All crazy for Leonardo da Vinci at the Louvre. Exhibition kicks off, with 260,000 reservations

The great exhibition of controversy, the exhibition on Leonardo da Vinci at the Louvre, scheduled to run from October 24, 2019 to February 24, 2020, has begun: the exhibition, called “exceptional” by its organizers, will gather, in addition to the works preserved in the Parisian museum (the Virgin of the Rocks, the Madonna and Child with Saint Anne, Saint John the Baptist, the Belle Ferronnière and, of course, the Mona Lisa, which, however, will remain in its own room), a number of paintings and drawings arriving from Italy (beginning with theVitruvian Man, via the Scapigliata and studies for the Battle of Anghiari) and other countries: an important nucleus of drawings arrives, for example, from the collections of the British royal family, the Benois Madonna arrives from St. Petersburg, and in addition there are also works by artists of the context ( Verrocchio’sIncredulity of St. Thomas, arriving from Florence, stands out).

Curated by Vincent Delieuvin and Louis Frank, the exhibition is a success already on its first day of opening: as many as 260,000 reservations have already been made, and until November 3 it is already sold out. The reservations site is on the blink: at the time of writing this article, on the evening of the first day of opening, it is unreachable at times, and if it goes well, it is very slow, despite the fact that reservations are mandatory. Leonardo-mania has gotten the better of technological means, however. An influx of between five and seven thousand visitors a day is expected: if this is the average, between 600,000 and 840,000 visitors will be counted by the end of the exhibition. Staggering numbers for a temporary exhibition: consider that last year’s most-visited exhibition in Italy(Dentro Caravaggio, held at the Palazzo Reale straddling September 2017 to 2018) stopped at an average of 3,344 visitors, far outpacing the runner-up (the exhibition Van Gogh. Between the Grain and the Sky at the Basilica Palladiana in Vicenza: average of 2,438 visitors). But these will be extraordinary numbers for the Louvre as well: last year’s highly successful Delacroix exhibition attracted some 540,000 visitors.

Compulsory booking is an extraordinary measure for the Louvre, although this is not the first time the Paris museum has adopted it to cope with the huge flow of visitors expected: it was already used in 2017 for the Jan Vermeer exhibition.

All crazy for Leonardo da Vinci at the Louvre. Exhibition kicks off, with 260,000 reservations

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.