Held in the beautiful Montepulciano (Tuscany) at the Fortezza, the exhibition Anatomies: Machines, Man, Nature places emphasis on the Renaissance genius’ concept that machines, the human body and nature are all governed by the same universal laws. Expect masterful drawings that mark the birth of modern scientific illustration and models of Da Vinci’s futuristic machines.

The exhibition features some of Leonardo’s ambitious projects, which illustrate very well his inclination to put himself to the test by taking on highly complex subjects. Man’s dream since ancient times, flight takes shape in his studies and in the machines he devised. Leonardo also tackled the idea of providing motion to inanimate objects: the self-propelled cart and the mechanical lion bear powerful witness to the results with a highly innovative potential that he was able to achieve. Lastly, the project for the giant bronze equestrian monument in memory of Francesco Sforza represents additional proof of the exceptional intelligence and determination with which Leonardo dealt with the most daring technological and artistic challenges.

One of the most innovative aspects of Leonardo’s contribution is his analysis of the “organs” of machines, that he considered not as an indivisible whole, but as an assemblage of distinct parts. He applied the same method to the study of the human body, whose organs he regarded as highly sophisticated mechanical devices. For Leonardo, even the Earth is a vast organism whose motions are governed by the universal mechanical laws of Nature. The exhibition features working models of the machines conceived by Da Vinci and a gallery of mechanical, anatomical and geological studies from his notebooks.

Exhibition Dates

Tickets cost 5 euro; open daily 10.30am-7.30pm. For more information, visit http://www.leonardoanatomie.it.