Martin Clayton

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The cover of Canaletto in Venice (2005). Canaletto in Venice book cover.jpg
The cover of Canaletto in Venice (2005).
Cover of the Aztec Herbal volume of the catalogue raisonne of Cassiano dal Pozzo's Paper Museum. Cassiano dal Pozzo Flora The Aztec Herbal.jpg
Cover of the Aztec Herbal volume of the catalogue raisonné of Cassiano dal Pozzo's Paper Museum.

Martin Clayton, LVO, FSA, (born 1967) is Head of Prints and Drawings for Royal Collection Trust at Windsor Castle. He is a specialist in the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci.

Contents

Early life

Martin Clayton was born in Harrogate, North Yorkshire on 30 December 1967 to David and Brenda Clayton. He was educated at King James's School, Knaresborough, and from 1986 to 1990 at Christ's College, University of Cambridge, where he studied Natural Sciences and History of Art, graduating with a first. [1] He credits his interest in art to a school trip to the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg where he was fascinated by the chisel marks on a sculpture there. [2]

Career

After graduating, Clayton began to work in the Print Room of the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, as Assistant Curator, subsequently becoming Deputy Curator, Senior Curator, and (in 2013, on the retirement of Jane Roberts) Head of Prints and Drawings. He has curated many exhibitions in the UK and internationally based on material in the royal collection and written the corresponding catalogues. He is a specialist in the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci.

Clayton is the editor of the natural history volumes of the catalogue raisonné of the Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo, the major part of which is held in the Royal Library at Windsor. [3] He also co-wrote the volume on Cassiano's Aztec Herbal with Luigi Guerrini and Alejandro de Ávila. [4]

Honours

Clayton was made a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) in the 2015 New Year's honours list. [2]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<i>Vitruvian Man</i> Drawing by Leonardo da Vinci

The Vitruvian Man is a drawing by the Italian Renaissance artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1490. Inspired by the writings by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, the drawing depicts a nude man in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and inscribed in both a circle and square. Described by the art historian Carmen C. Bambach as "justly ranked among the all-time iconic images of Western civilization," the work is a unique synthesis of artistic and scientific ideals and often considered an archetypal representation of the High Renaissance.

<i>Virgin of the Rocks</i> Two paintings by Leonardo da Vinci

The Virgin of the Rocks, sometimes the Madonna of the Rocks, is the name of two paintings by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, of the same subject, with a composition which is identical except for several significant details. The version generally considered the prime version, the earlier of the two, is unrestored and hangs in the Louvre in Paris. The other, which was restored between 2008 and 2010, hangs in the National Gallery, London. The works are often known as the Louvre Virgin of the Rocks and London Virgin of the Rocks respectively. The paintings are both nearly 2 metres high and are painted in oils. Both were originally painted on wooden panels, but the Louvre version has been transferred to canvas.

<i>Annunciation</i> (Leonardo) Painting by Leonardo da Vinci

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<i>The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist</i> Cartoon by Leonardo da Vinci

The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist, sometimes called The Burlington House Cartoon, is a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci. The drawing is in charcoal and black and white chalk, on eight sheets of paper that are glued together. Because of its large size and format the drawing is presumed to be a cartoon for a painting. No painting by Leonardo exists that is based directly on this cartoon, although the drawing may have been in preparation for a now lost or unexecuted painting commissioned by Louis XII. The drawing is the only extant larger-scale drawing by the artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Print Room, Windsor</span>

The Print Room at Windsor Castle is a print room which is an office in the Royal Collection Department of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the care and maintenance of the royal collections of drawings and old master prints, including watercolours. The term refers to both an institution and a room, and is under the direction of the Head of Prints and Drawings, currently Martin Clayton MVO.

<i>Saint John the Baptist</i> (Leonardo) Painting by Leonardo da Vinci

Saint John the Baptist is a High Renaissance oil painting on walnut wood by Leonardo da Vinci. Likely to have been completed between 1513 and 1516, it is believed to be his final painting. Its original size was 69 by 57 centimetres.

