In 1481 the monks of San Donato a Scopeto near Florence commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to paint an altar-piece celebrating the
Adoration
of the Magi. In one of the preparatory drawings, Leonardo drew with meticulous accuracy a refined perspective grid in order to place the architectural structures, the human figures, and the animals in a realistically proportioned way.This precious study, kept in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, is shown for the first time ever in the United States on Finmeccanica's initiative and because of the collaboration between the Uffizi Gallery and the Library of Congress.
Caption:
Leonardo da Vinci,
circa 1481.
Study for the
Adoration of the Magi.
Pen, watercolored-brown ink and white lead with metal point traces on light brown paper.
162 x 290mm.
Florence, Prints and Drawings Department at the Uffizi, inv. 436E