In 2019-2020, the Louvre organized an exhibition to celebrate the 500-year anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci in France, of particular importance for the museum, which holds the largest collection in the world of da Vinci鈥檚 paintings, as well as 22 drawings. The retrospective of da Vinci鈥檚 painting career wanted to illustrate how he placed utmost importance on painting, and how his听investigation of the world, which he referred to as 鈥渢he science of painting,鈥 was the instrument of his art, seeking nothing less than to bring life to his paintings. The museum tried to seize the opportunity to gather as many of the artist鈥檚 paintings as possible around the five core works in its collections, but also听a wide array of drawings as well as a small but significant series of paintings and sculptures from the master鈥檚 circle. The exhibition was the culmination of more than ten years of work, notably including new scientific examinations of the Louvre鈥檚 paintings, and the conservation treatment of three of them, allowing for better understanding of da Vinci鈥檚 artistic practice and pictorial technique. Clarification of听his听biography has also emerged through the exhaustive听reexamination听of archival documents. Vincent听Delieuvin, one of the two curators of the exhibition will explain how he conceived the project and tried to solve the important problems of loans.听
Vincent听Delieuvin听is Chief curator for Italian Sixteenth Century Paintings at the Louvre. He organized several exhibitions on Italian听Renaissance:听芦 Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese鈥 Rivals in Venice 禄 in 2009, 芦 The Saint Anne, Leonardo da Vinci鈥檚 Ultimate Masterpiece 禄 in 2012 and 芦 late Raphael 禄 in 2012-2013. More recently, he published several articles on Leonardo da Vinci and organized in 2019-2020 the exhibition celebrating the 500th anniversary of Leonardo鈥檚 death in France.听
Organised by Dr Scott Nethersole (The Courtauld) and Dr Guido Rebecchini (The Courtauld).听