RAFFAELLO Sanzio
(b. 1483, Urbino, d. 1520, Roma)

Leda and the Swan

1505-07
Pen and ink over chalk, 310 x 192 mm
Royal Collection, Windsor

The artist whose work had the most pronounced effect on Raphael during his first exposure to Florentine art was Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo's innovations were crucial to Raphael's development. This is strongly evident in the finished paintings as well as in the drawings that survive. An impressive example exists in Raphael's delicate and superbly rendered drawing of Leda and the Swan, copied from a painting by Leonardo that was famous in its time, but is now lost. With little attention paid to the swan, Raphael concentrates on Leda, turning her figure into an exercise demonstrating torsion and balancing weight.