[February 12, 2015]

Muscarelle Museum of Art's Leonardo da Vinci Exhibit Includes Self Portrait Shown for First Time in the U.S.

The first exhibition devoted to Leonardo da Vinci's fascination with the beautiful and the ugly will open later this month at the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Leonardo da Vinci And The Idea Of Beauty will open on February 21 and will remain on view through April 5, 2015. This exhibition is unprecedented, as it is the first-ever exhibit dedicated to the Renaissance genius's philosophy of beauty as revealed in more than twenty of his original drawings.

These drawings, on loan from Uffizi museum in Florence and the Biblioteca Reale in Turin, Italy, will be contrasted with eight originals by Leonardo's greatest rival, Michelangelo Buonarroti, lent from the Casa Buonarroti in Florence.

Of particular importance regarding Leonardo da Vinci And The Idea Of Beauty:

• I will comprise more than 20 outstanding drawings by the Renaissance genius, including the precious sketches in the complete Leonardo book, Codex on the Flight of Birds.
• In the Codex, a newly discovered self-portrait of Leonardo at age 53 will be exhibited for the first time in the United States at the Muscarelle during this show.
• Among the many drawings, the Study for the Head of an Angel for the Madonna of the Rocks, which Sir Kenneth Clark considered "one of the most beautiful drawings in the world," will be a highlighted star.
• Visitors will be afforded a unique opportunity to explore the sources and influence of Leonardo's philosophy of beauty as revealed in an unprecedented concentration of his drawings.
• This show will be at only two venues in the United States. Organized by the Muscarelle Museum of Art, the exhibition was conceived in partnership with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston that will be the second and only other venue for the exhibition. It will be on view in Boston from April 15 through June 14, 2015.

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