Profile of a man and study of two riders 1497

Leonardo da Vinci created this study in pen and ink sometime in the late 15th or early 16th century. Here we see the artist, working in Florence or Milan, giving close attention to human anatomy. The artist carefully models the planes of the face and neck. The grid drawn over the profile is typical of Renaissance methods, where the study of the face was subjected to mathematical rules of proportion. In this period, artists were increasingly allied to the new humanistic universities, seeking to raise their status from mere artisans to learned intellectuals. Da Vinci was at the forefront of this movement. He presents his work as empirical research that deserves institutional support. The history of art is always connected to the history of its institutions, and researchers can tell us more about the precise date, purpose, and later ownership of the drawing.