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Events | Leonardo Study Day

A Study Day on Leonardo da Vinci Sunday 19 February 2023 (all day)  Barnsley House

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This study day celebrates Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, born April 1452 and died May 1519, Italian polymath, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer. The illegitimate son of a Florentine notary Piero da Vinci and a peasant woman Caterina, Leonardo was not afforded a formal academic education, and thus became the self-proclaimed disciple of experience. Following artistic training in the bottega of renowned Florentine artist Andrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo was to become the consummate ‘Uomo Universale’ or Renaissance Man. Initially patronised by Ludovico il Moro in Milan, he later worked in Rome, Bologna and Venice, and spent his last years in a home awarded to him by King Francis 1 of France. Naturally we will focus on his artistic genius, yet this study day will also extend to exploring Leonardo’s prodigious and indeed prophetic inventions and discoveries, alongside his detailed investigations into human anatomy. Our parting shot will be to consider modern eugenics apropos of The Leonardo Project of May 2019 which sought to patent posthumously Leonardo’s DNA for future human cloning purposes!

Timings: 

Coffee and pastries: 9:30-10am Session 1: 10-11:15am Break: 11:15-11:45am Session 2: 11:45-1pm Lunch: 1-2pm Session 3: 2-3:30pm Close of play: 3:30pm

Please email Katie Nelson for registration and further details: katehewer@hotmail.com (07720775087). 

Listen to Nick talking about the National Gallery (London) version of Leonardo’s Virgin of the Rocks painting pictured above: