Cai Guo-Qiang at the Uffizi

Free publication on www.friendsoftheuffizigallery.org Polistampa - Firenze JOURNAL OF THE FRIENDS OF THE UFFIZI GALLERY N° 73 - December 2018 From the Uffizi to its Territory and Back Preparations and initiatives are underway the “Hall of the Cinquecen- In the meanwhile, on April to”) in Palazzo Vecchio. We 15, Vinci will host an exhibit in Florence and in Poppi, Anghiari and Vinci to now know that Leonardo only centered on Leonardo’s re- commemorate Leonardo on the fifth centenary of his death created a cartoon of the bat- nowned sketch of a Landscape, tle and the “Tavola Doria” is so well known among historians or the 2019 celebration of Uffizi in particular, have begun one of the pictorial versions that it is usually simply referred Fthe five-hundredth anniver- their tribute with a series of ini- of its central scene, probably to by the Uffizi inventory num- sary of the death of Leonardo, tiatives that also involve the sur- by the hand of Francesco Mo- ber, “8P”: dated August 5, 1473 one of the greatest geniuses in rounding territory. randini, called Poppi after by the artist himself, it is his ear- human history, preparations In August, in fact, the Cas- his native city. After the first liest drawing and is among the (and negotiations on loans of tle of the Conti Guidi in Poppi of September next year, the first autonomous landscapes in his works) have in practical- in Casentino inaugurated an “Tavola Doria” will be on ex- western art. A work of such wide ity been underway for years exhibit on the “Tavola Doria”, hibit in Anghiari as an iconic suggestion, with references so throughout the entire world. a sixteenth century copy of testimony of the place of the Meanwhile Florence, where the Battle of Anghiari begun battle that in 1440 saw the the young artist came to study in 1503 for the “Hall of the troops of the Florentine coali- Eike D. Schmidt from his native Vinci, and the Grand Council” (later called tion defeat the Milanese. (continued on p. 2) Leonardo, Landscape, Uffizi Galleries, Department of Prints and Drawings, inv. 8P recto. IL GIORNALE degli UFFIZI 1 marvelously generalized as to is the dominating theme, and scientific accuracy we find in possibility of discovering new be identified (even in most re- nowhere else could the Codex the Codex Leicester: in the sea- imagery, of understanding cent times) with highly diverse Leicester have found such a scape in the background of the more profoundly the impor- specific locations scattered glorious presentation as in the Annunciation, with vapors that tance of conservation, as in the across more than half of the Uffizi. rise to form clouds and fog the case of the Adoration whose res- Italian peninsula. It is nonethe- From the exhibit, one sim- view of the distance; in the wa- toration was feared to be so less probable that this extraor- ply has to go up one floor to be ters flowing between the legs of risky it was postponed for years dinary en plein air was made in the Hall of Leonardo, newly the protagonists of the Baptism, before getting off the ground by Leonardo thinking of his renovated thanks to the gener- studied with careful attention only to then reveal itself a tri- homeland, where in effect the ous contribution of the Amici to the encounter with obstacles umph. And finally, to appreci- folio will return, after 500 years, degli Uffizi and the Friends of and the plastic adaptation of ate the value of an exposition as evidence of the role the town the Uffizi Galleries. The new liquids to their container (in space like the Hall of Leonardo of Vinci had in the history of monitor-cases, designed by the this case, the rocks); and at last, in the Uffizi, completed in June Italy and of the entire world. architect Antonio Godoli, dis- in a pond recently discovered 2018 once again thanks to the On October 28, the Uffizi play the three masterpieces of during restoration, at the foot support of the Amici degli likewise inaugurated an ex- the artist’s early period behind of the Madonna and Child in Uffizi and of the Friends of the hibit on the Codex Leicester high-tech protective glass in the Adoration of the Magi. Uffizi Galleries: it too debuted entitled “Water as Microscope conditions of safety and visibil- The circle thus closes, with in controversy and now reigns of Nature. Leonardo da Vinci’s ity that no other museum in the new gifts that Leonardo seems victorious because it democrati- Codex Leicester”, accompanied world can boast: the Annuncia- to offer us on the fifth centena- cally provides visitors with the by one of the finest didactic ap- tion, the Baptism of Christ created ry of his death: an invitation to opportunity of viewing the mas- paratuses ever seen in an exhi- with his master