The artwork titled “Study of a Bear Walking” was created by the eminent artist Leonardo da Vinci around the year 1484 in Milan, Italy. This work exemplifies the Early Renaissance art movement, a period noted for its renewed interest in the natural world and humanism. Da Vinci’s study is an animal painting rendered in ink on paper, measuring 10.3 by 13.4 centimeters—a testament to the artist’s fascination with detailed anatomical observations and the movement of living creatures.
The artwork portrays a bear captured mid-stride, demonstrating Leonardo’s meticulous attention to the anatomy and motion of animals. The strokes of ink deftly outline the bear’s musculature and fur texture, suggesting a fluid sense of movement and a three-dimensional form. Although the sketch is not a complete or polished piece, it is imbued with dynamic energy and illustrates the bear’s physicality in a way that is both scientifically insightful and artistically expressive. Leonardo’s renowned observational skills are evident in the precision with which he delineates the bear’s limbs and the careful shading that articulates its volume and mass.
