Set of seven lithographic prints comprising:
lithographic print of drawing by Leonardo da Vinci entitled A Standing Masquerader, originally drawn c.1513
Acquired by Charles II, King England (1630-85). Bequeathed to Francesco Melzi; purchased by Pompeo Leoni, c.1582-90; Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel by 1630 and finally resting with The Royal Collection by 1690.Pen and ink and wash, over black chalk. One of a series of designs for court festivities. The last years of Leonardo's life were spent in the service of Francis I of France, a time of extravagant festivities at the French Court. Descriptions of the celebrations held in 1518 are well documented and the costumes described show a close resemblance to Leonardo's designs suggesting that these studies were for costumes to be worn at this time.
Print size inches: 6.7 x 9.8 together with lithographic print of drawing by Michelangelo entitled The Risen Christ, originally drawn c.1532
First recorded in The Royal Collection c.1810.Black chalk. One of the most magnificent of Michelangelo’s designs; he completed more than a dozen drawings of the Resurrection, some possibly intended as preparatory works. However much care has been taken with this work, and such highly finished drawings were a specialty of Michelangelo, as seen in his presentation drawings created as gifts for his closest friends.
Print size inches: 6 x 9.8 together with lithographic print of drawing by Annibale Carracci entitled Study for St. Andrew, originally drawn c.1603-4
The great collection of drawings by the Carracci in The Royal Library came from two sources; the Albani collection, purchased in Rome for George III, King of the United Kingdom (1738-1820) in 1762, and Consul Joseph Smith’s collection, bought for the King in 1763.Black chalk, heightened with white. A study from the life for the figure of St. Andrew in the picture of the Crucifixion at Munich. The painting is attributed to Carracci's pupil Domenichino, who would have used the detailed studies of his master's drawings.
Print size inches: 9.3 x 8.7 together with lithographic print of drawing by Pietro Perugino entitled Study for a Man in Armour, originally drawn c.1490-3
First recorded in The Royal Collection inventory of c.1810.
Metal-point on a prepared blue surface, heightened with white. A drawing based on Donatello’s marble statue of St. George (now in the Bargello, Florence). Perugino used the figure for his St. Michael in the altarpiece, now in the National Gallery in London, which was commissioned (c.1496) for the Certosa di Pavia.
Print size inches: 7.3 x 9.8 together with lithographic print of drawing by Michelangelo entitled Man Nude, with Proportions indicated, originally drawn c.1515-20
Acquired by George III, King of the United Kingdom (1738-1820), by c.1810.Two tones of red chalk. With only two exceptions, the drawings by Michelangelo in the Royal Library were first recorded in the collection of George III. This is one of Michelangelo's most majestic studies of a nude, possibly intended for teaching purposes having the proportions of various parts of the body indicated. Throughout his life the artist was drawn to the investigation of musculature and form, as reflected in this drawing. Of his few pupils, Sebastiano del Piombo (c.1485-1547) was probably the most adept and it was possibly drawn for Sebastiano as a teaching aid.
Print size inches: 6.2 x 9.8 together with lithographic print of drawing by Jacopo Tintoretto
entitled Study of a Man, originally drawn c.1555
First recorded in The Royal Collection inventory of c.1810.
Black chalk or charcoal on blue paper, heightened with white and brown oil paint. The drawing is a study for the turbaned man placing a ladder against the cross in the centre of Tintoretto's canvas, The Crucifixion (c.1560- 65). Now in the Academia in Venice, the canvas was painted for the church of Saint Severo in Venice.
Print size inches: 5 x 9.6 together with lithographic print of drawing by Michelangelo entitled The Fall of Phaeton, originally drawn 1533
First recorded in The Royal Collection c.1810.Black chalk. One of the four superb, exceedingly highly finished, drawings made by Michelangelo for his friend, the young Roman nobleman Tommaso de’ Cavalieri, whom he met in the autumn or winter of 1532. Finished in August 1533, the drawing depicts the three phases of the story as told by Ovid of the God Jupiter hurling his thunderbolt against the uncontrolled Phaeton who falls towards the river Eridamus (represented here by the recumbent river-god), mourned by his sisters and brother Cycnus who was transformed into a swan.
Print size inches: 5.7 x 9.8