NATIONAL EDITION OF THE MANUSCRIPTS AND DRAWINGS BY LEONARDO DA VINCI

The drawings

The only official reproductions of the manuscripts and drawings of Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci, in his drawings, carried out experiments with form and composition shared by the different fields of his artistic activities: painting, sculpture and architecture. Drawing also becomes a means by which to carry out and record in his papers scientific experiments in a very wide range of fields of knowledge, a practice therefore in which the intention to depict cannot be separated from the process of knowledge and which reflects his studies, experiences, inventions and considerations, following the creative and cognitive processes of his mind.

The corpus of drawings by Leonardo handed down to us in the illustrations and notebooks he kept throughout his lifetime are evidence of an extraordinary man. Leonardo was a tireless draughtsman: he did not complete many of his paintings and was never satisfied with his own work but the drawings and sketches we have are considerable in number.

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• Corpus of the Anatomical Studies
• Horses and Other Animals
• Landscapes, Plants and Water Studies
• Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and his circle, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
• Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and his circle, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
• Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and his circle, Biblioteca Reale, Turin
• Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and his circle in the American Collections

The quality of Leonardo’s pencil drawing is impeccable and he is easily able to faithfully reproduce reality in all its detail and, since drawing is the most direct expression of physical and mental movement, Leonardo's figures have unprecedented vitality and vivacity. He uses a technique that gives a sense of colour and depth even when using monochrome mediums like sanguine or ink.

Finally, the drawings of the great master, from fruit, anatomy or landscapes to war machines, are filled with astounding lyricism. Leonardo's intention was to copy nature in the most scientific manner possible - and therefore as objectively as possible, but yet his drawings have charm and intrinsic poetry. The lessons to be learnt from them are still valid and full of life and proof of this is the extraordinary success of the Giunti edition, where philological exactness has been made a point of honour, to guarantee that such a precious asset to the history of art is distributed in the best possible way.