DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61748#0009
No. 1
LEONARDO DA VINCI
(b. 1452, d. 1519)
SHEET WITH FIVE STUDIES FOR A MADONNA AND CHILD
WITH CAT, AND HEAD OF A YOUTH IN PROFILE TO RIGHT
British Museum, 1860-6-16-98. Pen and bistre. 27-3 x 19 cm. (lOf x 7| in.)
THE various studies for a picture of the Madonna and Child with a Cat comprise, in
addition to the above sheet, four other groups on two sheets in the British Museum,
viz. 1857-1-10-1 recto and verso, and 1856-6-21-1 recto and verso, also a sheet of
studies at Paris in the Collection of M. Bonnat, and a drawing in the Uffizi. The last
represents the most mature conception of the subject, and this sheet probably immediately
preceded it in point of time. There is no record of Leonardo ever having painted any
such picture, but the studies for it all belong to the first Florentine period.
There is a marked similarity between the type of the Virgin in this drawing and in
the Galichon study for ‘ the Adoration of the Magi,’ also between that in the Uffizi drawing
of the Madonna and Child with Cat and in the picture of the Adoration.
These resemblances seem to suggest that Leonardo worked at the two subjects con-
temporaneously. The head of a youth in profile is, as Mr. Berenson has pointed out,
identical with several on a sheet at Windsor which, by comparison with a dated drawing,
he ascribes to the year 1478.
EDWARD MCCURDY.
No. 2
LEONARDO DA VINCI
(b. 1452, d. 1519)
ALLEGORY. MAIDEN WITH UNICORN
British Museum, 1860 -6-16-98. On the reverse of No. 1
27 3 x 19 cm. (lOf x7| in.)
(c<) Pen and bistre.
ITHIN a rectangle a maiden is represented sitting and fondling a unicorn, which is
seated on the ground beside her with its head in her lap.
(b) Black chalk*.
Below, within a rectangle, is a variant of the same composition in black chalk. Very
indistinct. The head of the maiden is seen in two positions. The figure is somewhat more
* Owing to the faintness of this drawing, it has been found necessary to employ the lithographic process for this
portion of the reproduction.
5
LEONARDO DA VINCI
(b. 1452, d. 1519)
SHEET WITH FIVE STUDIES FOR A MADONNA AND CHILD
WITH CAT, AND HEAD OF A YOUTH IN PROFILE TO RIGHT
British Museum, 1860-6-16-98. Pen and bistre. 27-3 x 19 cm. (lOf x 7| in.)
THE various studies for a picture of the Madonna and Child with a Cat comprise, in
addition to the above sheet, four other groups on two sheets in the British Museum,
viz. 1857-1-10-1 recto and verso, and 1856-6-21-1 recto and verso, also a sheet of
studies at Paris in the Collection of M. Bonnat, and a drawing in the Uffizi. The last
represents the most mature conception of the subject, and this sheet probably immediately
preceded it in point of time. There is no record of Leonardo ever having painted any
such picture, but the studies for it all belong to the first Florentine period.
There is a marked similarity between the type of the Virgin in this drawing and in
the Galichon study for ‘ the Adoration of the Magi,’ also between that in the Uffizi drawing
of the Madonna and Child with Cat and in the picture of the Adoration.
These resemblances seem to suggest that Leonardo worked at the two subjects con-
temporaneously. The head of a youth in profile is, as Mr. Berenson has pointed out,
identical with several on a sheet at Windsor which, by comparison with a dated drawing,
he ascribes to the year 1478.
EDWARD MCCURDY.
No. 2
LEONARDO DA VINCI
(b. 1452, d. 1519)
ALLEGORY. MAIDEN WITH UNICORN
British Museum, 1860 -6-16-98. On the reverse of No. 1
27 3 x 19 cm. (lOf x7| in.)
(c<) Pen and bistre.
ITHIN a rectangle a maiden is represented sitting and fondling a unicorn, which is
seated on the ground beside her with its head in her lap.
(b) Black chalk*.
Below, within a rectangle, is a variant of the same composition in black chalk. Very
indistinct. The head of the maiden is seen in two positions. The figure is somewhat more
* Owing to the faintness of this drawing, it has been found necessary to employ the lithographic process for this
portion of the reproduction.
5