Studies of horses

Studies of horses grazing, one directly from behind, with its head visible to the left of its legs, and another from in front, its head obscured by the first. To the left a horse is drawn in profile, though only the right legs are inked, and the faint metalpoint of the rest of the animal is almost invisible against the brown-grey preparation, coloured with red lead mixed with ground charcoal. Melzi's number 100. This is one of several sheets of studies that Leonardo made towards a composition of the Adoration of the Shepherds, possibly for an unfulfilled commission he received in January 1478 for an altarpiece (of unspecified subject) for the chapel of San Bernardo in the Palazzo della Signoria, Florence. All the related studies at Windsor are of animals, perhaps retained by Leonardo for future reference: even at this early stage of his career, his approach was to make a range of studies of relevant subject matter in addition to compositional sketches. See also RCIN 912324, 912325, 912362. Text adapted from Leonardo da Vinci: A life in drawing, London, 2018