Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci and His circle - Biblioteca Reale in Turin
The Biblioteca Reale in Turin houses a true treasure of (Italian) art history with its stock of high-quality drawings by Leonardo da Vinci: extensive motifs such as designs for military architecture, studies of paintings like the Virgin of the Rocks, and the famous graphic self-portrait underline the quality of the Turin Collection. As a part of the great national edition of the manuscripts and drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, this volume impressively conveys the graphic work by the universal genius Leonardo.
Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci and His Circle - Biblioteca Reale in Turin
The Turin collection was assembled by Alberto of Savoy, who acquired an impressive collection of Leonardoβs drawings ca. 1840. As a result, the bundle of drawings by the Italian Renaissance genius in Turin makes up an important part of the works of Leonardo that remain in Italy. Due to the age and fragile state of the originals β a delicate medium β the facsimile edition offers the unique opportunity for unmitigated exploration of these masterpieces.
A Universal Genius of the Italian Renaissance
Leonardo da Vinci (1452β1519) β a name that evokes countless associations! A gifted painter and perfect draftsman, a simultaneously inquisitive and brilliant inventor and scholar, he produced countless masterpieces β one need think only of the famous portrait the Mona Lisa or the iconic mural painting The Last Supper β and groundbreaking technical inventions. The basis of this extensive work is made up of drawings, sketches, records, and notes, recorded on individual sheets or in notebooks.
The Unbelievable Graphic work
The Florentine publisher Giunti Editore was entrusted in the year 1964 with the task of making this comprehensive treasure, distributed in collections around the world, available in a large facsimile edition. The impressive National Edition of the manuscripts and drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, also known as the Leonardo Codices: the first and only comprehensive reproduction of the Italian universal geniusβ manuscripts and drawings!
Studies, Drafts, and a Self-Portrait
Leonardoβs drawings from the worldβs great collections are presented in six volumes. The volume at hand assembles the drawings from the Biblioteca Reale in Turin. Numerous famous and unknown sheets from the masterβs hand are presented on 23 boards: the famous drawn self-portrait being a highpoint inter alia. Additionally, the bundle includes a study of the paintings of the Virgin of the Rocks in the Louvre. The so-called Codex Saluzzo 312 rounds out the Turin Leonardoβs graphics, a 19th century volume with Leonardoβs designs for military architecture.
Codicology
- Alternative Titles
- I disegni di Leonardo da Vinci e della sua cerchia - Biblioteca Reale di Torino
Zeichnungen von Leonardo da Vinci und seinem Umkreis - Biblioteca Reale in Turin - Type
- Manuscript on paper
- Origin
- Italy
- Date
- Last quarter of the 15th century β 16th century
- Epochs
- Style
- Genre
- Language
- Illustrations
- 23 drawings
- Artist / School
- Leonardo da Vinci (1452β1519) and his circle
- Previous Owners
- Carlo Alberto of Savoy (1798β1849)
Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci and His circle - Biblioteca Reale in Turin
Mortars
While normal cannons are useful for battering down walls, mortars fire projectiles with a high-arching trajectory that allows them to hit targets behind fortifications. In a letter to Ludovico Sforza, da Vinci assured the Duke of Milan that he had mortars that were βvery convenient and easy to transportβ. This diagram shows both a solid ball for destroying buildings and another resembling a cluster bomb that contains smaller exploding projectiles for use against defenders.

Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci and His circle - Biblioteca Reale in Turin
Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk
Although not universally accepted, most art historians and scholars believe that this famous image from ca. 1512 is a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci at about 60 years old. The sketch in red chalk on paper has been extensively reproduced and has become an iconic representation of him as a wise polymath or Renaissance Man in the final stage of his life.
The portrait is in three-quarter view with his face turned towards the viewer but his eyes gazing off into the distance. His long hair and beard were unusual in Renaissance portraits and their depiction was a conscious choice to express the sagacity of the subject. It has been drawn with fine lines shadowed by hatching and executed with the left hand, all of which points to Leonardo.

