The second exhibition on Leonardo has been set up in the large central hall of the Museum of Art and Science.

Appreciating Art 

Through the Eyes  of Leonardo

From the "Treatise on Painting " 

The Treatise is the most famous book on painting ever written and perhaps Leonardo's most significant work

The Aim of the Exhibition: Leonardo said: “Art cannot be taught to those whom nature grants it not”. If art is really so difficult to teach, it must be just as difficult to understand and appreciate. Only a genius, therefore, could undertake such an arduous task and no one more than Leonardo Da Vinci possessed all the necessary qualities to do so.

Unfortunately Leonardo jotted down all his thoughts on miscellaneous sheets, concentrating them in very few words written in his not always comprehensible code and in which each subject was developed or dealt with repeatedly. Towards the end of his life, in Paris , Leonardo realized it was impossible for him to collect and order thousands of sheets full of notes and sketches into a book and he gave them all to his friend and pupil Melzi.  

The aim of the Matthaes Foundation is to make the “Treatise” more accessible, committing itself to using only the words of the original texts, without comments or changes to the Master’s thoughts, limiting itself to rearranging the subjects, shortening overlong texts, avoiding the many  repetitions and illustrating the salient concepts.  

 

Great painters such as Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo were unique and there is therefore no point in trying to compare them in order to establish which was the greatest.  All gifted painters endeavour to attain a perfect pictorial representation of their ideas, but are limited by the extent of their manual skills and by the materials used.

Leonardo Da Vinci, and he alone, surpassed all other painters from this point of view. Throughout his life he jotted down his ideas and his advices, how to be a good painter, in notes and drawings on sheets of paper, subsequently collected in the “Treatise on Painting”.  His teaching is unambiguous and clear: the painter must observe nature and its phenomena using scientific methods and considerations, and copy nature, because the beauty of nature is incomparable, infinite and exquisite.

This has also been the teaching of all artists from the dawn of human culture to the 19th century, except that this precept had never been set down so clearly.

His thoughts applied to modern art are illustrated in room 12. 
 

DEVELOPMENT OF THE EXHIBITION

Room 11: SCULPTURE.  Comparison between sculpture and painting - Interactive desk - many examples and illustrations.

Room 12: PAINTING. Sections:  - the great possibilities of painting and of painters - the colours - the shadows - the light - the representation of the air - indication of the thoughts of Leonardo da Vinci about modern painting.

   

LEONARDO DA VINCI:  - The Virgin and Child with St. Anne, and the young  St. John the Baptist. Illustrated in the "Painting" section

LEONARDO DA VINCI:  -Madonna of the Carnation. Illustrated in "The Painter" section

 

School of Leonardo Da Vinci:- Leda and the Swan. Illustrated in the " Painting" section

Model referred to Leonardo's advises about the way of modelling  marble without mistakes. Section " The Sculptor"

         

   

  Two views of the rooms of the exhibition: sections "Painting and Sculpture compared" and " Motions in Painting and Sculpture"

 

The catalogue of the exhibition,  available also in English, (160 pages, 215 colour photos) written in the form of a book, the text of which uses only Leonardo's words without any change thereto , may be considered an abridged and illustrated edition of the Treatise.  The book-catalogue sets out to make the original Treatise more accessible, limiting itself to rearranging the subjects, shortening the texts, avoiding the numerous repetitions and illustrating the salient concepts on painting and sculpture. The catalogue is available also in internet  at: www.ArtAndScienceHandbook.com

MUSEO D' ARTE E SCIENZA- Museum of Art and Science

MILAN

via Q. Sella, 4 -20121 Milano-  Piazza Castello

Opening Hours: Mon.- Fri.: 10-18.    Entrance: Euro 8 - red. Euro 4

Guided tours: (min. 10 people)

 Info: Tel:+390272022488. Fax:+390272023156.  e-mail: info@museoartescienza.com

 

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