Leonardo da Vinci in his studio

Gaetano Callani's interest in Leonardo da Vinci is illustrated by this watercolor which represents the master in his studio.

Seated on a bench, he holds a lyre of his own invention surrounded by a series of objects and works of art connected to his multifaceted personality: a palette on the table (Painting), a musical score (Music), the armillary sphere behind he (Astronomy)...

...the hammer on the ground and the busts on the shelves (Sculpture), the compass, the square and the book with the geometric shapes in the lower right (Geometry), cannon and mortar on the opposite side (Military art), the cogwheel (Hydraulics) and the globe on the left (Geography).

The prancing horse, on the other hand, probably refers to the never-built monument of Francesco Sforza or the statue of Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, while the lion next to the artist refers to the automaton designed for Francesco I.

At the end of the eighteenth century and with the spread of the Enlightenment Leonardo becomes the icon of modern man, whose art is the product of rational abilities resulting from the study and exercise of scientific thought, reflecting the reform policy initiated by Maria Teresa Habsburg in Milan, which combines manufacturing activity and artistic renewal.

The watercolor is to be linked to the project by Antonio Gioseffo Della Torre Rezzonico (1709-1785) to create a monograph dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci, of which the drawing was to form the frontispiece.

The project was never carried out but the iconography invented by Callani testifies to the interest of the Milanese environment both for the artistic activity and for the scientific studies of the great Tuscan master.

Even if unrelated to editorial purposes, the image had a certain success; in fact, it seems that Callani also created a painting for an English lord around 1780, now lost, creating one of the first celebratory works of the Italian Renaissance in anticipation of a trend that would spread throughout the nineteenth century.

It was the painter and engraver Domenico Cunego who translated Callani's famous drawing with Leonardo in his studio into etching for the publishing venture of creating a monograph on the great Tuscan artist designed by Count Antonio Gioseffo Della Torre Rezzonico (1709-1785) and then never accomplished.

The task of making the etching was entrusted to Cunego directly by Callani during a trip to Rome, who chose it for its impeccable stylistic quality and great skill in translating painting into engraving.

An artistic ability that is also evident in this print in the punctual rendering of chiaroscuro contrasts and in the use of a particularly precise engraving stroke capable of giving volume and material relief to the composition of the image.