This exhibition provides a rare glimpse into the mind of the greatest draftsman of all time, whose designs still fascinate and challenge us today. Often called “the universal genius,” Leonardo is recognized for his restless, inventive mind, and the drawings in Turin illustrate in microcosm the extensive range of his interests.

The works encompass one of Leonardo’s most celebrated notebooks, the Codex on the Flight of Birds, and 11 important drawings that have never before traveled as a group nor in their entirety been made available outside of Italy.

The drawings are acute observations, fantastical explorations, anatomical studies, and utilitarian working drawings; one sheet includes a fragment of a poem. They are executed in a variety of media, including red chalk, black chalk, metalpoint, and pen and ink—some on red, blue, and green prepared paper. Dating from about 1480 to 1510, the works traverse the most fertile period of Leonardo’s career.

Among the most celebrated of the Turin sheets is this preparatory drawing for the angel in the "Madonna of the Rocks," an altarpiece commissioned in 1483 by the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception for its chapel in San Francesco Grande, Milan. The drawing is for the first version of the painting, finished sometime between 1486-89, now in the collection of the Louvre, Paris. The painting was never delivered to the Confraternity, probably due to a contractual dispute. A second version was begun in the 1490s, and although unfinished, was delivered to the chapel in 1508. It remained there until the 18th century, and was later purchased by the National Gallery, London.

Both painted versions are acclaimed examples of Leonardo’s use of the sfumato technique, the blending and softening of the edges of contours to provide gradual shifting of planes. In his projected treatise on painting, Leonardo wrote eloquently and at length about light and dark, highlights and shadows: “Shadows and lights are the most certain means by which the shape of any body comes to be known.”

The drawing reveals Leonardo’s extraordinary ability to blend contours using a fine, delicate, and close hatching in an unforgiving medium. Metalpoint, which produces a thin and almost unvarying line, requires a precision in handling exceedingly prized in the 15th century. Because metalpoint will not leave a mark on unprepared paper, the sheet was covered with a mixture of white lead and ground bone, sometimes tinted with a pigment to add color. Lines could not be erased without resurfacing the paper. By the 16th century, artists increasingly turned to chalks in their search for a broadness of handling and greater spontaneity.

The physical likeness of the young woman drawn from life has not been directly translated; the angel in the Louvre painting is more otherworldly than the drawing, lacking the specificity of a portrait. From early in the literature, this drawing has received repeated encomiums. Described as “technically miraculous,” “deceptively simple,” “marvel amongst marvels,” and “the most beautiful drawing in the world,” this masterpiece encourages the viewer to look again and again.

The knot design on the verso may have been done at a later date. Leonardo’s fascination with knots can be traced in numerous drawings and several paintings. The complex, interlaced swirls can also be related to his drawings of plaits of hair, an interest he shared with his master, Andrea del Verrocchio.

During the late 1480s and early 1490s, Leonardo was engaged in measuring every component of the human form. He then compared the individual parts of the body to the whole, in keeping with his belief in man as the microcosm of the world. These proportional and anatomical studies were for a planned treatise on the human body.

On his sheet for the "Vitruvian Man," Leonardo famously compared his systematic measurements of the parts of the body to those recorded by the ancient Roman architect, Vitruvius. The Turin sheet is probably one of Leonardo’s earliest proportional studies of the face. He drew the head first, and the hesitant nature of the lines placed in a grid over the front indicates he had not developed a fixed canon of proportions.

Although these proportional studies are not about the function of the eye, they are just one step from the numerous studies Leonardo carried out on optics. The visual experience was fundamental to Leonardo’s experiments and he wrote frequently about vision and the eye. In remarking on the beauty and fascination of the world around him, Leonardo wrote the eye “reconciles the soul to stay in its bodily prison.”

On the sheet, reference letters on the face and eye are accompanied by explanatory notes.

Translation of Leonardo’s notes (beginning with the right sheet):

a n o f are equal to the mouth.

a c and a f are equal to the space between one eye and the other.

n m o p q r are equal to half the width of the eye lids, that is from the inner [lachrymatory] corner of the eye to its outer corner ; and in like manner the division between the chin and the mouth ; and in the same way the narrowest part of the nose between the eyes. And these spaces, each in itself, is the 19th part of the head.

n o is equal to the length of the eye or of the space between the eyes.

m c is 1/3 of n m measuring from the outer corner of the eyelids to the letter c.

b s will be equal to the width of the nostril.

