The exhibition will be held at The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, from 8 November until 7 February 2009.

The Library is one of only 4 galleries in the UK to host the exhibition, and the only location in Wales. A similar touring exhibition drew over 82,000 visitors in Leeds in 2006.

The 10 Leonardo drawings showcased have been selected from the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. The Royal Collection has been shaped by the personal tastes of kings and queens over the last 500 years.

The collection includes paintings, sculpture, furniture, ceramics, silver, armour, jewellery, books, prints, manuscripts, photographs, and one of the world's finest collections of old master drawings, all of which are held in trust by The Queen as Sovereign for her successors and the nation.

"Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452, and became famous for his work as a sculptor, painter, architect and engineer.

But few of his contemporaries were aware of his scientific researches: he wrote copious notes and intended to publish several treatises, but, like many of his artistic projects, these were never finished.

Many of Leonardo's achievements are therefore known only through his drawings, and this exhibition presents ten of Leonardo's finest studies.

The drawings on loan to The National Library include studies for painting, sculpture and architecture.

Among the drawings are a beautiful portrait of a young woman and a caricature of a grotesque old man; two exquisite studies of a dissected human skull and two of plants; a drawing of an arsenal; a highly accurate map of the river Arno, surveyed by Leonardo himself; an apocalyptic image of a deluge; and, very apt for Wales a design for a dragon costume.

The drawings, first documented in the Royal Collection in 1690, are thought to have been acquired during the reign of Charles II (1660-1685).

The potential for damage caused by light means that the works cannot be exhibited continually.

But following a programme of conservation beginning in the 1970s, selections of Leonardo's drawings from the Royal Collection have now been seen by millions of people in exhibitions held around the world."

Article by Llinos Medi Jones