da Vinci

I forgot mention ........ 10 rarely seen Leonardo Da Vinci drawings are touring the UK and they are here in Hull at our Ferens Art Gallery 
until mid January.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-16243603

And they are so............tiny!!! 
Almost like miniature drawings, with such intricate details that you have to wonder how the hell he managed to draw them at all!

His eye sight must have been very good and he must have drawn them in daylight surely? 
The ink used is a delightful warm sepia shade and its incredible that they have survived all these years..............now here I am assuming they really ARE the Queens originals right..........no conspiracy theories!

They are remarkable it has to be said but the war machinery and 'end of the world' themes were to me, unnerving somehow.
As if there was some madness in him, the heavy hand on the design maybe.  
But then maybe its because they are so incredibly small and finely detailed ........I must read up on him and see what has been said about him.

The fascinating thing on some of them, is that you can see his sketch lines, especially on the magnificent horse drawing, you see the sketch lines he did first, then see how he progressed onto the finished lines. 



This below was for me the most interesting and again far smaller than Id imagined it would be. (about 17 x 17 cm)
The incredible detail in Leda's central hair parting is utterly exquisite.

The above pic doesnt show it in full and this one below is quite different!

See this link for the one I saw

http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/912518/the-head-of-leda

http://www.drawingsofleonardo.org/images/leda.jpg

Well worth seeing a piece of history and there was a replica 'ornithopta'

hung from the ceiling too. 

In so many ways, the man was far ahead of his time!