A few weeks ago I took a trip to London and while I was there I visited two fantastic exhibitions, Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement at The Royal Academy, which I reviewed at the time and Leonardo Da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan, showing at The National Gallery and which I'm finally getting around to reviewing now!
So unless you've been living under a stone for the last month you've probably heard about this exhibition! Billed as a once-in-a-lifetime show, it's been reviewed by every newspaper going, had the opening screened in cinemas across Britain and broadcast on Sky Arts One and the exhibition posters are everywhere (even in provisional northern towns like Sunderland.) However on the off chance you've been hibernating...this exhibition, inspired by the
National Gallery's recent restoration of Da Vinci's The Virgin of the Rocks, focuses on the work Leonardo produced during his time as court painter to Duke Lodovico
Sforza in Milan in the late 1480s and 1490s.
All 'blockbuster' exhibitions are hyped as once-in-a-lifetime, never-to-be-repeated opportunities to see great works of art but Leonardo Da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan arguably lives up to this description. The exhibition was five years in the making and includes loans from the Louvre, The Vatican, The Hermitage and HM Queen's Royal Collection and Brings together the largest number of surviving Leonardo paintings ever, including both versions of The Virgin of the Rocks and the newly authenticated Salvator Mundi. These are shown alongside a large number of Da Vinci's preparatory sketches and studies, as well works by his best known pupils.
All this media hype and publicity has lead to a run on ticket sales! The advanced tickets ran out in the first week and in an effort to reduce 'gallery rage' and ensure visitors can actually see the paintings, The National Gallery has limited the number of visitors to 180 every half-hour (you can stay as long as you want once inside the exhibition). That works out as only 500 tickets on sale per day and unfortunately I wasn't clever enough to buy an advanced ticket...so I had to queue for three and a half hours! I know that sounds insane but I'm stubborn and determined and apparently so are alot of other people!
When I finally made it in, I wasn't disappointed!...regardless of hype, this is a fascinating exhibition! Of the 93 works on show, Leonardo's paintings are undoubtedly the stars! The works of his pupils are wonderful in their own right but when hung side by side with the Master's works, they largely serve to highlight his unparallelled skill...sorry Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio! The skill of Leonardo Da Vinci, the painter, is probably a given...what I found revelatory (yep, I actually said that) were the sketches! They offer a fascinating insight into the workings of Leonardo's mind and make looking at his paintings even more rewarding. My highlight...sitting in a room between both copies of The Virgin of the Rocks, painted more than 25 years apart, they demonstrate the changes in Da Vinci's style and technique...and if you don't care about that then they're pretty beautiful too!
If you're planning on visiting Leonardo Da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan and aren't lucky enough to have a an advanced ticket then I have a few tips to beat the queues and get the most out of the exhibition. Get there early! Doors open at 10am (which is when I arrived) and there was already a 3 and a half hour wait so if you can get there before 9am and bear in mind that there are only 500 tickets a day so if you arrive after 11am don't even bother! If you do manage to get a ticket, I suggest going for a late-ish entry time (I went for 4pm) that way by the time you've finished the rooms in the Sainsbury Wing, things will be winding down and you can walk back through the now largely empty rooms and get a proper look at the works sans crowds, before heading up to see the Last Supper in the East Wing! Also, grab a copy of the exhibition guide (its free) as it has all the panel and label texts, which means you won't have to fight to read them on the walls!
Most importantly....enjoy!
Xx
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