Da Vinci Travel Brushes

Da Vinci travel brushes - size 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10,

followed by the Caseneo in a size 8 and a size 10 dagger (Slant brush)

I've posted about the Da Vinci brushes previously here, but I wanted to focus this time just on their travel brushes.

They have three main ranges - the Pure Kolinsky 1503 range, the Caseneo 1593 synthetic squirrel range, and the Cosmotop Spin synthetic 1573 range.

All are made with the screw on caps so they are very secure while painting or when capped for travel.

(There is also a series 4156 travel range and a series 910 travel range with retractable brush tips, but I haven't tried any of these.)

I love the Kolinsky range, and have used the number 8 to sketch with for years, especially when I am teaching. It is a great size and shape for up to A4 sketch books. It holds a lot of water and comes to a lovely point.

In the same range, you can see the size 3, 4, 5 and 6 - the first four. There is a big jump in size from the 6 to the 8 as the barrel size goes up. There is another jump in barrel size for the 10. Click here to see the full Maestro range. I find I use the number 8 and 5 or 6 for just about all of my sketches. There is a set with the 4, 6 and 8 in a travel wallet that is a great option for travel sketching.

Also pictured above is the size 8 Caseneo pointed brush and the size 10 dagger - a new shape recently released and really useful as a general purpose brush. It can be used to lay on larger washes, for finer lines or for more random leaf and foliage marks.

Smaller sized pointed brushes are available in this excellent synthetic hair.

As well as the slanted or dagger brush, a travel flat and a lovely mop were released in 2019 - shown left. By 2023 the liner brush and the pointed round complete the Caseneo Travel range.

The Caseneo are wonderful synthetic squirrel brushes that really perform well. Click here to see the full Caseneo range.

To see the full Cosmotop Spin synthetic range click here.

Da Vinci is a German company, and one of the largest brush manufacturers in the world. I've been very happy with all the brushes I've used. 

Happy painting!

Da Vinci Brushes

Da Vinci brushes are from a specialist brush-making company in Germany. It is not the same company as Da Vinci paint, which is from California.

They make brushes for artists, cosmetics, shaving, nail, dental - I think they are the largest brush manufacture in the world...

I've been using a lot of Da Vinci brushes lately as they are really excellent - one of my favourite brands, along with Raphael and Rosemary & Co, though of course there are many other excellent brush brands.

I took a photo to show a range of them together just to show size comparisons. I thought it might be helpful to show the studio brushes next to the travel brushes as I get a lot of questions about brushes.


Raphael 8040 sable size 4

Lamy Joy fountain pen

Da Vinci Junior flat size 6 (6mm)

Da Vinci Casaneo size 2
Da Vinci Casaneo size 0

Da Vinci red sable mop size 0

Da Vinci Harbin Kolinsky size 4

Da Vinci Maestro Tobolsky-Kolinsky sable size 5 and 8

Da Vinci Kolinsky sable travel brushes size 10, 8, 4 and 3. I use the 8 when sketching almost all the time.

Rosemary& Co R9 travel brush, squirrel quill.



I love to use natural hair brushes - sables and squirrels - but there are many great synthetic hair brushes available these days, including the synthetic squirrel Casaneo range, which come in many shapes and have also been released as a travel brush. The Harbin Kolinsky are part of the red sable range  and are shorter than the Maestro range in either the studio or the travel brushes.

For more information on brushes, see my blog posts here  or my website here