Leonardo da Vinci, Bust of
a warrior in profile, a silverpoint
drawing
Florence, Italy, about AD
1475-80
This study is drawn in
metalpoint,
specifically
silverpoint,
a popular medium with Early Renaissance artists. It is most
suitable for detailed and careful drawings,. Metalpoint was a good
method of training young apprentice artists as it required control
and discipline. Here, the silverpoint line, which has turned grey
in the atmosphere, is thin and delicate. The detail is
extraordinary: the armour, the curls in his hair and the splendid
elaborate helmet are even exceeded by the modelling of the
man's face and the lion on his breastplate. Endless
patience must have been required of the young Leonardo to produce
the very fine shadows of the man's face, each a separate
line.
The drawing shows
Leonardo studying the art of his teacher, Andrea Verrocchio.
Giorgio Vasari's biography of Verrocchio in his
Lives of the Artists
(1550 and 1568) mentions two metal reliefs with profile portraits
of Alexander the Great, leader of the Greeks, and Darius, the
Persian king. They were sent by Lorenzo 'il
Magnifico' ('the Magnificent') de'
Medici, ruler of Florence (1469-92), as gifts to the king of
Hungary. This drawing is probably based on one of these lost works
by Verrocchio.
A.E. Popham and P. Pouncey, Italian drawings in the Depa-5 (London, The British Museum Press, 1950)
M. Kemp and J. Roberts, Leonardo da Vinci (Hayward Gallery, London, 1989)
M. Royalton-Kisch, H. Chapman and S. Coppel, Old Master drawings from the M, exh. cat. (London, The British Museum Press, 1996)
J. Rowlands, Master drawings and watercolou (London, The British Museum Press, 1984)
F. Ames-Lewis, Drawing in early Renaissance I (New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1981)