To celebrate the five hundred years since the death of Leonardo da Vinci, the Museum returns to its origins by displaying in an evocative way the two collections with which it opened to the public on February 15, 1953.
The temporary exhibition Leonardo da Vinci Parade , curated and created by the Museum, stages a rich selection of the spectacular models created in the 1950s interpreting Leonardo's drawings and frescoes by Lombard painters of the 16th century , granted in deposit in 1952 by the Pinacoteca di Brera, then directed by Fernanda Wittgens. Next to the machines are exhibited models of military and civil architecture in plaster and terracotta, restored in recent years and not visible for some time.
On two large walls, the torn Brera frescoes evoke the racks of museum deposits, forming an evocative picture gallery where the paintings are presented by place of origin, in many cases churches and disappeared buildings in Milan. Among the authors present, a fundamental role is constituted by Bernardino Luini and his school , which in the first decades of the sixteenth century is one of the most successful painters in Lombardy.
The exhibition is an unusual combination of art and science in an unprecedented path that crosses the different fields of interest and study of Leonardo, enhancing the historical collection of the Museum, the most important in the world. Leonardo da Vinci Parade is the first national and international initiative carried out as part of the celebrations for the fifth centenary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci (1519-2019) of the schedule "Milan and the legacy of Leonardo 1519 - 2019" , presented by the Municipality from Milan.
The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Brera Art Gallery and is part of the New Leonardo Galleries Project financed with a contribution from the Cariplo Foundation.