The drawings of Leonardo da Vinci and his circle in the public collection in France

The Département des Arts Graphiques at the Musée du Louvre in Paris conserves what is possibly the most important collection of drawings by Leonardo and his circle in Europe, after that housed in the Royal Library at Windsor.
Considered together with the other French collections, that of the Louvre, bcgun by the King of France Louis XIV and augmented over the centuries, offers an unrivalled overview of Leonardo's graphics, highlighting ali the techniques and ali the various siylistic changes. They range from the first brush drawings, executcd on superfine linen cloth, recalled by Vasari, the pen and ink drawings relating to the Adoration oftbe Magi and the Madonna* of his earry maturi ty, the drawings in red chalk of the earry Milan period, right through to the celebrated drawing, coloured using mixed technique, with the Portrait of Isabella d'Este and the studies for the Saint Anne.
These techniques were reflected in the drawings of the first pupils and followers of the master, even outside Lombardy, exhaustively represented in the volume (Giovanni Ambrogio de' Predis, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, Giovanni Agostino da Lodi, Bernardino Lumi, Cesare da Sesto, Giampietrino etc). Consequently, this impressive graphic corpus presented in perfect life-size facsimiles - approximatery forty originai drawings by Leonardo and another fìfty drawings by his school, plus a selection of copies from Leonardo's most famous paintings, for a total of 114 catalogue numbers - represents an event of exceptional significance for the study not onry of Leonardo's graphics themselves, but also of their repercussions on northern art between the fìfteenth and seventeenth centuries (there are, in fact, even drawings attributed to Poussin). It has also provided the perfect opportunity to present drawings that have never been pubUshed before, and to revalue ancient or traditional attributìons and formulate others.
The volume that accompanies the facsimiles, edited by the eminent Leonardo expert Pietro C. Marani, in addition to presentations by the Director of the Département des Arts Graphiques of the Louvre, Carel van Tuyll and by Francoise Viatte, also contains an extensive introduction, the catalogue of the drawings, a neh repertory of iUustrations for comparison, a vast bibliography and concordance tables.