Royal Collection (Windsor)

Overview

This collection was gathered by the sculptor Pompeo Leoni at the end of the sixteenth century, who selected mostly Leonardo's figurative studies. It is the primary repository of Leonardo's anatomical investigations and contains some of his most famous drawings.

It is possible to distinguish different dominant themes within the collection. The clearest is that of anatomical drawings. There is also a conspicuous group of landscape drawings, a series of studies of horses (including studies for equestrian monuments), numerous drawings of figures and caricatures, as well as a group of geographical maps.

The Anatomical Manuscripts

The anatomical sheets at Windsor represent Leonardo's most sustained scientific investigation. A note dated April 2nd, 1489, speaks of writing "the book about the human figure." These drawings show:

• Detailed studies of the musculature and skeleton
• The cardiovascular system
• The respiratory and digestive systems
• Male and female reproductive anatomy
• Embryological studies
• Comparative anatomy
• Studies of the brain and nervous system

Antonio de Beatis, secretary to the Cardinal of Aragon, visited Leonardo at Amboise in October 1517 and wrote: "This gentleman has written of anatomy with such detail, showing by illustrations the limbs, muscles, nerves, veins, ligaments, intestines and whatever else there is to discuss in the bodies of men and women, in a way that has never yet been done by anyone else. All this we have seen with our own eyes; and he said that he had dissected more than thirty bodies, both of men and women, of all ages."

Vasari's Account

Vasari visited Milan in 1566 and states that Melzi, who was then "a beautiful and gentle old man," possessed a great part of Leonardo's papers on the anatomy of the human body, and kept them with as much care as though they were relics.

Key Subject Groups

• Anatomical drawings — the dominant theme (~228 sheets)
• Landscape drawings — natural scenes and geological studies
• Horse studies — for equestrian monuments (Sforza, Trivulzio)
• Figure studies — the human form in various poses
• Caricatures — grotesque heads and character studies
• Geographical maps — territorial and topographical studies