Experiencing Leonardo

Chapter 9 considers incidences of direct contact with Leonardo’s works by Britons abroad and at the Caroline court in London; that is, first-hand experience of the artist. Although the opportunity to view or handle drawings, manuscripts, or paintings attributed to Leonardo was extremely rare, an examination of the wider matrix of these experiences provides a sense of a less tangible aspect of the early English reception. Key episodes include: Charles, Prince of Wales and Leonardo’s codices belonging to Juan de Espina (Madrid, 1623); George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, Rubens, and Leonardo’s Mona Lisa (Paris, 1625); Queen Henrietta Maria, Inigo Jones, and ‘Ginevra de’ Benci’ (London, 1636); Abraham van der Doort, Roger de Plessis, Duke of Liancourt, and Leonardo’s St John the Baptist (London, 1630); John Evelyn (Paris, 1644). The chapter concludes with a discussion of three works attributed to Leonardo or his immediate followers documented in the Caroline Royal Collection before 1639.