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LEONARDO DA VINCI (1452-1519)

Cats, lions, and a dragon

c.1513-18

RCIN 912363

Most of the sketches show cats and lions apparently studied from life, though the dragon at lower right shows how strong Leonardo’s powers of visualisation were. Leonardo was fascinated by the flexibility of the feline spine, and around 1513 considered writing a treatise on ‘the movements of animals with four feet, among which is man, who likewise in his infancy crawls on all fours.’

  • watermark: Bird in a circle. Close to Briquet 12219. (Bird in a circle, Cod. Arun., ff 131-132) [-]


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