The exhibition also features three larger-than-life-size bronze figures by Giovan Francesco Rustici, recently restored in Florence and never before seen outside Italy. Leonardo and Rustici worked closely together, and Rustici was immersed in Leonardo's studio practice. Because of their collaborations and similar aesthetic, Rustici's work is considered the best echo of Leonardo's lost activity as a sculptor.
The handling of the three elegant and lively figures, the variety of their drapery, and their anatomical realism give credence to an opinion related by Giorgio Vasari that "Leonardo worked at the group with his own hand, or that he at the least assisted Rustici with counsel and good judgment."
In the absence of any securely attributed sculptures by Leonardo himself, these works, along with his surviving drawings, give us a glimpse of Leonardo's sculptural accomplishments.