Anon. Study of Horses, Battle of Anghiari after Leonardo da Vinci

An original 19th-century pen & ink drawing Study of Horses, Battle of Anghiari after Leonardo da Vinci.

An extraordinary pen and ink copy of a work by Leonardo da Vinci, a series of studies of horses that is now in the Royal Library, Windsor. The work was a preparatory sketch, dating from c.1503-4, for Leonardo's (now lost) mural painting of the Battle of Anghiari, in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. These studies focus especially on the frenzied heads of horses caught up in the battle, as well expressions of fury in a man and a lion. Leonardo's original study was drawn in pen and ink with wash and red chalk. This later drawing in pen and ink is on tracing paper, beautifully executed with great fluidity to exact actual size, but entirely in the reverse of Leonardo's drawing. It is unclear quite how the artist produced this copy—whether it was from access to and viewing of the original drawing itself, or a life-size reproduction. The Royal Palaces were increasingly open to the public from 1825, when the first official visitors' entrance was created, and in 1837 when Queen Victoria came to the throne and introduced tickets for visitors and specially staffed tours. The Leonardo drawing, however, being a study, may not have been on display, and also is relatively unlikely to have been reproduced at full scale in the 19th century.Whatever its origins, this drawing has clearly been specially conserved—tears to the tracing paper have been historically repaired, and the sheet has been mounted on a backing paper, which has then further been hinged on to a wash line paper mount.