LEONARDO DA VINCI (VINCI 1452-AMBOISE 1519)
Recto: A bald man in profile, with mathematical calculations and notes. Verso: A bearded man in profile, confronted by a grotesque profile
c.1492-5RCIN 912555
Many early copies after Leonardo, both drawn and printed, focus on his grotesques, and thus the seventeenth century had a skewed vision of Leonardo as an artist. In this sheet the bearded man in profile is contrasted with a small sketch of a caricatured figure – a playful contrast of physical types that Leonardo so enjoyed.
Cat. 147
Cat. 147
watermark: Upper part of a flower. Briquet's comparable examples are 6359 (1472), 6540 (1391) & 6541 (1425). [lower-centre]