An Italian genius and a universal legend. The famous Autoritratto is for the first time on display in a great exhibition, together with the works of artists that, in the course of centuries, took their inspiration from the genius of Leonardo.
Realization
The exhibition, under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, is promoted and developed by the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage – Regional Direction for Cultural and Environmental Conservation of Piedmont and the Biblioteca Reale of Turin, together with Consorzio La Venaria Reale and Comitatio Italia 150.
Scientific Committee
Carmen Bambach, New York, Metropolitan Museum
Sandrina Bandera, SBSAE, Milan
Renato Barilli, Università di Bologna
Pinin Brambilla Barcilon
Arnaldo Colasanti, Università Roma Tre
Marco Filippi, Politecnico di Torino
Pietro Marani, Milano, Ente Raccolta Vinciana
Cristina Misiti, Istituto Centrale per il Restauro
e la Conservazione del Patrimonio Archivistico e Librario
Romano Nanni, Vinci, Biblioteca Leonardiana
Carlo Pedretti, Los Angeles, A. Hammer Center for Leonardo Studies
Annalisa Perissa Torrini, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice
Paola Salvi, Milano, Accademia di Brera, Milan
Clara Vitulo, Biblioteca Reale, Turin
Scenic design
Dante Ferretti
Video Report about the Autoritratto by
Piero Angela
In collaboration with Lavazza
The exhibition
The exhibition, conceived and organized on the occasion of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of Italian Unification by the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage – Regional Direction for Cultural and Environmental Conservation of Piedmont and the Biblioteca Reale of Turin, in collaboration with Consorzio La Venaria Reale, with the support of Lavazza, is aimed to offer a journey into Leonardo’s works: about 30 original drawings from some important Italian and foreign institutions and some writings about the Autoritratto from the Biblioteca Reale of Turin. The path includes also a series of works from the 15th to the 20th century, telling us the importance and the strengthening of the physiognomy of Genius in ancient and modern arts, as well as the influence of Leonardo on contemporary art.
The introduction to the artist
An opening section offers the visitor the chance to know the artist through a biography that illustrates his social contest, his cultural background and the multiple fields of activity in which the Maestro worked. An illustrative and interpretational video report about Leonardo’s works, focused on the topic of the physiognomy of the artist, curated by Piero Angela, helps to introduce visitors in the world of the artist. The exhibition is achieved by a multimedia area, introduced by a digital reproduction of the Last Supper on 1:1 scale, that allows to analyze the details of gestures and physiognomies of one of Leonardo’s major masterpieces. The fortune of Leonardo in literature is described by the projection of literary writings, while a section, realized in collaboration with the Museo del Cinema of Turin and curated by Arnaldo Colasanti, presents a series of movies inspired by his genius.
The Autoritratto and the drawings
The section about drawings, curated by Carlo Pedretti, Paola Salvi and Clara Vitulo, presents the Codice del Volo degli Uccelli and a complete set of 13 autograph writings belonging to the collections of the Biblioteca Reale of Turin, including the famous Autoritratto. Prestigious national and international lendings integrate and provide a context for the topics of the Turin collection, particularly those of human face, nature, human anatomy and machines.
The birth of a myth
The figure of Leonardo is analyzed through a selection of works by artists from the 15th to the 18th century, curated by Pietro Marani. Through this section, visitors may easily understand how the physiognomy of the artist soon became the icon of the Renaissance genius. A specific section is dedicated to the construction of Leonardo’s image as the epithome of the Italian character, a rhetorical device used before and after the Italian Unification.
A contemporary icon
The section about the fortune of Leonardo in contemporary art, curated by Renato Barilli, is opened by the famous tribute by Marcel Duchamp, that apparently defaced Mona Lisa by drawing a moustache. Another unmissable topic is the Last Supper, with the series of reprocessed reproductions by Andy Warhol, but also many other main characters of contemporary art, such as Spoerri, Nitsch, Recalcati. The theme of the Uomo Vitruviano can be found in the work of Ceroli. Leonardo was also a scholar of physiognomy, who inspired Lavater’s types and later influenced the works of Goya, Daumier, and Grosz. Lastly, a precious note by Leonardo invites the visitor to look at the stains on walls and see arcane scenes and landscapes, as it occurred in the works of Informal artists like Wols, Tápies, Rotella, Twombly, Benedini and Novelli.
Reggia di Venaria
The exhibition is set up in the wide spaces of the 18th century Scuderia Grande, under the direction of the Academy Awards winner Oscar Dante Ferretti, who put on the stage the great Leonardo’s machines as containers of the artist’s works. Great and spectacular projections on the walls are aimed to emphasize the theme of Autoritratto.
LENDING MUSEUM
Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi, Florence
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
Museo del Bargello, Florence
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan
Ente Raccolta Vinciana, Milan
Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan
Castello Sforzesco, Milan
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome
Biblioteca Reale, Turin
Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice
Museo Ideale, Vinci
Royal Collection, Windsor |
