Some examples of the exhibition

"Leonardo Citizen of Milan"

 

A city map of the period shows all the places where Leonardo carried out the activities connected to his various roles

 

 

LEONARDO MILITARY ENGINEER
 Representation of a scene from an imaginary battle fought with the armoured cars and deadly war machines designed by Leonardo

 

 

 

 

MASTER OF REVELS, creator of stage sets and mechanical musical instruments

 

 

 

Leonardo was an ARTISTIC GENIUS
 a comparison of his Last Supper with analogous paintings by other artists who were his contemporaries reveals his superior genius

 

 

 

THE MONA LISA’S MYSTERIOUS SMILE. In 1950, for the fifth centenary of Leonardo’s birth, the Louvre Museum, owner of 7 of his 15 paintings, organized a study of his singular painting technique. The Milanese museum, by re-examinating this material, came to some interesting conclusions.

 
X-ray photographs normally heighten the contrasts between black and white, showing up the brushwork and the use of colours. This is exemplified by the X-ray of Rembrandt’s self-portrait. The X-ray photograph of the Mona Lisa, instead, offers only an evanescent image below the visible layer.

 

  
 

 

 The mysterious allure of Leonardo’s portraits lies, therefore, in his invisible brushwork. Leonardo applied his colours in layers that were almost imperceptible, building up layer upon layer in order to achieve the desired effect in every point of his painting. With this technique the outlines of objects and details disappear.

A clear demonstration of the lack of outlines is given by this enlarged photograph of the Mona Lisa’s lips. The lips with the famous smile do not exist, they are only nuances of colour

(All the X-ray photographs: Louvre Museum)

The mystery of her smile, which has haunted generations of admirers, can be said to lie in the fact that it is not real. Its form and the emotion it elicits are a figment of the imagination of the observer.

 

The impossibility of copying Leonardo

A copyist, unable to copy this technique, can only reproduce the colours and outlines as they appear to him. The examples chosen here are the eyes and mouth of a well-executed recent copy compared with the same features of the Mona Lisa.

Recent copy by F. Pari

Leonardo’s Mona Lisa

  

 

The other fields of research to which Leonardo applied his efforts during the years in Milan were optics and perspective. His optical projector and perspective frame,

a model of which built here, are

examples of his work

 

 

Leonardo sculptor

During his stay in Milan, Leonardo made numerous studies for an equestrian statue in bronze of enormous proportions in memory of Francesco Sforza; however this statue was never completed.

To be sure, no sculpture exists which can be attributed to him with certainty.

 

  

Large bronze model displayed at the Milan
Hippodrome, executed after Leonardo’s
countless sketches  

  

 Leonardo’s studies for the project of the equestrian monument to Francesco Sforza

 

 

Other themes covered by this exhibition:

 Leonardo Scientist - Leonardo flight dynamics engineer - Leonardo canal engineer - Leonardo’s studies on the balance of a football player - Chronology of his activities 

 

 

 

On the lower floor of the exhibition it is still possible to see the secret tunnel, built in Leonardo’s day, which led from the Sforzesco Castle to St. Mark’s Church

 

 

 Go to the second exhibition "Treatise on Painting"

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