Verrocchio, and meditate on scientific discover- terpieces from a close distance, bition of this type. The visitor the Adoration of the Magi, newly ies over a half of a millennium in safety and tranquility, to ‘en- is immersed in the experience restored (once again, thanks to old that are still valid in times ter’ the painting, to study it, to thanks to visual and sonorous the generous contribution of like ours, as we face the impact observe, one by one, the brush- stimuli that create the illusion the Amici degli Uffizi). And in of climatic and environmental strokes of Leonardo. of taking Leonardo’s place and all three paintings, Leonardo change, of drought and fre- reliving his experiments. Water painted water, with the same quent flooding. And again, the Eike D. Schmidt An International Event The exhibit now artist’s death, Thomas Coke, showing in the Count of Leicester brought Magliabechiana Hall of the manuscript back to Flor- ence for the first time after the Uffizi, allows visitors the recent purchase in Rome to decode the complex from the sculptor Giovan- reasoning recorded by battista della Porta. The Leonardo in the Codex English nobleman then left Leicester and to appreciate the codex in deposit with its visionary anticipations the Medicean Laurentian Library so that a copy could through innovative graphic be made that eased the dif- solutions, suggestive ficulty of reading the hand- special effects, digital films written text in Leonardo’s and 3D models impervious left-handed cal- ligraphy. On that occasion, however, the arrival of this t is not the first time that invaluable testimony went IFlorence has had the privi- completely unnoted. lege of hosting the Codex Another two and a half Leicester as a special guest. centuries had to go by before If we count Leonardo’s pro- longed sojourn during the years in which it was com- On this page and on page 3 above: piled (1504-1508), this is the Leonardo da Vinci, Codex Leicester, manuscript’s fourth time in diagrams of the Illumination of the Earth Florence. In 1717, almost and the Moon by the Sun two hundred years after the (Courtesy of Bill Gates/Cbg C3). 2 IL GIORNALE degli UFFIZI designed to engage the pub- lic in a stimulating journey in knowledge. These innovative solutions make it possible to unravel even Leonardo’s most complex thinking and to appreciate his visionary anticipations. Visitors can also use touch screens to virtually page through every folio of the codex, to enlarge it, to obtain a mirror image of it, to access transcriptions and translations in English. The result is a synthetic yet rigorous in-depth explor- ation of the main topics Leonardo examined in the codex: the nature and com- position of water, the princi- pal agent in the continuous transformations that we observe in nature; the elemen- tary structure of the Moon the precious manuscript re- present owner. This event of of notable elegance and ef- and of the entire cosmos; the turned to Florence in 1982, international importance, fectiveness, suggestive special affirmation that the Earth this time receiving an ex- fruit of the collaboration of effects (like virtual rivers that has a history incommensura- tremely vociferous welcome the Galileo Museum and the give visitors the impression bly longer than the less than and attracting just under Uffizi Galleries, inaugurates they are walking on water), as 4000 years before the com- 400,000 visitors in the three ing of Christ assigned to our months it was on exhibit in planet in the book of Gen- Palazzo Vecchio. Water as Microscope of Nature. Leonardo esis. An articulated web site As everyone knows, the (www.museogalileo.it) and a third visit of the Codex to the da Vinci’s Codex Leicester rich catalog edited by Giunti city of its baptism is now un- in both Italian and English, derway. Together with other Curator Paolo Galluzzi complete this ambitious op- spectacular folios by da Vin- Magliabechiana Hall of the Uffizi Galleries eration of dissemination of ci, this exceptional testimony the workings of Leonardo’s constitutes the beating heart mind. of the grand exhibit entitled Until January 20, 2019 I think we can say without “Water as Microscope of Na- doubt that on the Codex ture. Leonardo da Vinci’s the dense calendar of world- well as an extraordinary and Leicester’s third visit to Flor- Codex Leicester”, now show- wide events in program for dense sequence of videos ence, it has received a wel- ing in the Magliabechiana the celebration of the fifth and 3D models (made by the come worthy of the incredi- Hall of the Uffizi Galleries. centenary of the death of Multimedia Laboratory of ble audacity of the visions The exhibit was made pos- Leonardo (1519).

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