<i>Bacchus</i> (Leonardo) Painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci

Bacchus, originally Saint John the Baptist, is a painting in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, France, based on a drawing by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. It is presumed to have been executed by an unknown follower, perhaps in Leonardo's workshop. Sydney J. Freedberg assigns the drawing to Leonardo's second Milan period. Among the Lombard painters who have been suggested as possible authors are Cesare da Sesto, Marco d'Oggiono, Francesco Melzi, and Cesare Bernazzano. The painting shows a male figure with garlanded head and leopard skin, seated in an idyllic landscape. He points with his right hand off to his left, and with his left hand grasps his thyrsus and also points down to earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cassiano dal Pozzo</span>

Cassiano dal Pozzo was an Italian scholar and patron of arts. The secretary of Cardinal Francesco Barberini, he was an antiquary in the classicizing circle of Rome, and a long-term friend and patron of Nicolas Poussin, whom he supported from his earliest arrival in Rome: Poussin in a letter declared that he was "a disciple of the house and the museum of cavaliere dal Pozzo." A doctor with interests in the proto-science of alchemy, a correspondent of major figures like Galileo, a collector of books and master drawings, dal Pozzo was a node in the network of European scientific figures.

<i>Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis</i>

The Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis is an Aztec herbal manuscript, describing the medicinal properties of various plants used by the Aztecs. It was translated into Latin by Juan Badiano, from a Nahuatl original composed in the Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco in 1552 by Martín de la Cruz that is no longer extant. The Libellus is also known as the Badianus Manuscript, after the translator; the Codex de la Cruz-Badiano, after both the original author and translator; and the Codex Barberini, after Cardinal Francesco Barberini, who had possession of the manuscript in the early 17th century.

Matteo Zaccolini was an Italian painter, priest and author of the late Mannerist and early Baroque periods. He was a mathematical theorist on perspective. He is also called "Zacolini" and "Zocolino".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Collection</span> Art collection of the British Royal Family

The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Codex Atlanticus</span>

The Codex Atlanticus is a 12-volume, bound set of drawings and writings by Leonardo da Vinci, the largest single set. Its name indicates the large paper used to preserve original Leonardo notebook pages, which was used for atlases. It comprises 1,119 leaves dating from 1478 to 1519, the contents covering a great variety of subjects, from flight to weaponry to musical instruments and from mathematics to botany. This codex was gathered in the late 16th century by the sculptor Pompeo Leoni, who dismembered some of Leonardo's notebooks in its formation. It is now in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan.

<i>Leda and the Swan</i> (Leonardo) Lost painting by Leonardo da Vinci

The story of Leda and the Swan was the subject of two compositions by Leonardo da Vinci from perhaps 1503–1510. Neither survive as paintings by Leonardo, but there are a number of drawings for both by him, and copies in oils, especially of the second composition, where Leda stands.

Priscilla Jane Stephanie, Lady Roberts,, known as simply Jane Roberts, was the Curator of the Print Room at Windsor Castle from 1975 and the Royal Librarian from 2002 until her retirement in July 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Codex Arundel</span> Book by Leonardo da Vinci

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<i>Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk</i> Drawing by Leonardo da Vinci

The portrait of a man in red chalk in the Royal Library of Turin is widely, though not universally, accepted as a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci. It is thought that Leonardo da Vinci drew this self-portrait at about the age of 60. The portrait has been extensively reproduced and has become an iconic representation of Leonardo as a polymath or "Renaissance Man". Despite this, some historians and scholars disagree as to the true identity of the sitter.

<i>Horse and Rider</i> (wax sculpture)

Horse and Rider is a beeswax sculpture depicting a rider on a horse. The history of the sculpture is unknown before the 20th century. The work has been attributed to Leonardo da Vinci by the Italian art historian Carlo Pedretti, though most historians have ignored or denied the attribution. A number of casts have been made, using a mold taken from the wax original.

<i>Studies of the Fetus in the Womb</i>

Studies of the Fetus in the Womb are two colored annotated sketches by Leonardo da Vinci made in around 1511. The studies correctly depict the human fetus in its proper position inside a dissected uterus. Leonardo depicted the uterus with one chamber, in contrast to theories that the uterus had multiple chambers which many believed divided fetuses into separate compartments in the case of twins. Leonardo also correctly drew the uterine artery and the vascular system of the cervix and vagina.

<i>Rearing Horse and Mounted Warrior</i>

The Rearing Horse and Mounted Warrior or Budapest horse is a bronze sculpture attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. Depicting Francis I of France on a destrier horse, it is estimated to have been cast from a clay or wax model in the first half of the 16th century. The sculpture is in the permanent exhibit of the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts.

References

  1. Martin Clayton MVO FSA. Royal Drawing School. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Royal curator's King James's memories". Harrogate Advertiser. 19 January 2015.
  3. "THE PAPER MUSEUM OF CASSIANO DAL POZZO A CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ". The Warburg Institute. 2016. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
  4. Flora: The Aztec Herbal. Brepols Publishers. Retrieved 21 April 2016.