Bust of a warrior

Leonardo Vinci, da (after)

Summary

A reproduction produced by the Vasari Society of a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci. The drawing shows a man in profile wearing an elaborately decorated suit of armour and helmet. He is facing towards the left and has a stern expression on his face. From the top of his breastplate protrudes a three-dimensional head of a lion with its tongue sticking out. Ornate leafy patterns appear to erupt from various parts of the armour and helmet. The helmet has a sharp, pointed front and changes to a wing-like shape behind. It extends down the back of the man's head and forms a curl behind his neck. Text from the accompanying booklet produced by the Vasari Society: "No. 3 LEONARDO DA VINCI (b. 1452, d. 1519) BUST OF A WARRIOR IN PROFILE TO LEFT IN FANTASTIC RICHLY DECORATED ARMOUR British Museum, 1895-9-15-474. (From the Lawrence, Robinson and Malcolm Collections) Drawing with the silver-point, highly finished, on cream-coloured prepared ground 28.7 x 21 cm. (11 1/4 x 8 1/4 in.) This important example of Leonardo's first Florentine period was, as Mr. Berenson has pointed out, suggested by a figure in Verrocchio's silver relief of the Decapitation of the Baptist in the alter now in the Opera del Duomo at Florence, which was completed in the year 1480. It may also be compared with the marble relief of the bust of P. Scipio, formerly in the Rattier Collection, now in the Louvre (reproduced, E. Müntz: L. da V. vol. i, p. 158). This relief has been attributed to Leonardo, but is described as 'Florentine School of end of fifteenth century.' The decoration of the helmet and cuirass, though considerably simplified, shows a fundamental unity of conception with that in the drawing. The artist, undoubtedly a pupil of Verrocchio's, may have received the suggestion in part from the drawing as well as from Verrocchio's relief. The type of head in Leonardo's drawing, with deep set eyes and aquiline nose, suggests a date of execution either similar or somewhat precedent to that of the various studies for 'the Adoration.' EDWARD McCURDY."