Leonardo da Vinci exhibition at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science
The extraordinary genius of Leonardo da Vinci is celebrated in a series of global exhibitions this year.
It took a 15th-century genius to broker a rapprochement between Italy and France earlier this year, after escalating political tensions between the two nations threatened to scotch plans for a landmark Leonardo da Vinci exhibition at the Louvre.
Both nations have claims on the Renaissance polymath. Da Vinci was born in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci in 1452 and died near Amboise in central France on 2 May, 1519 – a date that looms large this year as dozens of exhibitions around the world are staged to mark the 500th anniversary of the master’s death.
Amid accusations from both sides of meddling in domestic affairs, Italian authorities appeared to backtrack on an agreement to loan key artworks to the Louvre, which holds the crowdpleasing Mona Lisa and almost a third of Da Vinci’s surviving paintings.
For now, though, the diplomatic drama has eased. French president Emmanuel Macron says he plans to celebrate the anniversary alongside Italian president Sergio Mattarella in Paris on 2 May, and the Louvre exhibition of paintings, sketches and sculptures will open on 24 October (louvre.fr/en/).
In another ambitious project, by the Royal Collection Trust, a collection of 200 Da Vinci drawings is showing at The Queen’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace until 13 October, and then in the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh from 22 November until 15 March 2020 (rct.uk).
Other blockbuster exhibitions of Da Vinci’s artistic and scientific work are in Turin, Venice and Denver (the latter includes replicas of his inventions and “the only 360-degree replica of the Mona Lisa”).
Perhaps the most comprehensive homage is planned in Milan, where the master lived for many years. After seven years’ restoration, Da Vinci’s virtuosic wall and ceiling paintings will dazzle in Castello Sforzesco’s Sala delle Asse, which reopens on 2 May. A virtual tour of Da Vinci-era Milan opens simultaneously in the castle.
Elsewhere in the city, the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana focuses on the master’s work in architecture and science throughout the year, and until the end of June the Stelline foundation shows works by top contemporary artists inspired by Da Vinci, among them Anish Kapoor and Wang Guangyi.