Leonardo, three drawings of a ‘theatrical machine’ exhibited in Rome

On the occasion of the presentation at the Accademia dei Lincei of the New Pedretti Foundation, three drawings by Leonardo da Vinci dedicated to the preparation of a theatrical performance will be exhibited from Monday 19 to Wednesday 21 September in Rome, at Villa Farnesina. These are sketches found and identified by the historian Carlo Pedretti (1928 – 2018), considered one of the leading experts on the life and works of the Renaissance genius, holder of the chair of Vinci studies at the University of California in Los Angeles, where he directed the Armand Hammer Center for Leonardo Studies. As the detailed description of the Ferrara ambassador to Milan, Giacomo Trotti reveals, Leonardo conceived a suggestive scenography. The Fabula di Orfeo was written by Poliziano in Mantua in a rather short period of time, in the vernacular, during 1480. The so-called ‘Foglio del teatro’, published by Carlo Pedretti in 1999 and dated 1506 by him, should refer to this scenic representation. -1513. The sheet depicts a moving scene, which conveys the idea of ​​the complex scenography that involved the change of scene with lighting effects and choreographies of sounds, songs and dances.The exhibition of the drawings to the public is an exceptional event, both for the rarity with which Leonardo’s drawings are exhibited, and because these drawings best condense the unique character of Leonardo’s creativity. The sheets document the design of a ‘theatrical machine’ in which Pluto emerges with extraordinary scenographic effects and portray the characters of the Fable, animated by that spontaneous vitality that only Leonardo can impress in his quick sketches. The sheets show the two cornerstones of Leonardo’s entire activity: the inventive wisdom declined in a technological key and the expressive power of the image. path of diffusion of Leonardo’s art in Italy as well highlighted by the Leonardo exhibition in Rome created in 2019 on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death. To make Villa Farnesina central for the diffusion of Leonardo’s art in Italy are also the frescoes painted by Sodoma on the walls of Agostino Chigi’s bedroom, which the artist created around 1515-1517 in the same period in which Leonardo finished the his stay in Rome began at the end of 1513. On the occasion of the exhibition of the drawings it will also be possible to see the first results of the restoration in progress. The intervention involves the removal of protective agents applied at the end of a restoration carried out fifty years ago which, with the passage of time, have radically altered, modifying the reading of the frescoes and the precious shades of Sodoma. Finally, to complete Leonardo’s journey through the Farnesina, the painting of the Mona Lisa Nuda (owned by the Primoli Foundation and temporarily on loan to the Accademia dei Lincei) made by a follower of Leonardo can be admired in the Sala del Fregio.