This fall the National Gallery in London brings together the most complete display of Leonardo’s rare surviving paintings ever held, in The Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan exhibition. The sensational masterpieces are on loan from private and institutional collections worldwide, and though 'Mona Lisa' won't take a holiday to London this time, the da Vinci exhibition promises to be a huge success nevertheless.
This is the first exhibition ever dedicated to Leonardo as a painter, and focuses on the time the master spent at the Court of Milan in the 1480s and 1490s. More than 60 paintings and preparatory drawings by the great artist are on display, including 33 sketches and studies from the Royal Collection, as well as works by some of his closest collaborators.
Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan includes the 'Portrait of a Young Man (The Musician)' (Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan), the 'Saint Jerome' (Vatican, Rome), the 'Madonna Litta' (Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg), the 'Belle Ferronnière' (Musée du Louvre, Paris), and 'The Lady with an Ermine' (Czartoryski Foundation, Cracow), acclaimed as the first truly modern portrait. Even more, the two versions of Leonardo’s ‘Virgin of the Rocks’, the National Gallery’s own recently restored one and the Louvre version will show together for the very first time.
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| The two versions of the 'Virgin of the Rocks' together for the very first time |
The wall-painting of 'The Last Supper' is represented in the exhibition by a full-scale copy by Leonardo's pupil Giampietrino (1500–1550), lent by the Royal Academy, and even a newly attributed work, the 'Salvator Mundi', an exciting discovery which has been the subject of much speculation, will be on display.
It may be opening late in the year but the da Vinci exhibition promises to be the 2011 blockbuster and Telegraph.co.uk even called it "the most eagerly awaited exhibition in living memory". The National Gallery exhibition focuses on Leonardo's search for new ways of perceiving and recording the natural world, the human anatomy, mind, soul and emotions, what we would now call the psychology of the sitter.
Leonardo da Vinci’s time in Milan was the making of him - both as an artist and as a public figure. Milan is the place that saw him develop from an erratic young painter into the extraordinary polymath we know today, and though his two most famous paintings won't be present - 'The Last Supper' for the obvious reasons and 'Mona Lisa' because it's from the wrong period of Leonardo's career - the exhibition will definitely draw in crowds.
Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan runs from November 9th, 2011 until February 5th, 2012 at National Gallery, London.
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| Five character studies |
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