboratory
The curators explain: "Drawing served as Leonardo's laboratory, allowing him to work out his ideas on paper and search for the universal laws that he believed underpinned all of creation".
I was overwhelmed by the variety & sublimity of the displayed works. I can show here just a very small and a very subjective selection as usual. Above you can see the "Head of Leda", created 1505-08 (Black chalk, pen and ink) followed by "A Portrait of a Woman in Profile" from ca. 1485-90 (Metalpoint on cream prepared paper) & "Studies of Heads in Profile".
Leonardo stayed the last 2 years of his life in Paris employed by the young King France I as court artist. The curators suggest that he was providing designs for the king`s seamstresses.
Some of the employers, including Cesare Borgia, didn`t care about Leonardo`s art, for them he constructed war machines, stratetig maps and other things which were useful for them. Above "Mortars firing into a Fortress" & "A scene in an arsenal".
Stay tuned.
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