In Madrid, an exhibition on Leonardo curated by a TV quiz show host. Protests from the scientific world.

An exhibition on Leonardo da Vinci opened last November 29 in Madrid, entitled Leonardo da Vinci. Los rostros del gen io (“Leonardo da Vinci. The Faces of Genius”), which, through facsimiles of manuscripts, multimedia installations, augmented reality, reproductions of paintings and infographics, intends to “accompany the visitor,” the presentation reads, “on the path to an original work that is being exhibited in Spain for the first time in history: the Lucan Table.” There are two points on which art historians are raging: on the one hand the display of the Tavola Lucana presented as an original by Leonardo da Vinci (it is instead a very modest painting that, as we have also reported in the pages of Windows on Art, none of the Leonardo specialists attribute to his hand) and on the other hand the fact that the curatorship has been entrusted to Christian Gálvez, who by trade is a TV quiz show host but who is described in the presentation of the exhibition as a “world expert on the figure of Leonardo da Vinci.” Gálvez previously wrote several novels about Leonardo and is a member of the Leonardo DNA project (a project that aims to reconstruct Leonardo’s genetic profile), as well as of ICOM Spain and the Spanish Association of Museologists, but he is not recognized as a Leonardo expert by the scientific community.

The exhibition project, which will unfold in the two venues of Palacio de las Alahajas and the Biblioteca Nacional, has received approval from the direction of the Biblioteca Nacional itself. Last Thursday, the Comité Español de Historia del Arte (CEHA), an association that brings together more than five hundred art historians, issued a statement denouncing the “professional intrusion” of Gálvez who, the text reads, “leveraging his popularity television and his knowledge of Leonardo that has resulted in novels with, at times, dubious historical and documentary bases,” was allowed to become curator of the exhibition “without any endorsement of a scientific nature.” The consequence is that the exhibition was presented as “a great exhibition, but this does not correspond to reality.” CEHA also reiterates that Gálvez “is not a scientifically recognized expert on the figure of Leonardo, nor on the culture of his time,” and therefore “it is unprofessional to entrust him with curating exhibitions.”

The Madrid exhibition, however, has a scientific committee that includes some experts, such as Elisa Ruiz, who is a university professor of paleography and an expert on Leonardo’s manuscripts: “we believe that on this occasion,” the CEHA note continues, “he has found some bad companions, who have diluted the work he is doing with great rigor at the Biblioteca Nacional.” In the Biblioteca Nacional building, in fact, the exhibition displays Codices Madrid I and Madrid II, two original manuscripts by Leonardo da Vinci, to present them to the public with augmented reality techniques that allow them to be seen in detail (and this section is curated by Ruiz himself). According to CEHA, this exhibition is somewhat overshadowed by the one being held at Palacio de las Alahajas instead.

However, the director of the Biblioteca Nacional, Ana Santos, speaking to El País newspaper, rejects the accusations: “no one sent me the statement, nor did I see it published,” she explained. And going into specifics, she points out, “since the Codices exhibition opened, visitors to the Biblioteca Nacional, have increased by 400 percent.” Santos also emphasized the “scientific prestige and academic quality” of the figure of Elisa Ruiz, adding that “in the area of the staircase, which is not intended for exhibitions, but is a transit space, some large reproductions of machines and objects, replicas of those illustrated in the Codex, have been placed. This selection was taken care of by Mr. Gálvez, who selflessly financed all the expenses of the exhibition.”

In Madrid, an exhibition on Leonardo curated by a TV quiz show host. Protests from the scientific world.

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