Exhibition Catalogue
‘Ten Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci: A Diamond Jubilee Celebration‘
Martin Clayton
Royal Collection Publications, 2012
© 2012 Royal Collection Enterprises / HM Queen Elizabeth II
I’m really feeling an artistic vibe at the moment, I have been down to see the ‘Ten Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci‘ exhibition at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (UK).
As you can probably guess it was amazing, da Vinci could draw and I mean really draw. The drawings are hard to describe, they are nothing like I have seen before and nothing like what you see in the books or on the net. His depth, perspective and technique is completely unique and in reality they were all sketchbook drawings and not his famous works; even so, they are awe inspiring.
Being able see them in front of you, you can see all the little marks, the shadowing, the compete and perfect attention to detail, even the texture of the paper is interesting to examine.
I know it’s easy to get over excited over the legend, but they truly are beautiful and unique.
It’s incredible to think that an exhibition consisting of ten small drawings, probably unremarkable to the artist himself, in a small room could be so… I literally can’t think of a word to describe it, I may go with ‘gigantically-massively-awesomely-inspiring’.
If you get chance, any chance to go see it, do. I really want to see everything of his now.
You can see the work been exhibited here (www.royalcollection.org.uk).
The exhibition at Birmingham finishes on 25th March, its then moves on to; Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, Ulster Museum, Belfast, The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum and Ferens Art Gallery, Hull. You can get the dates and other information here (www.royalcollection.org.uk).
On another note, I also got chance to see the Staffordshire hoard, which is also been exhibited at the gallery. It’s another remarkable sight. The pieces are a thousand years old and still ‘shiny’. Incredible. How ever, there is more to it than that, but, once again its a sight to been seen and not easily described.
Big thanks to the organisers of both exhibitions! (Real once in a life time stuff).
References and links
Ten Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci | www.royalcollection.org.uk
Royal Collection | www.royalcollection.org.uk
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery | www.bmag.org.uk
Staffordshire hoard | www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk