LEONARDO DA VINCI
ig Caricature of a Man with
Bushy Hair
Pen and brown ink; H: 6.6 cm (2^5 /s in.); W: 5.4 cm
(2'/sin.)
84.GA.647
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At bottom left, partial col-
lection mark of Nicholas A. Flinck (L. 959).
PROVENANCE: Thomas Howard, earl of Arundel; Ni-
cholas A. Flinck, Rotterdam; William, second duke of
Devonshire, Chatsworth; by descent to the current duke
(sale, Christie's, London, July 3, 1984, lot 24); art market,
Boston.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Habich, "Handzeichnungen italien-
ischer Meister," Kunstchronik no. 31 (July 21, 1892), p.
544; A. Venturi, I manoscritti e i disegni di Leonardo da Vinci,
Commissione Vinciana, vol. 5 (Rome, 1939), p. 19, no.
6 ; A. H. Scott-Elliot, "Caricature Heads after Leonardo
da Vinci in the Spencer Collection," Bulletin of the New
York Public Library 62, no. 6 (June 1958), p. 294, no. 31;
K. Clark and C. Pedretti, The Drawings of Leonardo da
Vinci in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor
Castle (London, 1968), vol. i, p. xliv; C. Pedretti, Leo-
nardo da Vinci: Studies for a Nativity and the (Mona Lisa Car-
toon' with Drawings after Leonardo from, the Elmer Belt
Library of Vinciana, exh. cat., University of California,
Los Angeles, 1973 , p. 40, under no. 12; A. Marinoni
and L. Cogliati Arano, Leonardo all'Ambrosiana (Milan,
1982), p. 120, under no. 2ii.THIS CARICATURE ONCE FORMED PART OF A LARGE
series of such drawings at Chatsworth. Largely ignored
in the vast Leonardo literature, the series was the object
of an uncomplimentary comment by Clark (Clark and
Pedretti 1968 , p. xliv), who nevertheless accepted its at-
tribution to Leonardo. These caricatures obviously were
more highly considered in earlier times, if one may judge
from the interest in copying them. A fine copy by Fran-
cesco Melzi, formerly at Wilton, is now in the Elmer Belt
Library of Vinciana, University of California, Los An-
geles (Pedretti 1973, p. 40). Others are in the Gallerie
deUAccademia, Venice (inv. 229) (also by Melzi), in the
Spencer Collection, New York Public Library (Scott-
Elliot 1958, no. 31), and in the Ambrosiana, Milan (Mar-
inoni and Cogliati Arano 1982, no. 291). Lastly, there is
an etched copy of this caricature by Hollar showing the
image in reverse.
This and other drawings of its type were, in all
probability, originally rendered in pairs; they appear in
this format in the copies from Wilton. It seems likely that
the pairs were cut into individual drawings by the time
Flinck owned the Museum's sheet as well as others; this
can be surmised from the placement of his mark on the
various caricatures (Christie's, London, 1984, lot 25, p.
54). The Museum's drawing was probably reduced a bit
more for mounting, at least at the left, apparently when
it came into the collection of the second duke of Dev-
onshire, since Flinck's mark was cropped on that side.
Clark (Clark and Pedretti 1968, p. xliv) has dated
this and other Chatsworth caricatures to Leonardo's pe-
riod of work in Milan under the Sforza. Although he has
suggested that the drawings were made "in response to
some craze or fashion," separating them in a sense from
the normal evolution of Leonardo's work, the Museum's
drawing looks forward to the exaggeratedly expressive
heads of the Battle of Anghiari (1503/04; destroyed) and
the hair was executed with a characteristic sfumato.58 ITALIAN SCHOOL • LEONARDO DA VINCI