#1 I disegni di Leonardo da Vinci e della sua cerchia - Biblioteca Reale di Torino
Language: Italian
- Treatises / Secular Books
- Apocalypses / Beatus
- Astronomy / Astrology
- Bestiaries
- Bibles / Gospels
- Chronicles / History / Law
- Geography / Maps
- Saints' Lives
- Islam / Oriental
- Judaism / Hebrew
- Single Leaf Collections
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Literature / Poetry
- Liturgical Manuscripts
- Medicine / Botany / Alchemy
- Music
- Mythology / Prophecies
- Psalters
- Other Religious Books
- Games / Hunting
- Private Devotion Books
- Other Genres
- Afghanistan
- Armenia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Colombia
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Egypt
- Ethiopia
- France
- Germany
- Hungary
- India
- Iran
- Iraq
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Luxembourg
- Mexico
- Morocco
- Netherlands
- Peru
- Poland
- Portugal
- Serbia
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Syria
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uzbekistan
- Aboca Museum
- Ajuntament de Valencia
- Akademie Verlag
- Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA)
- Aldo Ausilio Editore - Bottega dβErasmo
- Alecto Historical Editions
- Alkuin Verlag
- Almqvist & Wiksell
- Amilcare Pizzi
- Andreas & Andreas Verlagsbuchhandlung
- Archiv Verlag
- Archivi Edizioni
- Arnold Verlag
- ARS
- Ars Magna
- ArtCodex
- AyN Ediciones
- Azimuth Editions
- BΓ€renreiter-Verlag
- Belser Verlag
- Belser Verlag / WK Wertkontor
- Benziger Verlag
- Bernardinum Wydawnictwo
- BiblioGemma
- Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vaticanstadt, Vaticanstadt)
- Bibliotheca Palatina Faksimile Verlag
- Bibliotheca Rara
- Boydell & Brewer
- Bramante Edizioni
- Brepols Publishers
- British Library
- C. Weckesser
- Caixa Catalunya
- Canesi
- CAPSA, Ars Scriptoria
- Caratzas Brothers, Publishers
- Carus Verlag
- Circulo Cientifico
- Club BibliΓ³filo Versol
- CM Editores
- Collegium Graphicum
- Collezione Apocrifa Da Vinci
- ComissaΜo Nacional para as ComemoracΜ§oΜes dos Descobrimentos Portugueses
- Coron Verlag
- CTHS
- D. S. Brewer
- De Agostini/UTET
- De Schutter
- Deuschle & Stemmle
- Deutscher Verlag fΓΌr Kunstwissenschaft
- DIAMM
- Droz
- E. Schreiber Graphische Kunstanstalten
- Ediciones Boreal
- Ediciones Grial
- Ediclube
- EdiΓ§Γ΅es Inapa
- Edilan
- Editalia
- Edition Georg Popp
- Edition Leipzig
- Edition Libri Illustri
- Editiones Reales Sitios S. L.
- Γditions de l'Oiseau Lyre
- Editions Medicina Rara
- Editorial Casariego
- Editorial Mintzoa
- Editrice Antenore
- Editrice Velar
- Edizioni Edison
- Egeria, S.L.
- Eikon Editores
- Electa
- Enciclopèdia Catalana
- Eos-Verlag
- Ephesus Publishing
- Eugrammia Press
- Extraordinary Editions
- Fackelverlag
- Facsimile Editions Ltd.
