Leonardo da Vinci 500th, Paris, Milan and London
Museums across Europe are showing off their da Vinci collections to mark the fifth centenary since the Italian master’s death. Milan’s Ambrosiana art gallery and library have been celebrating ‘the year of Leonardo’ since December 2018 with various displays featuring his groundbreaking civil engineering studies and drawings from the Codex Atlanticus.
Da Vinci die-hards will also be glad to know that they don’t need to travel abroad to bear witness to one of these landmark shows, but they will, however, have to wait until 2020. The Royal Collection Trust are exhibiting their collection of 200 da Vinci drawings across 12 cities in the UK, culminating in an exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery in London from 24 May 2020 to 13 October 2020.
The colossus of these exhibitions is promised by the Louvre, who aim to bring as many paintings attributed to da Vinci (there are reputedly only between 14 to 17) as possible to display alongside five of their paintings in autumn. These vastly differing exhibitions speak to da Vinci's various and virtuosic skills as a painter, architect, inventor, and scientist. Discover the multitudinous talents of the exemplary Renaissance man.