An exhibition on the anatomical work of Leonardo da Vinci, which offers a dive into the heart of Tuscan research to pierce The Mechanics of Life, opens Friday at the Château du Clos Lucé, in Amboise (Indre-et-Loire). Presented until September 17, the event displays the erudite journeys of the genius of the Renaissance, from his first studies on superficial anatomy to the deciphering of the functioning of the heart, passing through the different “souls” of the body.
Leonardo’s process, which spanned some thirty years, was first and foremost a quest for personal knowledge. “But at the end of his life, he wanted to publish a book,” says Pascal Brioist, professor of history at the University of Tours and co-curator of the exhibition. Studying on his own account, the Tuscan master therefore “in no way” advanced science, notes the Renaissance specialist. “But that does not prevent him from making important breakthroughs in the functioning of the heart and in optics,” he appreciates.
After having attended dissections carried out by doctors, the passionate Léonard in turn took up the scalpel. His work led him to develop several methods of dissection, such as that by layers, or by slices. Its transcription into sketches is striking: it approaches the perfection of modern radiology, MRI and scanners, presented at Clos Lucé in comparison.
“We tried to place Leonardo’s work in the current era, by comparing it to modern imagery, explains Dominique Le Nen. Second curator of the exhibition, the body specialist is also a hand surgeon at Brest CHRU. And he readily admits to being “astonished by the relevance of the drawings” of the Italian master.
Highlight of the exhibition, the reconstruction of a dissection room of Clos Lucé, where Leonardo spent the last three years of his life (1516-1519) at the invitation of François I, hides from sensitive eyes. Its model of a corpse, larger than life, and its period tools challenge. “By reproducing the dissection room, we are confronted with death, with the same taboo as Leonardo. In this desire to pierce the living, Leonardo confronts death directly”, notes Pascal Brioist. A face-to-face that the artist, a follower of mirror writing, might have relished.
