Detail View: The AMICA Library: Studies for the Nativity. Verso: Three Geometrical Diagrams and a Caricature of a Head

AMICA ID: 
MMA_.17.142.1
AMICA Library Year: 
2000
Object Type: 
Drawings and Watercolors
Creator Name: 
Leonardo Da Vinci
Creator Name: 
Leonardo Da Vinci
Creator Nationality: 
European; Southern European; Italian
Creator Role: 
Artist
Creator Dates/Places: 
Italian, b. Vinci 1452 - d. Cloux 1519
Creator Birth Place: 
Vinci
Creator Death Place: 
Cloux
Creator Name-CRT: 
Made by Leonardo da Vinci
Title: 
Studies for the Nativity. Verso: Three Geometrical Diagrams and a Caricature of a Head
View: 
Recto
Creation Date: 
1482-92
Creation Start Date: 
1482
Creation End Date: 
1492
Materials and Techniques: 
Pen and brown ink over preliminary sketches in metalpoint, on pink prepared paper; ruled lines added in black chalk or metalpoint; compass hole(recto). Three slight geometrical diagrams in the center and a faint caricature of a head in profile to left by the right margin, in pen and brown ink on verso.
Dimensions: 
7-5/8 x 6-3/8 in. (19.3 x 16.2 cm)
AMICA Contributor: 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Owner Location: 
New York, New York, USA
ID Number: 
17.142.1
Credit Line: 
Rogers Fund, 1917
Rights: 
http://www.metmuseum.org/ [ http://www.metmuseum.org/ ]
Context: 
In these sketches of the Virgin kneeling in humility before the Christ Child, who lies on the ground, Leonardo investigated a theme that he would also use in the 'Madonna of the Rocks' (Musée du Louvre, Paris; and National Gallery, London), in which the Virgin kneels facing the spectator, her right hand raised in benediction over the seated Infant Jesus. These sketches are related to an undocumented painting fromabout 1483-85 by Leonardo that must have been brought at least to the stage of a complete cartoon (full-scale drawing); several contemporary painted copies of this composition survive.
Related Image Identifier Link: 
MMA_.dp17.142.1r.R.tif
Initial Sort: 
Leonardo Da Vinci