Studies of legs, lower torsos, arms and a shoulder (recto); Faint study of a torso and legs (verso)

Displaying the enduring influence of Leonardo da Vinci’s teachings in 16th-Century Lombardy, this sheet presents a sequence of four studies executed with a fine use of the pen in Aurelio’s entirely characteristic technique. As reported by Lomazzo (1584), Aurelio knew and collected drawings by Leonardo, whose anatomical studies are initiated in the mise en page and tight succession of leg studies of this sheet (see, for instance, K. Clark, A Catalogue of Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci […], Cambridge and New York, 1935, no. 12695, ill.). Aurelio was an accomplished draftsman and the son of Bernardino Luini, a follower of Leonardo. His interest in anatomy was certainly fostered in the late 1570s by his friendship and collaboration with Carlo Urbino, author of a manual on anatomy and proportion Le Regole del Disegno (New York, Morgan Library, inv. 2006.14).