Windsor Castle Royal Collection

Though it is estimated that Leonardo Da Vinci sketched tons of botanical images, only thirteen genuine sketches remain today. Most of these sketches reside in the Royal collection in Windsor Castle where they began to collect around the 17th century. Sketches in the collection include A star-of-Bethlehem and other plants (c.1506-12), A branch of blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) (c.1505-10), and The seed-heads of two rushes (Scirpus lacustris and Cyperus sp.), with notes (c.1510). These sketches are particularly notable for the amount of detail Leonardo put into representing the different styles of growth and variety among each plant as well as how lighting reflected on plants.