The thumbprint and preparatory sketches of some of his most famous works are being shown to the public at Buckingham Palace, as part of the artist’s largest exhibition in more than 65 years.
“Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing”, which opens this Friday at Queen’s Gallery, presents more than 200 drawings by the Renaissance artist, taken from the “unrivaled backgrounds” of the British royal collection.
The drawings of Vinci, acquired during the reign of Charles II, have been preserved together since the death of the artist on May 2, 1519 in the Loire Valley, France.
“The drawings show that Leonardo was a serious practitioner of sculpture, architecture, engineering and a scientist in many fields,” said Martin Clayton, curator of the exhibition and responsible for prints and drawings at the Royal Collection Trust.
“He saw himself as a perfectly rounded figure, but drawing is the activity that brings it together.”
Highlights include the only two Vinci portraits preserved in his lifetime, one of which is made by an assistant whom the public had never seen before.
“This drawing shows a certain nostalgia, a certain melancholy,” said Clayton. “It’s not Leonardo, the great philosopher who looks away. He is a man of flesh and blood at the end of a career that has done a lot, but may not have succeeded either. ”
Preparatory sketches are also in preparation for his works “The Last Supper” and “Salvator Mundi”, a portrait of Christ, which became the most expensive painting auctioned when he reached the record $ 450 million in 2017.
Other articles include “Leonardo’s Studies on the Hands for “Adoration of the Magi”, which appear to be drawn on a blank sheet of paper, but which, under ultraviolet light, reveal other “missing” drawings.
His anatomical studies are also exposed, including the one that, according to Clayton, “used it to prepare his artistic projects, but also to conduct his scientific research.”
Leonardo knew that these drawings at the end of his life were the only real trace of his work and achievements. If you want to understand Leonardo in a round way, drawing is the only way to do that, says Clayton. “This exhibition gives visitors a complete picture of Leonardo.”
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