One of the biggest and most important Leonardo da Vinci exhibitions ever staged opens at the National Gallery in London on the 9th November bringing together many works never seen together before.
Described by the gallery as the “the most complete display of Leonardo da Vinci’s rare surviving paintings ever held”, the exhibition took over 5 years of negotiations to organise.
Paintings and drawings from all over the world will be appearing at this unique exhibition with loans from as far afield as Williamstown in Canada and St. Petersburg in Russia. Many of the paintings were previously displayed in galleries around Europe including 6 from Millan, 2 from Florence and 11 from Paris.
However, surprisingly over 1/3 of the paintings came from just down the road in Windsor, held as part of the Royal Collection, which exhibition curator Luke Syson says certainly helped to persuade the other galleries.
Previous exhibitions: There have been many previous exhibitions of Leonardo da Vinci’s works, but as Luke Syson explained to the BBC recently, most of these focused on the finished paintings rather than the drawings for which Leonardo was equally famous. This new exhibition will include a selection of both, with some standalone drawings and others believed to be tests and studies for later paintings.
One of the biggest coup’s for the National Gallery, was to get the two versions of The Virgin Of The Rocks painting hanging side by side, which has never been seen previously. One version has been restored by the National Gallery, and the other normally shows in the Louvre in Paris.
Loans in return: Galleries naturally don’t want empty spaces within their walls, so as is standard practice, the National Gallery also lent out other works in exchange. An example was the Ambrosiana gallery in Millan which sent the Portrait Of The Musician in exchange for Boticelli’s mystic nativity to coincide with that galleries own exhibitions.
Tickets are on sale for the exhibition, plus a further 500 tickets will be available each day for ‘on the door’ enquiries, although these are expected to go quickly.
Dates: The exhibition runs from the 9th November to 5th February 2012 so there should be plenty of time to see it.
More London Resources:
Leonardo da Vinci exhibitions at the National Gallery
BBC guide to where the paintings originated
More attractions around Charing Cross
Hotels near the National Gallery, Charing Cross
