A taste of Leonardo
The Mona Lisa and 16 other leonardo da Vinci digital reproductions are coming to Kl.
YES, the Mona Lisa is coming to town. No, not the actual painting hanging in the Louvre in Paris, but a high-definition digital reproduction of this iconic work by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519).
This masterpiece, alongside 16 other true-to-size reproductions of paintings by Leonardo – the artist, engineer, inventor and visionary extraordinaire – will be showcased in the Leonardo Opera Omnia exhibition at the National Art Gallery in Kuala Lumpur from July 15 to Aug 15.
The actual paintings are housed in various museums around the world – eight different countries, to be exact.
Works such as Lady With An Ermine (the original is housed in the National Museum in Krakow, Poland), The Last Supper (Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy), Annunciation (Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy), La Belle Ferronniere (on loan to Louvre Abu Dhabi) and Head Of A Woman (Galleria Nazionale di Parma in Parma, Italy ) have been shown on this tour.
Now, thanks to this state-of-theart exhibition, you can see them all in one place. After showing first in Italy, Leonardo Opera Omnia (Incredible Exhibition) began its world tour at the Simon Janashia Museum of Georgia in February.
The tour commemorates the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death.
This year, several prominent museums around the world have been marking this anniversary. The Louvre in Paris will host a blockbuster Leonardo show beginning on Oct 24.
Leonardo Opera Omnia, despite being an exhibit of reproductions, is expected to give Malaysians a taste of the celebrations surrounding the Italian master throughout this year worldwide.
The exhibition is curated by Italian art historian and curator Antonio Paolucci.
According to the curator’s text: “Leonardo Opera Omnia unveils the great master’s life and genius through his pictorial work. The 17 reproductions representing the painter’s artistic path, made using sophisticated digital techniques, place the viewer virtually in front of the original work.
“Thanks to shrewdly regulated light, they elicit the emotions one normally has when standing in front of the original. This overall vision provides an extraordinary vantage point for understanding Leonardo’s eclectic and creative genius.”
“Leonardo is ranked among the most influential artists in history. He lived in the boom of the European Renaissance, a golden age of social and cultural change, a period in history characterised by an enthusiastic fervour towards intellectual pursuits and creativity, in which people started to question the accepted norms and to look for a new approach to life which placed man in the centre of the universe,” says Eliana Salvi, cultural officer of the Embassy of Italy in Kuala Lumpur.
This travelling exhibition, conceived by the Italian public television subsidiary Raicom with the support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, is presented here in collaboration with the Embassy of Italy and the National Art Gallery.
Leonardo Opera Omnia was in Georgia, Warsaw, Poland and China before this upcoming Kuala Lumpur tour stop, and will thereafter visit Bangkok and Yangon in Myanmar.
“We believe art lovers will be able to reflect on and appreciate the technical improvements that Leonardo made on the standard practices of his times. As the artist himself said, ‘Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.’ It is our hope that visitors will leave the National Art Gallery enriched by the experience, having witnessed the poetry of Leonardo’s paintings,” says Cristiano Maggipinto, the ambassador of Italy to Malaysia.
Last August, the National Art Gallery presented Caravaggio Opera Omnia, which featured 34 HD digital reproductions of the Italian master’s works.
Leonardo Opera Omnia is on at the National Art Gallery, No.2 Jalan Temerloh, off Jalan Tun Razak, KL, from July 15 to Aug 15. Opening hours: 10am-6pm. Closed on Aug 11. Free admission. Visit: artgallery. gov.my. FB: “Embassy of Italy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia”.