Audio Guide Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman

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		Head of a Bald Man in Profile Facing to the Right. (Giovanni) Francesco Melzi (? Milan, 1491/93–Vaprio d'Adda, ca. 1570). Red chalk over traces of black chalk; glued onto secondary paper support, 202 x 130 mm (7 15/16 x 5 1/8 in.). Biblioteca Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan Cod. F. 274 inf. 8. (Cat. no. 120).

Philippe de Montebello
This bald head in profile is the only drawing securely attributed to Leonardo's pupil and companion, Francesco Melzi. Melzi skillfully replicates Leonardo's technique of sculpting facial planes in red and black chalk. Notice, however, his right-handed strokes: from lower left to upper right. Melzi's duties included serving as Leonardo's secretary. His handwriting appears on some key documents in Leonardo's career. Carmen Bambach, the curator for "Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman."

Carmen Bambach
One of the things that I feel very strongly has not been done enough is to emphasize the legacy of Leonardo the teacher. Leonardo's entire attempt to write treatises was about communicating a legacy, communicating a vision, communicating exciting findings, and at the same time ordering them for a later audience. Leonardo could not resist an opportunity to theorize. And so it's very fitting that the drawings by his pupils and many of his followers often concentrate almost exclusively on the study of the human head, and its capacity for expression, because for Leonardo the passions of the mind, and the motions of the soul, seem to be the key to bodily gesture.

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