MANILA -- Painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer and writer. What went on inside the mind of Leonardo da Vinci?
Plenty, it seems, if you check out “Da Vinci – The Genius,” the most comprehensive exploration of Leonardo da Vinci’s work at the Mind Museum at the Bonifacio Global City.
Created by the world renowned Grande Exhibitions Australia, the exhibition will run from September 1 to November 30.
Jason Brown, Grande Exhibitions exhibition production manager, said Da Vinci lacked neither imagination nor ingenuity as evidenced by the 200 pieces of the Italian polymath’s extraordinary works from paintings to war machines and even codices in the exhibit.
The exhibit shows full-scale interpretations of Da Vinci’s inventions including a mechanical drum, a multi-directional gun machine and an aerial screw, as well as high-quality reproductions of his Renaissance art.
“Most of Da Vinci’s artwork is too fragile to travel. These are the best examples outside of the Louvre or the museums in Krakow, Poland. You won’t find plastics in this exhibition. All the replicas are made of wood and metal that would have been available to da Vinci during his time,” he told reporters.
The exhibit features 13 themed areas of Da Vinci’s work, giving visitors an immersive experience into the mind of a genius.
In the Military Engineering section, visitors are given a glimpse into the mind of Da Vinci as a weapons maker. Some of the replicas in the exhibit include an assault ladder (the better to scale enemy walls), a multi-barrelled gun machine (the great granddaddy of the modern machine gun) and a Scitian Wagon, a nasty looking war chariot with four large scythes that would not look out of place in the Colosseum.
One highlight is a wooden replica of Da Vinci’s concept of a tank: an
armored vehicle capable of moving in any direction and bristling with
cannons on all sides. To move the tank, eight men inside the vehicle
turned cranks attached to trundle wheels which were in turn attached to
four large wheels. The Da Vinci tank is actually a dream come true for
Assassin’s Creed gamers.
Other sections of the exhibit on hydraulic and aquatic and civil
engineering also reveal the brilliance of Da Vinci’s intellect. In one
corner of the exhibit -- like a reverse Abe Sapien suit – stands a
rudimentary diving suit that would help people breath underwater. The
suit is made of a watertight leather tunic reinforced by armor that
would protect the air bag from being compressed in deep water. Flexible
hoses with leather joints reinforced by spirals of metal drew in air
from above the surface while valves regulated the air intake.
Another invention that would have made Tony Stark proud is a humanoid
automaton, which would have been the world’s first robot if it was
actually built. Da Vinci drew sketches of the automaton before he
painted the Last Supper in 1495. It is not clear, however, whether there
was an attempt to actually build the device. The robot was clad in
medieval armor similar to that of a knight and was designed to make
several human-like motions.
Other inventions that leave people in awe are replicas of a
self-propelled car, a hammer driven by an eccentric cam and rolling ball
bearings.
Da Vinci, however, wasn’t just interested in conceptualizing suits or
automatons. He was also interested in flight and hydraulic engineering.
The physics/flight section of the exhibit shows how Da Vinci was one of
the first scientists fascinated with flight as shown in his concept of
the Aerial Screw, considered as the ancestor of today’s helicopter.
Meanwhile, the hydraulic and aquatic section also showed his designs for
a double-hulled ship and a submarine.
In the Art section, one cannot help but be drawn to a replica of Da
Vinci’s most famous work of art: The Mona Lisa. One secret revealed in
the exhibition is that a blotch mark on the corner of the model’s eye is
actually water damage to the varnish “most likely caused when she was
on display in Napoleon’s bathroom.”
Another piece of artwork, which is presented only in animation, is
The Last Supper, which is the most famous religious painting of all
time.
Other works of art presented in the exhibit include The Annunciation,
Virgin of the Rocks, St. Jerome and Portrait of a Musician. There is
also a self-portrait of the Italian Renaissance polymath.
A separate section is also given to Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man, which
illustrates the theories on proportion postulated by the Roman architect
Vitruvius.
Maria Isabel Garcia, curator of the Mind Museum, said the exhibit
seeks to ignite the spirit of curiosity, exploration and expression
found in the life of Da Vinci.
“Throughout the three months, we want everyone to enter the
exhibition hall and not just look at his works but to find him – to find
Leonardo. Leonardo’s genius also now lies in sparking the creative in
each of us,” she said.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
