Studies for Hercules Holding a Club Seen in Frontal View, Male Nude Unsheathing a Sword, and the Movements of Water (Recto); Study for Hercules Holding a Club Seen in Rear View (Verso)
Discovered at auction in 2000, this sheet vividly illustrates the parallel paths of Leonardo's artistic and scientific genius. The upper portion portrays three sketches of the centrifugal swirling currents of water around obstacles, seen from above (as if they were plans). Below is a three-quarter view of the currents by a bridge, and, at right, a sketch of a nude man unsheathing a sword. At bottom right is a muscular, nude Hercules, seen from the front and holding a club horizontally; the other side of the sheet shows the same figure from behind. These figure studies relate to Leonardo's project for a sculpture (never executed) of Hercules.
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recto
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verso
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Title:Studies for Hercules Holding a Club Seen in Frontal View, Male Nude Unsheathing a Sword, and the Movements of Water (Recto); Study for Hercules Holding a Club Seen in Rear View (Verso)
Artist:Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, Vinci 1452–1519 Amboise)
Date:ca. 1506–8
Medium:Pen and brown ink; soft black chalk or charcoal (recto); soft black chalk or charcoal (verso)
Dimensions:5-3/8 x 5-1/2 in. (13.7 x 14 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Purchase, Florence B. Selden Bequest and Rogers Fund, and Promised Gift of Leon D. and Debra R. Black, 2000
Accession Number:2000.328a, b
Inscription: Annotated on recto in graphite, lower left: "Leon. da Vinci"; on verso in pen and brown ink on lower border: "Leonard da Vinci"; along top: 205…
Marking: Watermark: Cropped fleur-de-lis (?)
Etienne Desperet (French); His sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June, 7-13, 1865, lot 152; C. Paravey (Italian); His sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 13, 1878, lot 135; Emile Calando (French), his numbering on the verso; Emile Calando, son (French); Sotheby's, London, July 5, 2000, lot 7; Vendor: Sotheby's, London
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," September 11–December 4, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Leonardo da Vinci: Master Draftsman," January 22–March 30, 2003.
Biblioteca Reale di Torino. "Leonardo da Vinci: capolavori in mostra," February 19, 2006–March 16, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions," October 24, 2008–February 1, 2009.
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. "Leonardo da Vinci and the Art of Sculpture," March 23, 2010–June 20, 2010.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paper Chase: Two Decades of Collecting Drawings and Prints," December 9, 2014–March 16, 2015.
Old Master Drawings. [Sale catalogue]. Sotheby's, London, London, July 5, 2000, pp. 16-17, no. 7, recto and verso repr., ill.
Carmen C. Bambach "A Leonardo Drawing for The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Studies for a Statue of Hercules." Apollo. vol. 153, no. 469, March 2001, fig. no. 1-2, pp. 16-23., ill.
Elizabeth E. Barker "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2000-2001." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. 59, no. 2, Autumn 2001, p. 22 (entry by Carmen C. Bambach), ill.
Carmen C. Bambach Leonardo da Vinci: Master Draftsman. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (January 22 - March 30, 2003). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Press , New Haven and London, 2003, pp. 539-44, no. 101 (entry by Carmen C. Bambach), ill.
Martin Clayton "Review of 'Leonardo da Vinci: Master Draftsman' exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003." Master Drawings. vol. 43, no. 3, Fall 2003, pp. 376-78.
Françoise Viatte, Varena Forcione Leonard de Vinci. Dessins et manuscrits. Exh. cat.: Paris, Musée du Louvre, May 5 - July 14. Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2003, pp. 291, 292.
Giovanna Giacobello Bernard (ed.) Leonardo da Vinci: Capolavori in mostra. Exh. cat., Turin, Biblioteca Reale. Milan, 2006, pp. 68-71, no. I.16 (entry by Carmen C. Bambach).
Carmen C. Bambach "Tuscan Drawings of the Quattrocento and Cinquecento in the Metropolitan Museum of Art 1998-2005." Invisibile agli occhi: Atti della giornata di studio in ricordo di Lisa Venturini. Ed. by Nicoletta Baldini, Fondazione di Studi di Storia dell'Arte Roberto Longhi, Florence, 2007, pp. 80, 90 n.30.
Carlo Pedretti The Temple of the Soul: The Anatomy of Leonardo da Vinci between Mondinus and Berengarius. Second. Foligno, 2008, pp. 208, 2012, ill.
Gary M. Radke, Philippe Sénéchal Leonardo da Vinci and the Art of Sculpture. Exh. cat. High Museum of Art, 2009, p. 168, no. 102.
Nicole Hegener "Riverberi vinciani: Leonardo e Rustici nell'opera di Baccio Bandinelli" I Grandi Bronzi del Battistero: Giovanfrancesco Rustici and Leonardo.. Ed. by Tommaso Mozzati, Beatrice Paolozzi Strozzi, Philippe Sénéchal, Florence, 2010, pp. 228-29, note 63 and figs. 18a-b.
Leonardo: Il genio il mito. Exh. cat., Reggia di Venaria, Scuderie Juvarriane, Turin. Ed. by Carlo Pedretti, Paola Salvi, Pietro C. Marani, Cinisello Balsamo, Milan and Venaria Reale, 2011, p. 98, under no. 1.15.
Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519: il disegno del mondo Exh. cat. Palazzo Reale. Ed. by Pietro C. Marani, Maria Teresa Fiorio, Milan, 2015, pp. 546-47, under no. IV.7.1 (entry by Carmen C. Bambach).
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