The distance between the centers of the pupils of the eyes is one-third of the face.

The space between the outer corners of the eyes, that is where the eye ends in the eye socket that contains it, thus the outer corners, is half the face.

The greatest width of the face at the line of the eyes is equal to the distance from the roots of the hair in front to the parting of the lips.

Translation according to: The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, compiled and edited from the original manuscripts by Jean Paul Richter, vol. I (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1970), pp. 173-4, nos. 319-320.

On the verso of the sheet are studies for various devices, including one for the construction of screws.

This bearded head seen from the front, in three-quarters, and in profile reveals Leonardo’s interest in the multiple viewpoint and has been likened to preparatory studies for a sculpture. The sketches were probably placed on the page from right to left with the more detailed study drawn first. The left head is the most summary in execution, and feels closest to the idea of a sculpted portrait bust.

The sitter is often identified as Cesare Borgia. Leonardo worked for Borgia as a military engineer in 1502-03, which accounts for the date often proposed for the drawing. The face, however, does not bear a strong resemblance to the notorious Borgia, and stylistically the drawing can be dated anytime from the last years of the 15th century through the first decade of the 16th. Leonardo’s focus on the rhythmic undulation of the strands of the beard recall his botanical studies for the Leda, dated ca. 1505-10.

The purpose of this type of drawing is difficult to determine. Leonardo drew a number of “Roman emperor” type profiles throughout his life, starting as early as 1475/80. They were influenced by classical prototypes, and although some examples depict younger subjects, Leonardo returned to the right profile of an older male again and again. The present drawing effectively indicates the aging strength of the figure, including the still-powerful neck muscles, but also the sagging folds of skin and deeply etched lines around the eyes, nose, and mouth. This subject is often referred to as a “nutcracker” profile because of the hint of a broken nose. Leonardo followed general Renaissance belief that the countenance of man reflects his inner character.

This figure wears a crown of leaves, probably laurel, which ties with a ribbon at the base of the neck. The strokes of red chalk have blended the leaves so that they are almost hidden within the tousled curls of hair.

The strengthened outline of the profile in pen and ink, parallel hatching in the background, and the number “98” and “L. da Vinci” written below right was probably done by a later hand.

Once again Leonardo studies his subject from different angles. On the right side of the sheet he has drawn the outer right and left legs of a man, almost in mirror image, and in the center just the outline of a right leg without indications of the interior musculature. On the left of the sheet (cropped along the left edge) is the lower torso of a man with the right leg drawn back and the left leg bearing the brunt of his weight. The human body, static and in motion is also found in the Turin sheet 15577.

On the verso is an allegorical sketch of a figure warming himself (herself?) by a fire with abbreviated indications of what have been interpreted as moths. The accompanying poem has been related to a text found in Leonardo’s Codex Atlanticus (Milan) on the moth attracted to the flame of a candle. In the 16th century the adage of moths and fire was used to explain man’s search for knowledge. The layering of veiled text with image was a popular and playful device in the Renaissance.

blind ignorance misleads us thus

and delights with the results of lascivious joy

because it does not know the true light

because it does not know what is the true light

ignorance

vain splendour takes from us the power of being

behold for its vain splendour we go into the fire

thus blind ignorance does mislead us

that is blind ignorance so misleads us

that

o wretched mortals open your eyes

Translation according to: The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, compiled and edited from the original manuscripts by Jean Paul Richter, vol. II (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1970), p. 295, no. 1182.

This sheet is associated with several of Leonardo’s projects, above all the famous "Battle of Anghiari." Probably Leonardo’s most celebrated commission, his unfinished mural painting for the Sala del Gran Consiglio, or assembly room, of the Palazzo Signoria was pitted in competition with Michelangelo’s battle scene on the opposite wall. Describing Leonardo’s cartoon for the painting on display in situ, Vasari wrote: “It is scarcely possible to do justice to the skill of this drawing.” The sheet in Turin is one of many in preparation for the cartoon.

The two larger figures seen from behind in contrapposto are generally described as a warrior for the Battle, but more recently have also been associated with Leonardo’s "Hercules" sculpture. It has been suggested that they were drawn from a jointed, ecorché three-dimensional model, which Leonardo would have manipulated to generate different poses without the use of a life model.

