Distorted Faces

  Leonardo was interested in facial expression.  He drew faces distorted by his own rules of proportion to create these bizarre grotesques.

The drawing on the left shows a study of the proportions of features.

Scaramuccia

   The sketch in black chalk on the right is thought by scholars to be "Scaramuccia, King of the Gypsies" - the title of a work from the collection of Vasari and drawn about 1503-1507.

Most of Leonardo's grotesques were made during his first stay in Milan (1482-1499) so this may be the culmination of those studies.

Vasari wrote; "He was so fond of seeing bizarre heads and faces, with beards and dishevelled hair, that he would spend the whole day following someone who had caught his eye.  He was so observant that, back in his workshop, he could draw them as if they stood in front of him."

Caricature?

While sometimes referred to as caricatures these drawings are more experiments in feature and expression than caricatures in the modern sense of the word although he may have based them on the faces he saw in the Borghetto - the poor area of Milan.

In these sketches Leonardo's scientific curiosity, his urge to experiment, his imagination and the desire to shock come together.