Italy's biggest show of Leonardo da Vinci drawings in over 30 years will open on August 29 at the Gallerie dell'Accademia museum in Venice, and is set to focus on 57 famous Leonardo drawings including the iconic Vetruvian Man. The show is called ''Leonardo da Vinci, The Universal Man'' and will revolve around the Accademia-owned 30 da Vinci works collection, last shown together in 1980.
The show will run for some three months and end on December 1.
The "Leonardo Da Vinci. L'Uomo universale" exhibition is curated by Annalisa Perissa Torrini, the director of the Cabinet of Drawings of the Accademia, and will allow attendees a unique occasion to be able to admire all these masterpieces under one roof.
The exquisite and priceless drawings, in fact, due to their extremely fragile nature, need to be placed for many years in a dark, temperature-controlled vault in order to ensure there is no damage after each time they are exposed to the public. The group of drawings of Venetian ownership is amongst the most consistent public collection currently existing in Italy.
They represent a period starting from 1478 and ending in 1516, time frame that encompasses the entire artistic lifespan of Da Vinci, during which he created his masterpieces, carried out scientific research as well as studies into proportions, nature, arms, wars, architecture, physics and mechanics.
The collection also included preparatory drawings for his famous Nativity and Last Supper paintings, amongst many others.
They are of quintessential importance in permitting scholars to understand his artistic production.
An important portion of the show will be dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci's studies into proportions, and will showcase the famous Uomo Vitruviano masterpiece, a distillation of art and science that has over the centuries come to be considered a symbol of the classical perfection of the combination between human body and mind.
Next to the Uomo Vitruviano display, viewers will be able to enjoy another two drawings that were last seen together in 1992.
One, in fact, belongs to the Windsor Royal Collection and the other to the Royal Library of Turin.
Opening the exhibition area will be a section on Leonardo da Vinci's Botanic studies. Next to the stunning flower study, or "Studio di fiori", a series of masterpieces belonging to the Windsor Royal Collection will be put on display. Here, art aficionados will be able to admire his three-botanic species works, his geometric projects, and his portraits on men and clouds.
Some ten preparatory studies that were used as bases for the Battle of Anghiari, or "Battaglia di Anghiari" will allow visitors to reconstruct the story of the tragedy, which Da Vinci illustrated in the world-famous fresco, now lost, in the "Salone dei Cinquecento" in Florence's Palazzo Vecchio.
Of particular interest within the venetian collection being put on show is the ''Dancers'', which depicts two female figures dancing with veils and drapes embracing their bodies, as well as the famous ''Pointing Lady of Windsor''.
Da Vinci's military and armament genius will be put on show through the studies he carried out on the topics, including various prototypes of military tanks as well as armaments and fighters, both from the Venetian collection as well as on loan from the Louvre.
Author: Alina Trabattoni | Source: ANSAmed [August 23, 2013]