Rome, Villa Farnesina exhibits three drawings by Leonardo da Vinci

Three drawings by Leonardo da Vinci will be on display in Rome, in the rooms of Villa Farnesina, on the occasion of the presentation at the Accademia dei Lincei of the New Pedretti Foundation, Sept. 19-21.

The first of the three is a Foglio del teatro that Leonardo made, as revealed by the detailed description of the Ferrarese ambassador to Milan, Giacomo Trotti, with a view to a set design for the Fabula di Orfeo, a play written by Poliziano in Mantova in a rather short period of time, in the vernacular, during 1480. The Foglio del teatro, referring to this stage play, was published by Carlo Pedretti in 1999 and dated by him as 1506-1513. The sheet depicts a moving scene, which gives an idea of the complex set design that involved changing scenes with lighting effects and choreography of sound, song and dance. The other two sheets are fragments of drawings also related to this project.

The sheets on display at Villa Farnesina document the design of a “theatrical machine” in which Pluto, the protagonist of Poliziano’s play, emerges with extraordinary scenic effects and portrays the characters of the Fabula animated by that spontaneous vitality that Leonardo was able to imprint on his subjects in his rapid sketches. Two cornerstones of Leonardo’s entire activity emerge from the sheets: inventive wisdom declined in a technological key and the expressive power of the image.

The place hosting the exhibition, Villa Farnesina, also wants to emphasize through this event its centrality in the path of dissemination of Leonardo’s art. Also making it important for the spread of Leonardo’s art in Italy are the frescoes executed by Sodoma on the walls of Agostino Chigi’s bedroom, which the artist made around 1515-1517 at the same time Leonardo ended his stay in Rome that began at the end of 1513. The first results of the ongoing restoration of the frescoes will also be on display at the exhibition of the drawings. The intervention involves the removal of protective coatings applied at the end of a restoration carried out fifty years ago that, with the passage of time, have radically altered, changing the reading of the frescoes and the precious nuances of the Sodom. Finally, to complete the Leonardo tour of the Farnesina, the painting of the Naked Mona Lisa (owned by the Primoli Foundation and temporarily on loan to the Accademia dei Lincei) by a follower of Leonardo can be admired in the Sala del Fregio.

The exhibition opens from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., last admission at 1:15 p.m. For information: www.villafarnesina.it and www.lincei.it.

Rome, Villa Farnesina exhibits three drawings by Leonardo da Vinci

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