Windsor Castle Royal Collection

Though it is estimated that Leonardo Da Vinci sketched tons of botanical images, only thirteen genuine sketches remain today. Most of these sketches reside in the Royal collection in Windsor Castle where they began to collect around the 17th century. Sketches in the collection include A star-of-Bethlehem and other plants (c.1506-12), A branch of blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) (c.1505-10), and The seed-heads of two rushes (Scirpus lacustris and Cyperus sp.), with notes (c.1510). These sketches are particularly notable for the amount of detail Leonardo put into representing the different styles of growth and variety among each plant as well as how lighting reflected on plants.

Parent Map

da Vinci and the Renaissance Map

Coordinates

Latitude: 51.483894000000
Longitude: -0.604402700000

Timeline of Events Associated with Windsor Castle Royal Collection

Date Event Manage

Leonardo's depiction of the Human Fetus
1505 to 1510

Leonardo Creates Detailed Sketches of Plants

While working on his painting Leda and the Swan, Leonardo created several sketches of plants, such as A star-of-Bethlehem and other plants (c.1506-12), in order to better represent them within his painting.  Sketches These sketches show a high level of detail that later carries into his art and pays close attention to the form and structure of plants and how that can change for each one. These sketches have been collected and held on to by the Windsor Castle Royal Collection since the 17th Century.

Image from Wikimedia Commons, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leonardo_da_vinci,_Star_of_Bethlehem_and_other_plants.jpg. This image is under public domain and free use.