Where Is Automobile? See It at Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan

Q: What does this drawing show?

It's Leonardo's design for a self-propelled vehicle, essentially an early automobile concept powered by springs.

Q: Where can I see this?

The drawing is at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, which holds many of Leonardo's notebooks and sketches.

Q: Did Leonardo design an automobile?

Leonardo da Vinci sketched a self-propelled cart around 1478, considered one of history's first automobile concepts. Powered by coiled springs, a working model was built in 2004 based on his drawings.

Leonardo da Vinci designed this self-propelled cart, one of history's earliest concepts for an automobile. The drawing shows his notable engineering imagination centuries ahead of its time.

Leonardo filled notebooks with inventions ranging from flying machines to military weapons. This design sketch is preserved at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan.

It's Leonardo's design for a self-propelled vehicle, essentially an early automobile concept powered by springs.

The drawing is at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, which holds many of Leonardo's notebooks and sketches.

Leonardo da Vinci sketched a self-propelled cart around 1478, considered one of history's first automobile concepts. Powered by coiled springs, a working model was built in 2004 based on his drawings.

Automobile

Where to See It

The Artist

More by Leonardo da Vinci

Landscape drawing for Santa Maria della Neve

Madonna with a Flower (Madonna Benois)

Study of the Madonna and Child with a Cat

La Belle Ferronnière

Also at Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan

Christ Crowned with Thorns

The infant Jesus with a Lamb

Petrarch's Virgil (title page)

The Holy Family with Saints Anne and John

Related Renaissance Works

Sistine Madonna

The Birth of Venus

The School of Athens

The Alba Madonna

Venus of Urbino

Venus with a Mirror

Laocoön

Pallas and the Centaur

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