Leonardo Da Vinci: A Singular Vision

When Leonardo da Vinci, a peasant girl's illegitimate son, in 1502 entered the service of bloody politician Cesare Borgia, the pope's illegitimate son and the model for Machiavelli's prince, the protean artist created magnificent, sophisticated maps of towns, cities, fortifications and Italy's coast. This is but one little-known aspect of da Vinci's work highlighted in a riveting collection of drawings, including the amazingly ethereal and lyrical A Tree, grotesques (e.g., An Ill-matched Couple), the Deluge series and apocalyptic renditions of the end of the world. This striking catalogue of an exhibition at Buckingham Palace through early 1997 ranges from a beautiful, expressive study of a woman's hands to preparatory sketches for The Last Supper, full-bodied mythological fantasies, designs for weapons and lucid, accurate anatomical illustrations (The Embryo in Utero). In an engaging essay complementing 120 color plates, Clayton, a curator at Windsor Castle, follows Leonardo's travels from Florence to France through his drawings. (May)