Friday 21 Lifestyle | Feature Friday, October 25, 2019

A person takes a picture with mobile phone at an oil on wood paint- “La belle ferronniere” also known as Portrait of an Unknown Woman. “Madone benois -1519” ing by ’s “The Head of a Woman-also known as ”, during the opening of the exhibition “Leonardo da Vinci “, on October 22, 2019 at the museum in Paris. — AFP photos

eonardo da Vinci is the star in a blockbuster retrospective The Vitruvian Man opening yesterday at the Louvre museum in Paris to mark The final act in the row between Paris and Rome over Italy’s L500 years since the death of the Renaissance master. Some contributions to the show came with a legal effort to halt the 240,000 people have already reserved their place in line for the loan of the iconic Vitruvian Man drawing. The Vitruvian Man — exhibition, the biggest ever organized to showcase the Tuscan which Italian media say is insured for at least one billion euros polymath’s indelible contributions to humanity — with an em- — joined the Louvre show with just days to spare before the phasis on his painting. opening. It will stay only eight weeks rather than the full four A decade in the planning, the show simply titled “Leonardo months. da Vinci” groups 162 works, including 24 drawings loaned by “The Vitruvian Man, such a discreet drawing on paper, but Queen Elizabeth II of Britain from the Royal Collection. The so revolutionary,” said Susan Prion, 63, a professor of medicine. British Museum, the Hermitage of Saint Petersburg and the Vat- The exhibition curated by the Louvre’s Vincent Delieuvin and ican have also contributed, as well as, of course, Italy — after a Louis Frank, the heads of the museum’s painting and graphic arts sometimes acrimonious tug-of-war between Rome and Paris departments, includes infrared reflectographs that offer an in- over the loans. The exhibition in the Hall Napoleon, which runs sight into the master painter’s techniques. — AFP until February 24, features 10 of the fewer than 20 paintings de- finitively attributed to the Renaissance master, as well as draw- ings, manuscripts, sculptures and other objects d’art. Visitors follow a timeline of the master’s peripatetic career under the tutelage of dukes, princes and kings, from Florence to Milan, Venice and Rome, and finally France, where he spent the last three years of his life. He died in the historic town of Amboise in the Loire Valley on May 2, 1519.

Two no-shows Two standout works are missing from the show, starting with Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne”. the . Organizers decided the world’s most famous painting should remain in the Louvre’s Salle des Etats — its nor- mal home — to help avoid overcrowding. By itself, the master- piece attracts nearly 30,000 people a day. The Mona Lisa’s ineffable smile however beguiles visitors in a virtual reality ex- perience at the end of the show. “It’s a pretty extraordinary experience,” said Lorenz Baumer, removing his headset after viewing the film.”You have the im- pression of being inside the head of this man... and encountering Mona Lisa through what she has to tell us,” said Baumer, a jew- eler. The experience ends with a dreamlike final 360-degree se- quence that take the spectator up in a wooden flying machine imagined by Leonardo, soaring over the mountains and valleys of the painting. The other notable no-show is the Salvator Mundi, the work that became the most expensive painting ever sold when it fetched $450 million (400 million euros) at a Christie’s auction in 2017. Mystery now surrounds the painting — whose authen- ticity is disputed by some experts — as it has not been seen in public ever since the record-shattering sale. The Louvre has said the museum’s request to borrow the work is still pending, but a ‘St. Jerome penitent’ Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Virgin, the Child Jesus with Saint Anne and last-minute appearance would be a stunning surprise. Saint John the Baptis”.