History of the Collection of Anatomical Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci in the Biblioteca Reale di Torino

Abstract

Thirteen drawings made by Leonardo are preserved in the Biblioteca Reale di Torino, together with the Codex on the Flight of Birds. Some of them are worldly known masterpieces, such as the famous Self-Portrait in red chalk and the Head of a Young Woman, others document Leonardo’s research in anatomy and reveal an artistic interest more than a systematic or topographic approach. Some refer to human anatomy, others to that of the horse. The Turin contribution to the knowledge of Leonardo’s anatomical work is also linked to the publication of the facsimiles of all his drawings preserved in the Windsor Library, designed in Torino by the painter Giovanni Piumati thanks to the funding of the Russian Theodor Sabachnikoff, and carried out between 1898 and 1901.