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Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
Two Designs for Machines (before 1519)
Pen and brown ink, over black chalk
11 3/8 x 7 15/16 inches (284 x 201 mm)
Gift of Otto Manley; 1986.50
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During the Renaissance many artists produced designs for weaponry and defenses, a subject of particular interest to Leonardo, by whom nearly four hundred drawings survive. As is revealed in his characteristic reverse writing, the upper sketch describes a device to scale a tower during a naval siege, and the lower details a mechanism to bend wooden beams. The designs were likely executed during Leonardo's sojourn at the Sforza court in Milan, around 1487–90.

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