sequence of torsions,
gracefully twisting, turning
takes eye round and round
Adapted from this passage: One sheet shows a woman’s head and shoulders in a revolving sequence of torsions, gracefully twisting and turning, from every angle, even the rear, in exquisite metal point on pinkish-buff paper. Leonardo’s line takes the eye round and round, in and out, and through the movements in an extraordinary perpetual mobile. It is the graphic equivalent of an entire ballet danced by a solo performer. And there, among all these variations, is the actual pose he used for the serpentine figure of Cecilia Gallerani in that surpassingly strange portrait Lady With an Ermine.
(I love the use of words and language. I think there could be a months worth of Haiku’s from this passage)
In the review of Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing review – lines of beauty by Laura Cumming at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London – This superb show of Leonardo’s drawings reveals the craftsman alongside the visionary – and the sheer range of his curiosity
Another short quote – ‘Just to see the botanical drawings alone is to witness Leonardo’s mind in action.
I can’t get to London. I can barely get downtown.
But I can see these images online through the magic of the internet.
The accessibility of art, music and literature is at a level imagined.
If only we make use of it.
No Haiku For You 