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LEONARDO da Vinci: Heads of an old man and a youth

🖼 Heads of an old man and a youth, 1495-1500
Red chalk on paper
208 × 150 cm
Florence, Italy

Contrasting profiles—weathered age and smooth youth—face opposite directions in delicate silverpoint, capturing psychological tension through subtle line. Leonardo's dual study explores human transformation and mortality, revealing his obsessive anatomy practice that informed Renaissance portraiture.

The story of art
The story of art
E. H. Gombrich
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