Leonardo da Vinci¿s drawings form the heart of the Renaissance master¿s artistic legacy and continue to fascinate and challenge viewers today. A select group of eleven drawings, as well as one of his most celebrated notebooks, the Codex on the Flight of Birds, is on view at the Legion of Honor from November 15, 2008, to January 4, 2009. Previously exhibited at the Birmingham Museum of Art, Leonardo da Vinci: Drawings from the Biblioteca Reale in Turin, marks the first time that this remarkable group of drawings has been loaned to a U.S. exhibition by the Biblioteca Reale (Royal Library) in Turin, Italy. This small-scale traveling exhibition presents the first opportunity to view these drawings together, outside of Italy. Drawings from the Biblioteca Reale in Turin features eleven drawings, including three that are double-sided, and one bound notebook. Dating from about 1480 to 1510, the works represent the most prolific period of Leonardo¿s career. The subjects of the drawings range from fantastical explorations to acute observations, anatomical studies, and utilitarian working drawings. Additionally, one of the Turin sheets includes a fragment of a poem. The exhibition is organized by the Birmingham Museum of Art, where it is on view from September 28 to November 9, 2008. The coordinating curator for the Legion of Honor¿s presentation of the exhibition is James Ganz, the curator of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. The Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, founded in 1948 by Moore and Hazel Achenbach, is widely recognized as among the largest and best museum collections of its kind in the United States. With nearly 100,000 works representing over 500 years of works on paper from around the world. The exhibition catalogue, published by the Birmingham Museum of Art, includes individual entries on the eleven drawings, full-scale color illustrations of each sheet, and several essays. For more information: www.legionofhonor.org, www.famsf.org