- Facsimilia Art & Edition Ebert KG
- Faksimile Verlag
- Feuermann Verlag
- Folger Shakespeare Library
- Franco Cosimo Panini Editore
- Friedrich Wittig Verlag
- FundaciΓ³n Hullera Vasco-Leonesa
- G. Braziller
- Gabriele Mazzotta Editore
- Gebr. Mann Verlag
- Getty Research Institute
- Giovanni Domenico de Rossi
- Giunti Editore
- Graffiti
- Grafica European Center of Fine Arts
- Guido Pressler
- Guillermo Blazquez
- H. N. Abrams
- Harrassowitz
- Helikon
- Hendrickson Publishers
- Henning Oppermann
- Herder Verlag
- Hes & De Graaf Publishers
- Hoepli
- Houghton Library
- Hugo Schmidt Verlag
- Idion Verlag
- Il Bulino, edizioni d'arte
- ILte
- Imago
- Insel Verlag
- Instituto de Estudios Altoaragoneses
- Instituto Nacional de AntropologΓa e Historia
- Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana - Treccani
- Istituto Ellenico di Studi Bizantini e Postbizantini
- Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato
- Italarte Art Establishments
- J. Thorbecke
- Jan Thorbecke Verlag
- Johnson Reprint Corporation
- Jugoslavija
- Karl W. Hiersemann
- Kasper Straube
- Kaydeda Ediciones
- Konrad KΓΆlbl Verlag
- Kurt Wolff Verlag
- La Liberia dello Stato
- La Linea Editrice
- La Meta Editore
- Lambert Schneider
- Landeskreditbank Baden-WΓΌrttemberg
- Leo S. Olschki
- Les Incunables
- Library of Congress
- Libreria Musicale Italiana
- Lichtdruck
- Lito Immagine Editore
- Lumen Artis
- Lund Humphries
- M. Moleiro Editor
- Maison des Sciences de l'homme et de la socieΜteΜ de Poitiers
- Manuscriptum
- Maruzen-Yushodo Co. Ltd.
- MASA
- McGraw-Hill
- Militos
- Millennium Liber
- MΓΌller & Schindler
- National Library of Wales
- Neri Pozza
- Nova Charta
- Oceanum Verlag
- Odeon
- Orbis Mediaevalis
- Orbis Pictus
- Γsterreichische Staatsdruckerei
- Oxford University Press
- Parzellers Buchverlag
- Patrimonio Ediciones
- PIAF
- Pieper Verlag
- Plon-Nourrit et cie
- Prestel Verlag
- Princeton University Press
- Prisma Verlag
- Priuli & Verlucca, editori
- Pro Sport Verlag
- PropylΓ€en Verlag
- Pytheas Books
- Quaternio Verlag Luzern
- Reales Sitios
- Recht-Verlag
- Reichert Verlag
- Reichsdruckerei
- Riehn & Reusch
- Roberto Vattori Editore
- Rosenkilde and Bagger
- Roxburghe Club
- Salerno Editrice
- Sarajevo Svjetlost
- SchΓΆck ArtPrint Kft.
- Scolar Press
- Scrinium
- Scripta Maneant
- Scriptorium
- SiloΓ©, arte y bibliofilia
- SISMEL - Edizioni del Galluzzo
- Sociedad Mexicana de AntropologΓa
- Sorli Ediciones
- Stainer and Bell
- Styria Verlag
- Sumptibus Pragopress
- Szegedi TudomΓ nyegyetem
- Taberna Libraria
- Tarshish Books
- Taschen
- Tempus Libri
- Testimonio CompaΓ±Γa Editorial
- The Clear Vue Publishing Partnership Limited
- The Facsimile Codex
- The Folio Society
- The Marquess of Normanby
- The Richard III and Yorkist History Trust
- Tip.Le.Co
- TouchArt
- TRI Publishing Co.
- Trident Editore
- Typis Regiae Officinae Polygraphicae
- University of California Press
- University of Chicago Press
- Urs Graf
- Vallecchi
- Van Wijnen
- VCH, Acta Humaniora
- VDI Verlag
- Verlag fΓΌr Regionalgeschichte
- Verlag Styria
- Vicent Garcia Editores
- W. Turnowsky
- Wiener Mechitharisten-Congregation (Wien, Γsterreich)
- Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft
- Xuntanza Editorial
- Zollikofer AG