how to draw a military man how to draw a military tank

cat., London, Hayward Gallery, `Leonardo da Vinci`, 1989, no. cat., London, Royal Academy, `Leonardo da Vinci quincentenary exhibition`, 1952, no.

Pouncey, `Italian drawings in the BM, the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries`, London, 1950, I, no. Popham, `The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci`, London, 1946 (and later editions), no. Berenson, `Drawings of the Florentine Painters`, Chicago, 1938, II, no. Popham dated this group of drawings to the period soon after Leonardo`s arrival in Milan, 1485-8. 388 in the 2003 Metropolitan Leonardo catalogue) in the Codex Atlantico in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan (f.40va/113v Popham 311) and in Manuscript B in the Library of the Institut de France, Paris. 309) Biblioteca Reale, Turin (Popham 310) École des Beaux-Arts, Paris (EBA 423 reproduced in colour as no. The drawing resembles other military chariots studied in drawings by Leonardo in Windsor (RL 12653 Popham, 1946, no. The study on the right showing it in operation with guns blazing is inscribed: `this is good for breaking the ranks, but you will want to follow it up`. The view of the `armoured car` with its roof off showing its mechanism is labelled: `the way the car is arranged within - eight men operate it, and the same men turn the car and pursue the enemy`. Starting from the chariot in the upper part of the drawing they read as follows: `when this travels through your men, you will wish to raise the shafts of the scythes, so that you will not injure anyone on your side`.

This drawing shows that Leonardo was indeed willing to turn his creative genius to warlike ends, yet in common with almost all of his inventions these fearsome but impracticable machines were never built. In a famous letter from the early 1480s Leonardo offered his services to the Duke as military engineer, architect, sculptor and painter the order in which he lists his achievements showing a shrewd understanding of the martial concerns of his future patron. Curator's comments The present drawing dates from the mid-1480s during the artist`s first period in Milan at the court of Duke Ludovico Sforza.

How to draw a military man how to draw a military tank