On the occasion of the presentation at the Accademia dei Lincei of the New Pedretti Foundation, three drawings by Leonardo da Vinci will be exhibited from 19 to 21 September in Rome, at Villa Farnesina.
As the detailed description of the Ferrara ambassador to Milan, Giacomo Trotti reveals, Leonardo conceived a suggestive scenography. The Fabula di Orfeo was written by Poliziano in Mantua in a rather short period of time, in the vernacular, during 1480. The so-called “Foglio del teatro”, published by Carlo Pedretti in 1999 and dated 1506-1513 by him, must refer to this scenic representation. . The sheet depicts a moving scene, which conveys the idea of the complex scenography that involved the change of scene with lighting effects and choreographies of sounds, songs and dances.
The public display of the drawings is an exceptional event, both for the rarity with which Leonardo’s drawings are exhibited, and because these drawings best condense the unique character of Leonardo’s creativity.
The sheets document the design of a “theatrical machine” in which Pluto emerges with extraordinary scenographic effects and portray the characters of the Fable, animated by that spontaneous vitality that only Leonardo can impress in his quick sketches. The sheet shows the two cornerstones of Leonardo’s entire activity: inventive knowledge expressed in a technological key and the expressive power of the image.
The place that hosts the exhibition, Villa Farnesina, underlines also thanks to this event its centrality in the path of diffusion of Leonardo’s art in Italy as well highlighted by the Leonardo exhibition in Rome created in 2019 on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of his death. by Leonardo. To make Villa Farnesina central for the diffusion of Leonardo’s art in Italy are also the frescoes painted by Sodoma on the walls of Agostino Chigi’s bedroom, which the artist created around 1515-1517 in the same period in which Leonardo finished the his Roman stay began at the end of 1513.
On the occasion of the exhibition of the drawings it will also be possible to see the first results of the restoration in progress. The intervention involves the removal of protective agents applied at the end of a restoration carried out fifty years ago which, with the passage of time, have radically altered, modifying the reading of the frescoes and the precious shades of Sodoma. Finally, to complete Leonardo’s journey through the Farnesina, the painting of the Mona Lisa Nuda (owned by the Primoli Foundation and temporarily on loan to the Accademia dei Lincei) made by a follower of Leonardo can be admired in the Sala del Fregio.