Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci stands among the defining figures of the Italian Renaissance, and his drawings reveal the same restless inquiry that shaped his painting, anatomy, and engineering. Silverpoint, pen and brown ink, black and red chalk, and charcoal carry studies of heads, compositional sketches, perspectival diagrams, and allegorical designs. This collection gathers nine sheets attributed to him, spanning the drawings themselves and later impressions up to 1786, alongside a book with woodcut illustrations.

9 works in the collection · All public domain (CC0)

Compositional Sketches for the Virgin Adoring the Christ Child, with and without the Infant St. John the Baptist; Diagram of a Perspectival Projection (recto); Slight Doodles (verso)

1480–85 · Silverpoint, partly reworked by the artist with pen and dark brown ink on pink prepared paper; lines ruled with metalpoint (recto); pen and brown ink (verso)

Head of a Man in Profile Facing to the Left

1490–94 · Pen and brown ink, over soft black chalk

Allegory on the Fidelity of the Lizard (recto); Design for a Stage Setting (verso)

1496 · Pen and brown ink (recto and verso)

The Head of the Virgin in Three-Quarter View Facing Right

1510–13 · Black chalk, charcoal, and red chalk, with some traces of white chalk (?); some remains of framing lines in pen and brown ink at upper right (not by Leonardo)

Traitté de la Peinture

1651 · Printed book

Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, from "Characaturas by Leonardo da Vinci, from Drawings by Wincelslaus Hollar, out of the Portland Museum"

1786 · Aquatint and etching

Divina proportione

June 1, 1509 · Book with woodcut illustrations

The Head of a Grotesque Man in Profile Facing Right

after 1500 · Pen and brown ink, on off-white paper (now darkened)

A Bear Walking

ca. 1482–85 · silverpoint on light buff prepared paper