Leonardo da Vinci's Head of the Virgin in Three-Quarter View Facing to the Right (Metropolitan Museum) Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum

Let's begin with the Leonardo da Vinci show at the Metropolitan Museum. In my fantasy, Leonardo comes back and visits his exhibition. He is astounded -- first, that we have framed his drawings, doodlings, and quick sketches never meant for exhibition; second, that there are long lines of people waiting to see them.

But we are right to do this. I am convinced that this is the very best way to get to know an artist; here, we are treated to the inner workings of his mind. This is the show of a lifetime: never before have so many of the master's drawings been gathered together. In fact, it is amazing that some of the participating institutions were willing to lend their priceless treasures.

In contemplating a drawing of the head and limbs of a very old man, I noted Leonardo's statement quoted beside it. The man had died peacefully at the age of 100; Leonardo said that he had drawn him in order to discover the secret that allowed this old man to slip into such a sweet death. I realized that this is what all of Leonardo's oeuvre is about, and what makes his drawings so powerful. They all arise from his quest to understand, from his paradoxical use of surface detail to attempt to find inner meanings. By capturing on paper the exteriors of things, he hoped to uncover their inner workings. And his appetite to understand was voracious: from portraiture to landscape, from human and comparative anatomy to examinations of bodily systems and functions, from weaponry to hydraulics, from reality to fantasy, nothing escaped Leonardo's attention. He probed and searched, and drew and painted. Faulted for seldom finishing projects, he was unrelenting in moving forward with a zeal never before or since matched. He belongs to no century, and seems apart from time and space.

Leonardo da Vinci's Bust of Grotesque Man in Profile Facing to the Right (Christ Church, Oxford). Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum

To focus on just a few of the works: His drawing of the Head of the Virgin in Three-Quarter View, a study for the Louvre Virgin and Child With Saint Anne, is the embodiment of serene beauty and holy perfection. It measures just 8 by 6 1/8 inches, but overwhelms us with its inner power. At the other extreme are the unforgettable studies called "Grotesques." We would be hard-pressed to find uglier human faces. The Study for a Head of a Soldier in the "Battle of Anghiari," also small, commands our attention with the open, screaming mouth. Incomplete, the face lacks the rest of the head, but we somehow do not even miss it. The unfinished St. Jerome Praying in the Wilderness, lent by the Vatican, is the only painting in the show. Its power lies in the depiction of determination in the elderly saint, both in facial expression and musculature. Indeed, everything necessary is already in the painting to the extent that a viewer wonders what more could be added to finish it. Whether or not Leonardo intended it, beauty, however unconventional, streams forth from everything he does.

Anne Vallayer-Coster (1744-1818), whose works are on view at the Frick Collection, also sought truth in her painting. Hers, however, is not the broad investigation of a Leonardo, but rather, a narrowly circumscribed universe of flowers and still lifes ("nature mortes," in French, or instructively, "dead nature.") The genre of still life was considered the lowest rung of the ladder in the hierarchy of painting during her time; therefore, it was often relegated to women. But Vallayer-Coster approached her subject matter with pride and the same sort of thoroughness Leonardo brought to his intense scrutiny of everything. Her studies of flowers are marvels of intricacy, her still lifes full of detail and passionate observation. The dead hare in one painting exudes life just extinguished; in another, the plums look good enough to eat. In Still Life With Lobster (1781) -- a pendant (or companion piece) to Still Life With Game (1782) -- the artist has virtuosically included a tiny self-portrait at work reflected in the polished surface of a soup tureen.

Anne Vallayer-Coster's Still Life With Seashells and Coral, 1769. © Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY. photo: R. G. Ojeda.

Composition was essential to her, as evidenced by the wonderful symmetry between the two above works. In another pair of paintings, she further demonstrates her concern for balance by having a small bunch of flowers lie on the left-hand side of the stone counter in Bouquet of Flowers in a Blue Porcelain Vase (1776) while in its pendant, Bouquet of Flowers in a Terracotta Vase, a few peaches on the right serve as a counterbalance.

Two paintings that stand apart from the rest are the Still Life With Seashells and Coral (1769) and the Attributes of Music (1770). In the first, Vallayer-Coster arranges animals from the sea as if they were flowers. But beyond the obvious demonstration of the artist's power of observation, the subject holds particular interest: it seems that scientific research had only recently reassigned these creatures from the plant to the animal world. Indeed, at least 24 different specimens have been identified in this painting. The music painting is at least as accurate. Musicians might want to examine it closely, both for the authenticity of the musical instruments and for the clearly legible musical score.

Though well known and appreciated in her time, Vallayer-Coster fell into obscurity after the fall of the French monarchs who were her primary patrons. Her work reveals the clear influence of Chardin, as well as 17th-century Dutch masters, whose work has been far more highly valued. But perhaps this new look at an unprecedented number of Vallayer-Coster's paintings will help to rectify the situation.

Both shows are great treats. You are advised to see the Leonardo on a weekday, if possible, but you can go to see Vallayer-Coster any time. The peace and quiet in the Frick is an invaluable antidote to the frenzy of the Met. But see both shows if you want two different, unforgettable experiences.

"Anne Vallayer-Coster: Painter to the Court of Marie-Antoinette" can be seen at the Frick Collection, 1 East 70 Street, at Fifth Avenue, through March 23. Hours are Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sunday, 1-6 p.m. "Leonardo da Vinci: Master Draftsman" is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, though March 30. Hours are Friday and Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sunday and Tuesday-Thursday, 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Both museums are closed on Mondays.

Art historian Greta Berman has been on the liberal arts faculty since 1979.