Lot Essay
This drawing which has been dated to circa 1507 by Carlo Pedretti is one of about one hundred grotesques to survive, half of which are at Windsor Castle with a smaller group of 34 at Chatsworth, four of which were sold in these Rooms, 3 July 1984, lots 22-5, illustrated in colour. Two of these are now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu and a third is in the Woodner Collection. Leonardo's grotesque drawings were collected in the 16th and 17th Centuries for their bizarre appeal, but already a collector like Vasari considered them works of art. He described a black chalk profile, then in his collection but now at Windsor, as 'very beautiful'. One of the first English collectors of grotesques was Lord Arundel who owned a great number of them. Of this collection Hollar engraved and published 26 heads in 1645, including the present study. They were so popular that the series was reprinted in 1648 and 1666, and another group, Variae Figurae Monstruosae, was published by the nephew of Sandrart in 1654. A further 58 heads were engraved by the Comte de Caylus in Paris in 1730.
Leonardo's grotesque drawings can be grouped in a number of ways. The first division is one of degree of finish: some of the grotesques are described by Gombrich as doodles and are usually found in, or cut from, Codexes. Others, like the present one or the famous group of heads at Windsor (Sir Kenneth Clark and Carlo Pedretti, The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle, London, second edition, 1968, II, no. 12495), are of a more finished type. Another categorization can be made according to the models from which the heads derive. Clark (Leonardo da Vinci, an Account of his Development as an Artist, Cambridge, 1939) was the first to point out that most of the ideal heads, and many of the grotesques, stem directly from two types of heads used throughout Leonardo's career: one is that of a warrior inspired by sculptures from the studio of Verrocchio, the first master of Leonardo (E.H. Gombrich, The Heritage of Apelles, Studies in the Art of the Renaissance, London, 1976, figs. 123-9), the other, although less used in grotesques, is that of a youth, probably also from a Verrocchio model, E.H. Gombrich, op. cit., figs. 120-2. A number of grotesques, including the present one, do not seem to come from any particular model and may have been taken from nature.
The Sforza court, where Leonardo was employed as court artist, probably kept people suffering from facial deformities for their entertainment, in the same way as they kept dwarfs. Leonardo's interest extended beyond the 'comic' aspect heads, for physiognomy - the study of human character through the features - was regarded as a natural science. Leonardo distrusted physiognomy as a reliable indication of character. He, however believed that 'there is no truth in them and this is clear because such chimeras have no scientific foundations. It is true that the faces show some indication of the nature of men, their vices and complexions', Leonardo da Vinci, Treatise on Painting, Codex Vaticanus Urbinas, 109 recto and verso, quoted by M. Kwakkelstein, Leonardo da Vinci as a physiognomist, Theory and drawing practice, Leiden, 1994, p. 52. Leonardo probably intended the series of grotesques and ideal heads to illustrate the extremes of physiognomic types.
Human deformities were considered curiosities and inspired numerous writings and works of art. Ernst Gombrich suggests a number of earlier representations of the subject which might have inspired Leonardo: among them is a circular Florentine engraving depicting a grotesque couple with the legend 'dammi conforto', 'comfort me', E.H. Gombrich, op. cit., pp. 57-75, fig. 111. Other prototypes may have been grotesque figures on ancient terracottas and unusual types of people in medieval comic plays.
Carlo Pedretti has suggested, because of its irregular shape, that the present drawing may have been cut from a larger sheet. He proposes a date of circa 1507, on the basis that a number of drawings or sketches by Leonardo's pupils are found in the margins of his manuscripts or on the versi of his drawings (letters of 12 and 17 May 1995).
In this drawing, in contrast to most of Leonardo's grotesques, the handling of the pen is extraordinarily precise and delicate, as A.E Popham commented in the 1963 sale catalogue. The pen is used like a silverpoint, with the hatching sloping from left to right, varied in density and pressure to indicate the fall of light on the face. The technique normally used by Leonardo for the heads is much freer, Clark and Pedretti, op. cit., II, nos. 12491 and 12495, recto and verso, illustrated. Pedretti compares the technique of this drawing to that of Leonardo's sheets in the Anatomical Manuscript A at Windsor, for example, the one depicting studies of legs dated 1510, Clark and Pedretti, op. cit., III, nos. 19019, recto and verso, illustrated. A technique similar to that used in the Windsor anatomical drawings, Leonardo has emphasized the structure of the head of the present drawing by tracing a pen and ink line around the figure.
The provenance of the drawing can be traced back from the Christie's sale in 1963, where it was consigned by a descendant of John Bouverie, to Richardson's sale in 1747, where Bouverie bought it.
