Milano, Royal Palace, 16 April - 19 July 2015
The exhibition is accompanied by a magnificent catalog, edited by Pietro C. Marani and Maria Teresa Fiorio (both also wrote some valuable introductory texts, respectively on Leonardo's relations with the ancient and his commitment to sculptural practice) posted by Skira. Its publication was made possible thanks to the contribution of a group of international scholars: Marzia Faietti (Uffizi) and Carmen C. Bambach (Metropolitan Museum of Art) investigate Leonardo's Florentine training in drawing; Andrea Bernardoni (Galileo museum, mechanical arts) discusses the technical aspects of the equestrian monuments designed by Leonardo; Martin Clayton (Royal Library, Windsor) examines the physiological foundations of Leonardo's representation of “mental motions”; Paolo Galluzzi (Galileo museum) and Claudio Giorgione (National Museum of Science and Technology “Leonardo da Vinci”, Milano), they explore the conceptualization of his mechanical devices; Edoardo Villata (Catholic University, Milano) examines Leonardo's visionary approach to projects for flying and walking underwater; Richard Schofield (IUAV University, Venezia) evaluates the combination of reality and utopia in architectural and urban planning studies; Martin Kemp (Oxford University), traces a conceptual unity between the different languages used by Leonardo; Frank Fehrenbach (Harvard University, Cambridge) discusses his studies on the motions of water; Rodolfo Maffeis (Kunsthistorisches Institut, Florence) and Marco Versiero (Scuola Normale Superiore – Italian Institute of Human Sciences, Florence-Naples) detail the scientific approach and literary inspiration of the cosmology and naturalism of the late Leonardo; Furio Rinaldi (Metropolitan Museum) and Juliana Barone (University of London) evaluate Leonardo's pictorial and intellectual heritage; Roberto Paolo Ciardi (Accademia dei Lincei, Roma) offers some interesting examples of Leonardo's posthumous myth. In drafting the huge corpus of items in the catalog, these scholars have been assisted by other experts and curators from around the world.