Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci and His circle - Public Collections in France

Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci and His Circle - Public Collections in France

Whether in the Musée du Louvre, the Musée Bonnat in Bayonne, or the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rennes – valuable original drawings by Leonardo da Vinci are stored in numerous French museum collections. Collecting these into a tome was the ambitious goal of the volume at hand of the National Edition of the drawing and manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci. Alongside studies and sketches of famous paintings and as a testimonial of the precise observer, one also finds a few wonderful portraits of the great Renaissance artist.

Madonnas, Saints, and Much More…

Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings from the French collections comprise inter alia wonderful early pencil-drawings, studies of the Adoration of the Magi, and Madonna images by the master in addition to other paintings, garment studies, and sanguine drawings from Milan – and still more. The portrait of Isabella d’Este is surely a highlight, and the studies of The Virgin and Child with St. Anne are considered to be a true gem of art history. Thus a wide range of topics are represented along with all the techniques for drawing. What’s more, the volume grants a marvelous overview of the Italian master’s stylistic changes.

Leonardo and His Circle

These drawings are treasures from the collections of the Musée du Louvre, the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, the Institut Néerlandais, the Fondation Custodia, the Collection Frits Lugt, the Musée Bonnat in Bayonne, and the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rennes. These pages – originals of Leonardo da Vinci – are juxtaposed with some drawings by his students and successors on 114 boards altogether. Giovanni Ambrogio de’ Predis, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, Giovanni Agostino da Lodi, Bernardino Luini, Cesare da Sesto, and Giampietrino are represented along with other artists from Leonardo da Vinci’s circle.