It is interesting to notice in the catalogue entry of the Richardson sale a mention of a portrait of Artus Gouffier as one of the caricatures. Artus Gouffier, seigneur de Boisy (1475-1519), was the tutor of the Duc d'Angoulême, later King Francis I. The perfect knight, he was made grand maître de France. He initiated the young prince in the appreciation of art. In Italy, he was made Marchese di Canavas. He and his brother had vast properties including the château d'Orion which served Francis I as a model for Fontainebleau. A great collector, he inspired Charles Perrault (1628-1703) with the awesome character of the Chat Botté.
Leonardo's grotesque drawings can be grouped in a number of ways. The first division is one of degree of finish: some of the grotesques are described by Gombrich as doodles and are usually found in, or cut from, Codexes. Others, like the present one or the famous group of heads at Windsor (Sir Kenneth Clark and Carlo Pedretti, The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle, London, second edition, 1968, II, no. 12495), are of a more finished type. Another categorization can be made according to the models from which the heads derive. Clark (Leonardo da Vinci, an Account of his Development as an Artist, Cambridge, 1939) was the first to point out that most of the ideal heads, and many of the grotesques, stem directly from two types of heads used throughout Leonardo's career: one is that of a warrior inspired by sculptures from the studio of Verrocchio, the first master of Leonardo (E.H. Gombrich, The Heritage of Apelles, Studies in the Art of the Renaissance, London, 1976, figs. 123-9), the other, although less used in grotesques, is that of a youth, probably also from a Verrocchio model, E.H. Gombrich, op. cit., figs. 120-2. A number of grotesques, including the present one, do not seem to come from any particular model and may have been taken from nature.
The Sforza court, where Leonardo was employed as court artist, probably kept people suffering from facial deformities for their entertainment, in the same way as they kept dwarfs. Leonardo's interest extended beyond the 'comic' aspect heads, for physiognomy - the study of human character through the features - was regarded as a natural science. Leonardo distrusted physiognomy as a reliable indication of character. He, however believed that 'there is no truth in them and this is clear because such chimeras have no scientific foundations. It is true that the faces show some indication of the nature of men, their vices and complexions', Leonardo da Vinci, Treatise on Painting, Codex Vaticanus Urbinas, 109 recto and verso, quoted by M. Kwakkelstein, Leonardo da Vinci as a physiognomist, Theory and drawing practice, Leiden, 1994, p. 52. Leonardo probably intended the series of grotesques and ideal heads to illustrate the extremes of physiognomic types.
Human deformities were considered curiosities and inspired numerous writings and works of art. Ernst Gombrich suggests a number of earlier representations of the subject which might have inspired Leonardo: among them is a circular Florentine engraving depicting a grotesque couple with the legend 'dammi conforto', 'comfort me', E.H. Gombrich, op. cit., pp. 57-75, fig. 111. Other prototypes may have been grotesque figures on ancient terracottas and unusual types of people in medieval comic plays.
Carlo Pedretti has suggested, because of its irregular shape, that the present drawing may have been cut from a larger sheet. He proposes a date of circa 1507, on the basis that a number of drawings or sketches by Leonardo's pupils are found in the margins of his manuscripts or on the versi of his drawings (letters of 12 and 17 May 1995).
In this drawing, in contrast to most of Leonardo's grotesques, the handling of the pen is extraordinarily precise and delicate, as A.E Popham commented in the 1963 sale catalogue. The pen is used like a silverpoint, with the hatching sloping from left to right, varied in density and pressure to indicate the fall of light on the face. The technique normally used by Leonardo for the heads is much freer, Clark and Pedretti, op. cit., II, nos. 12491 and 12495, recto and verso, illustrated. Pedretti compares the technique of this drawing to that of Leonardo's sheets in the Anatomical Manuscript A at Windsor, for example, the one depicting studies of legs dated 1510, Clark and Pedretti, op. cit., III, nos. 19019, recto and verso, illustrated. A technique similar to that used in the Windsor anatomical drawings, Leonardo has emphasized the structure of the head of the present drawing by tracing a pen and ink line around the figure.
The provenance of the drawing can be traced back from the Christie's sale in 1963, where it was consigned by a descendant of John Bouverie, to Richardson's sale in 1747, where Bouverie bought it.
It is interesting to notice in the catalogue entry of the Richardson sale a mention of a portrait of Artus Gouffier as one of the caricatures. Artus Gouffier, seigneur de Boisy (1475-1519), was the tutor of the Duc d'Angoulême, later King Francis I. The perfect knight, he was made grand maître de France. He initiated the young prince in the appreciation of art. In Italy, he was made Marchese di Canavas. He and his brother had vast properties including the château d'Orion which served Francis I as a model for Fontainebleau. A great collector, he inspired Charles Perrault (1628-1703) with the awesome character of the Chat Botté.