Brief musings of hastily scrawled figures and horses flit across the page below. The figures in action during battle are in contrast to the defined, static warrior figures above.

The larger horse and rider may be related to the Trivulzio equestrian monument, which Leonardo started working on upon his return to Milan. The quickly sketched lines underneath have been read as a plinth.

The figures to the upper left are understood variously as a Dionysos or Venus, or more likely, as a standing Leda. The Turin sheet reveals the variety of projects Leonardo would consider on a single page, and is a prime example of his “thinking on paper” so often remarked upon.

In Greek mythology, the first labor of Hercules was to slay the vicious lion that terrorized Nemea. Hercules, renowned for his strength and victories over 12 enemies, was depicted on the official seal of Florence at least by the 13th century. As a symbol of the city, Hercules represented the power of the Republic, and was rendered repeatedly in various media throughout the Renaissance.

Upon the triumphal completion of his David in 1504, Michelangelo began planning a companion sculpture in the form of a Hercules. The present drawing, dated to shortly thereafter, seems to confirm Leonardo had designs on the commission as well. Acutely aware of Michelangelo’s acclaimed accomplishment, Leonardo was already in direct competition with him by 1504 in the Sala del Gran Consiglio battle scenes in the Palazzo Signoria.

Despite his disdainful comments regarding the art of sculpture in comparison to painting, Leonardo engaged in sculpture projects at various stages throughout his life. Certainly his productive master, Verrocchio, was renowned for his multimedia abilities, and Leonardo undoubtedly appreciated the roles of both painting and sculpture.

Hercules is drawn from the rear, holding his club with his right hand, and resting it in the crook of his left arm. Lighter lines show different positions of both arms were first considered. Far from ferocious, the lion rests calmly at his feet and looks out over his left shoulder. The tense, angled stance animates the figure of Hercules, as does his developed musculature. The black chalk (or charcoal) was traced with a stylus in order to transfer the blackened verso onto another (lost) sheet. Other stylus lines show Leonardo’s concerns with the weight and balance of the figure.

Numerous drawings of horses by Leonardo have survived. According to early biographers, including Giorgio Vasari and Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo, Leonardo planned a treatise on the anatomy of the horse; his research included a book on veterinary medicine for horses, which he owned. Horses were important during the Renaissance, for warfare, diplomatic gifts, and the pageantry of courtly life. It has been suggested that Leonardo’s most intense investigations from life took place in the stables of his patron, Ludovico Sforza, in Milan. Leonardo’s drawings of the measurements, proportion, and general anatomy of horses are reminiscent of those of the human body, and indeed his investigations of the two subjects were concurrent.

He studied horses for projects throughout his career, however, including the Uffizi "Adoration of the Magi" (begun 1481), the monument to Francesco Sforza in Milan (begun ca. 1483, worked on probably through 1490s); the "Battle of Anghiari" for the Palazzo Signoria in Florence (begun 1503-worked on through 1505), and the monument to Giovanni Giacomo Trivulzio in Milan (ca. 1508-12). Only the unfinished Uffizi painting is extant.

Leonardo often regenerated various equine elements for these projects, so it is difficult to definitively relate the Turin drawings to specific projects. It is likely, however, that no. 15580 was a study from life for the Sforza monument, as it relates to similar sheets that were probably from the same notebook. All three drawings reveal a refined observation and understanding of the horse unknown prior to Leonardo, except perhaps in drawings by his master, Andrea del Verrocchio.

These studies of a long-horn beetle (from the family Cerambycidae), above and a dragonfly (a species of the genus Libellula) below have been little studied. While it has been suggested that they date as much as twenty years apart (the beetle is the earlier of the two), they were apparently cut from the same sheet and remounted. The beetle is correctly depicted with six legs, although an additional pair that were drawn in has been scraped out. In his desire to emulate flight, Leonardo studied many types of flying creatures, including birds, bats, butterflies, and here, the dragonfly.

This sheet has the most celebrated provenance of the Turin drawings. Collector’s stamps indicate it was once owned by Jonathan Richardson Senior (1665-1745) and Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792).

All images provided by the Collection of the Biblioteca Reale, Turin, and used with permission of the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali. Photographs by Fabrizio Fenucci/Y. Press srl