Leonardo da Vinci next at the next Palazzo Grassi

Leonardo da Vinci is the next springtime project at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice, planned for the end of March or the beginning of April. Leonardo is to be viewed as a man of his time, in the relationship between art and science (the responsibility of Martin Kemp) and his contact with the scientific milieux of Venice and Padua (Paolo Galluzzi). Given this perspective, there is speculation as to which of the famous manuscripts, the “Atlantico” or the “Windsor”, the “Forster” or the “Trivulziano” may be exhibited. The organisers are also hoping to borrow works from the Uffizi , the Accademia in Venice, the Biblioteca Reale in Turin and the Biblioteca Nazionale in Madrid. The ”other” Leonardo, although indistinguishable from the scientist, is the artist. And here, there are two main strands to the exhibition: first, the relationship between the art of Leonardo and that of the Veneto, and particularly Leonardo’s influence on artists such as Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione and Lorenzo Lotto (this is being organised by Giovanni Nepi Sciré, Pietro Marani and Peter Humfrey); second, the Lombardy part of the exhibition, seen in the influence that a great work such as the “The Last Supper” had on the Masters of the period, from Raphael to Dürer (curator David Alan Brown), and in the School of Leonardo, Solario to Luini (curators Luisa Cogliati Arano and Giulio Bora). Finally, Leonardo’s influence on Lombard sculpture will be analysed for the first time (Maria Teresa Fiorio). The Honorary Committee includes Carlo Pedretti, who for years has studied Leonardo and his times.