Study of a Madonna [verso]

probably 1470/1480

Leonardo da Vinci

Artist, Florentine, 1452 - 1519

A woman wearing a mantle, which drapes over her head and shoulders, and holding her hands together in prayer is lightly sketched in black chalk in this vertical drawing. Her body is angled to our left. Her head tips in that direction, and she looks off into the distance. Forms to the left of the woman are studies of a man’s torso and a muscular leg. The sketches are all faintly drawn on paper that now has some brown speckling.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    black chalk on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    The Armand Hammer Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 16 x 13.5 cm (6 5/16 x 5 5/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1991.217.2.b

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Albert M. Shapiro, Berkeley, 1972; Private collection, New York; (P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., Ltd., London); to Armand Hammer Collection, 1972; gift to NGA in 1991.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1972

  • Exhibited with the Armand Hammer collection from 1972, beginning with The Royal Academy of Arts, London.

1974

  • Recent Acquisitions and Promised Gifts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1974, no. 65.

1976

  • Old Master Drawings from American Collections, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1976.

1978

  • Master Drawings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art and Promised Gifts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1978, p. 32.

1981

  • Leonardo da Vinci, The Codex Hammer, formerly The Codex Leicester, Royal Academy of Arts, London, and other venues, 1981-1982, 47, 122, as "Hammer 20."

1982

  • Leonardo da Vinci, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden, 1982-1983.

1983

  • Exhibited with the Leonardo da Vinci Codex Hammer, beginning with Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 1983, and ending with Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, 1986.

1984

  • Rejoined tour with the Armand Hammer collection for 1 venue: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1984.

1985

  • Leonardo: il Codice Hammer e la Mappa di Imola presentati da Carlo Pedretti. Arte e Scienza a Bologna in Emilia e Romagno nel Primo Cinquecento, 1985, Palazzo del Podestà, Bologna, 63, color pl. VIII.

2003

  • "Leonardo da Vinci, Master Draftsman", The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2003, no. 24.

Watermarks

Tulip (close to Briquet, nos. 6645-59)

Wikidata ID

Q64592975

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