Ustad Mansur (fl.c. 1590-1630), A chameleon 1612?, brush and ink with green bodycolour on discoloured paper

Before the advent of photography, drawing was the ideal tool to record the appearance of the natural world. Artists used drawing to capture what they saw and to hone and perfect their skill in the observation of nature.

Leonardo da Vinci's study of a Flowering rush (no. 4) and Albrecht Dürer's Greyhound (no. 18) are among the most sensitive drawings of the Renaissance. Ustad Mansur's Chameleon (no. 45) shows the scientific accuracy of the miniaturists of the Indian court. Meanwhile in Rome, Cassiano dal Pozzo commissioned thousands of drawings of natural history and antiquities to form a visual encyclopedia of the known world (nos 42-44).