The figure of Leonardo is among the most studied by art historians and scholars of Renaissance history. Yet, one of the less known aspects of his production remains his activity as an engineer. Expert in hydraulics and in the engineering of machines, which often had military applications, Leonardo also dealt with various aspects related to architecture, including defensive systems and related urban planning. To this day, only one monograph has investigated this topic, emphasizing the solutions, often more theoretical than practical, also offered by contemporaries such as Filarete, Sangallo and Francesco di Giorgio. In one case only has the attention of the scholars taken into consideration the geographical area of Emilia-Romagna, particularly relevant to this subject matter given that Leonardo worked there when at the service of Cesare Borgia. Recent studies – brought to the attention of ICOMAM committees in Milan in 2016 and still to be published – highlighted how, while working in this geographical region, the artist adopted the outmost original solutions that, incidentally, were also implemented by the Order of Malta in the East. The current exhibition, whose location in Bologna is in this regard particularly apt, will offer an opportunity to take note of these extraordinary inventions through the display of original materials, hopefully bringing about new research into this still under-researched topic. Besides other objects of extraordinary quality, the exhibition will display drawings with details of fortifications, defensive and offensive machines, and city maps by the hand of Leonardo and his contemporaries, highlighting the innovative capacity of the artist and of the most important Italian architects operating during the “Italian Wars”. Prestigious loans from the Royal Collection of Windsor, the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale and the Biblioteca Laurenziana in Florence, as well as other public and private collections will illustrate the evolution of the architecture of fortifications from 1470 to 1530 circa, comparing the production of the geniuses of the time and illustrating the conceptual and technological links between Michelangelo, Dürer and engineers of the first Renaissance such as Leonardo.
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