Museum of Science and Industry

Giant original colour and infra-red versions of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, as well as his visionary inventions, such as the helicopter, parachute, scuba diving suit and military tank, have been created for an exhibition which opens in November at MOSI.

Tickets are now on sale for Da Vinci – The Genius, which opens at the Museum on 14 November 2009. The display was created by the Anthropos Foundation of Italy and Grande Exhibitions, and is the most comprehensive travelling exhibition ever created on Leonardo Da Vinci.

It is the UK premiere for the work of French engineer and examiner of fine art Pascal Cotte, who invented the world’s most powerful camera - a 240-megapixel Multi-spectral Imaging Camera. The camera uses infra-red and intense illumination to see deep underneath the Mona Lisa’s layers of restoration and capture the true colours of the original 1509 painting. His amazing revelations are displayed in giant high-resolution prints, including a 4 x 3m giant infra-red of Mona Lisa. There is also a 360 degree walk around replica of the Mona Lisa, which shows the insignias, writing and repairs on the back. Da Vinci’s genius ideas – some of which were hundreds of years ahead of their time – are also brought to life in 65 hand-crafted, full-scale machines.

Steve Davies MBE, director of MOSI, said: “This is the first time that an exhibition of this size and scale on Leonardo Da Vinci’s inventions and techniques has been held in Britain and we’re delighted to be the host venue. It’s a chance to see Da Vinci’s inventions brought to life and to understand the enduring power of the Mona Lisa. Leonardo Da Vinci was a visionary scientist as well as an artist and this exhibition clearly shows the links between the two disciplines. He has an amazing following around the world, so we expect this to be a very popular exhibition, so do take your chance to book tickets early as we expect it to be a sell-out.”

Bruce Peterson, the exhibition creator and owner, lived with the Italian artisans for 12 months to encourage the production of much of what is on show at MOSI. “Leonardo is unquestionably the greatest genius the world has known” says Peterson. “His brilliance touched so many different areas of science, culture and art. Every person, young and old can draw tremendous inspiration from the exhibition and from experiencing the extraordinary feats of Da Vinci. If the exhibition at MOSI inspires just one individual to go on and do something extraordinary in their life, then the 10 years to put this exhibition together will have been well worthwhile.”

The exhibition covers an area of 1000 square metres and includes hand-crafted large-scale objects like Da Vinci’s glider and parachute, the precursor to the modern helicopter, the bicycle, the forerunner to the modern military tank, as well as an automobile, submarine, ball bearing and gear systems. Italian artisans have worked with Da Vinci’s designs, as well as his unusual shorthand (written from right to left) and Florentine dialect, to bring his work to life for the first time in the techniques and materials of 15th century Italy. 

Displays are divided into sections about Da Vinci’s work on Physics & Mechanical Principles, Civil Machines, Flight Studies Machines, Military Machines, Hydraulic Machines and Musical Instruments, as well as dedicated areas on the Vitruvian Man and The Last Supper. 

Da Vinci was a prolific writer as well as an artist and designer on subjects as diverse as geometry, engineering, fauna and flora, mathematics, physics and philosophy. His ideas were documented in around 24,000 pages of codices, of which only around 6000 remain today, and these notes were used to recreate the objects and images in the exhibition. He drew incredibly detailed anatomical sketches, and engineered extremely innovative designs for buildings and mechanical devices, most of which were never actually built while Da Vinci was alive.

Da Vinci – The Genius opens on 14 November at MOSI (Museum of Science & Industry), Liverpool Road, Castlefield, Manchester.  Ticket prices are £7.50 for adults, £5 for concessions or £20 for a family ticket (2 adults, 2 children).  Tickets are available at http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/feature/mosi or call 0844 847 2261 (24 hours). Group bookings: 0844 847 2354. Tickets are non-refundable.

For media information or images please call Sarah Roe on 0161 606 0176 m: 07847 372647 or Diane Inglis on Tel: 0161 606 0173. 

Notes to editors

About Grande Exhibitions: Creators and promoters of the Exhibition who have researched, sourced and interpreted much of what is contained in the exhibition.  Based in Rome Italy and Melbourne Australia, Grande Exhibitions is dedicated to delivering quality blockbuster exhibitions of mass appeal that entertain and educate

About The Anthropos Foundation: From Il Genio de Leonardo Da Vinci Museo in Rome, talented and gifted Artisans have made the machines inventions and many items that you see on display at the exhibitions.  They have spent more than 10 years bringing to life over 120 of Leonardo’s concepts and designs and use in the main techniques and materials available in 15^th Century Italy

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