Turin, all of Leonardo's drawings on display at the Royal Library

From April 7 to July 9, 2023, the Royal Library of Turin is offering the public a unique opportunity to get to know and explore the work of Leonardo da Vinci up close through his drawings, his notebook dedicated to the flight of birds, and other very rare evidence related to his time. Thirteen of Leonardo’s works, including the famous sheets with the so-called Self-Portrait, the Face of a Maiden, the Manly Head in Profile Crowned with Laurel and the Codex on the Flight of Birds are in fact the protagonists of the exhibition The Genius and His Time. Face to face with Leonardo, supported by SMARTART Torino and OMT - Officine Meccaniche Torino, produced in collaboration with CoopCulture and under the patronage of the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) and the City of Turin.

Set up in the two underground vaults of the Royal Library, the exhibition opens with the events that marked Leonardo’s human and artistic story, from 1452, the year of his birth in Vinci, to 1519, the date of his death in France. An era of great men, from Michelangelo to Christopher Columbus, and of great feats that changed the course of European civilization, from the fall of Constantinople, to the invention of the printed book, to the Sistine Chapel. Sixty-seven years of places, facts and people reconstructed in the exhibition through rare and precious works from the Royal Library: manuscripts, such as Francesco di Giorgio Martini’s Treatise on Civil and Military Architecture (1486) and the Storie di San Gioachino, illuminated by Cristoforo De Predis for Galeazzo Maria Sforza (1476); unique incunabula, such as Gutenberg’s sheet of the Bible, the first book with movable type, and Roberto Valturio’s treatise De re militari (1483); ancient maps, such as Giovanni Vespucci’s Map of Italy and Geocarta nautica universale; drawings, such as Michelangelo’s Study for the Cumaean Sibyl.

The tour continues in the Leonardo da Vinci vault with the nucleus of Leonardo’s thirteen drawings purchased by King Carlo Alberto in 1839(read a detailed discussion here). Datable between 1480 and 1515, the sheets document Leonardo’s activities and interests from his youth to his full maturity. Some refer back to the master’s celebrated masterpieces, such as the nudes for the Battle of Anghiari, the horses for the Sforza and Trivulzio monuments, and the study for the angel of the Virgin of the Rocks, known as the Maiden’s Face; others, such as the Proportions of the Face and Eye, testify to his research on anatomy and the “motions of the soul,” of which Leonardo was an undisputed master. Up to the unicum, the so-called Self-Portrait, one of the most famous icons in the history of Italian art. Finally, the Codex on the Flight of Birds given by Theodore Sabachnikoff to King Umberto I in 1893. A notebook written between 1505 and 1506, it organically collects Leonardo’s thoughts on the making of the flying machine, as well as thoughts on mechanics, hydraulics, architecture, and figure drawing, intersecting crucial issues of his studies.

From April 7 to 16, the visit experience, which is renewed every year during the Easter holidays, allows visitors to admire the works of Vinci’s genius preserved in Turin. From Tuesday to Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., guides from CoopCulture accompany the public to discover the Royal Library and its great Vinci heritage. From April 18 to July 9, the exhibition continues with life-size copies of Leonardo’s drawings, made using sophisticated facsimile reproduction techniques. Drawings are in fact extremely fragile artifacts: ultra-high-definition copies are a tool that technology today offers us to meet the opposite needs of guaranteeing the public the possibility of learning about Leonardo’s works and, at the same time, preserving them to ensure their enjoyment for future generations.

Hours: Tuesday through Sunday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. (box office closes at 6 p.m.). From April 7 to 16, admission is by guided tour only at a cost of €20 (free admission for children aged 0-6, Abbonamento Musei, Torino + Piemonte Card and Royal Pass holders) for groups of up to 25 visitors each. From April 18 to July 9, admission is allowed with a free visit at a cost of € 13 or with an integrated ticket with the Royal Museums route at a cost of € 20 (reductions and gratuities in force). Special openings: Monday, April 10 and 24, Monday, May 1 and Friday, June 2. The exhibition route is enriched with audio content to guide the visit in Italian, English and French, which can be downloaded free of charge via QR Code. A richly illustrated printed guide to the exhibition will be available at the Museum Shop of the Royal Museums and in the bookshop corner of the Royal Library.

Turin, all of Leonardo's drawings on display at the Royal Library

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