Page 284 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

single observation, although with a receptacle of
the right shape it is possible to contrive a pattern
of vortices similar to that depicted in the main
study. The note at the lower left records a related
observation he made from a boat. In the light of
recent chaos theory, it is not surprising that Leo-
nardo experienced trouble in defining the number
and result of the variables in turbulent flow.
The turbulence produced by the boards that
interrupt the flow of the streams in the upper
diagrams assumes the kind of hairlike configura-
tions that led Leonardo to draw parallels between
the motion of water and the curling of hair (cat.
172), and the motions of wind and other phe-
nomena of curvilinear motion and growth in the
natural world. M. K .

183

Leonardo da Vinci
Florentine, 1452-1519
CATS AND A DRAGON

c.1513-1515
pen and brown ink and wash over black chalk with
red chalk offset on paper
5
27.1 x 20.4 (io /s x 8) (irregular)
inscribed with notes on the motions of animals
and human beings
references: Popham 1946, 87; Clark and
Pedretti 1968-1969, 12363; Pedretti 1987, 157;
London 1989, 38 the qualities of feline motion. It is typical of the There can be little doubt that this drawing (Wind-
fertility of his imagination that the cats appear sor 12424), like other of Leonardo's botanical
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth n, Royal Library, to have been metamorphosed into a curvaceous studies from the period 1506-1508 (such as Wind-
Windsor Castle dragon. Such creativity characteristically leads sor 12421), was occasioned by his work on the
Leonardo away from his immediate purpose and painting Leda and the Swan (now lost) and that
Leonardo indicated that he intended to "write a ultimately interferes with his ability to complete the sense of flowering and fructifying vitality in
separate treatise describing the movement of the circumscribed task in hand. M.K. the growth of the plants is designed to underscore
animals with four feet, among which is man, who the painting's theme of the generative powers of
crawls similarly in his infancy on all fours/' The nature. However, as is so often the case with his
note at the bottom of this sheet— "on bending apparently functional studies of components for
and extension; this animal species, of which the pictures, the subsidiary items come to assume a
lion is prince, because the joints of its spinal cord 184 primary interest in their own right. Leonardo
are bendable" — suggests that these vivacious subsequently appears to have considered writing
studies were part of a campaign he seems to have Leonardo da Vinci a treatise on plants.
undertaken around 1513-1515 to compare human Florentine, 1452-1519 Although the present study breathes an
and animal motion. The sheet of studies of horses undeniable air of having been made "from life,"
at Windsor (12331, also containing a cat and stud- STAR-OF-BETHLEHEM Leonardo's processes of observation and repre-
ies of Saint George and the dragon) appears to sentation are always infused with analysis, as he
(Ornithogalum umbellatum),
Crowsfoot
belong to the same campaign. The aim was to (Anemone bulbosa L.), Wood Anemone searches for the principles of growth and for the
show how the compound jointing of animal and structural rationale behind the configurations of
human bodies enables them to perform an almost (Anemone rammculoides), and Grasses natural forms. The emphatic "vortex" arrange-
infinite variety of movements in space — across c. 1506-1508 ment of the leaves of the main plant makes delib-
what Leonardo calls a "continuous quantity/' pen and brown ink and red chalk on paper erate allusion to forms of growth and motion in
3
There can be little doubt that some of the poses ia.8xi6(7 /4x6V4) other natural phenomena, such as the turbulence
are based directly upon life studies, particularly references: Popham 1946, 273; Clark and of water and the curling of hair. M. K.
the sleeping cats at the center right, which are Pedretti 1968-1969, 12424; Pedretti 1982, i6r;
beautifully observed. Others, most notably the London 1989, 57
"wrestlers/ seem to be Leonardo's own free Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth u, Royal Library,
extrapolations, based on his understanding of Windsor Castle

EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD 283