Speed Art Museum Hosts a Leonardo Da Vinci Notebook and Treasures from the V & A

Saturday, 02 February 2008 03:18

Louisville, Kentucky - The Speed Art Museum is honored to present Louisville with an exhibition of treasures from one of the greatest collections of Medieval and Renaissance works of art in existence. Medieval and Renaissance Treasures from the Victoria and Albert Museum will be on view at the Speed through April 20, 2008. The Speed is thrilled to be one of only four museums in the United States to house this amazing exhibition, along with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; and the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida.
 
This once-in-a-lifetime exhibition will present 35 masterpieces selected from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum including a hand written notebook of the most famous Renaissance artist and inventor, Leonardo da Vinci.  Other works in the exhibition include rare, small-scale religious and secular artifacts including medieval ivories, precious jeweled goldsmith’s works, stained glass, and Renaissance bronzes highly prized for their beauty, the value of their materials and for the exquisite workmanship that went into their creation.  Referred to as ‘Treasury Arts,’ these pieces were created principally for the embellishment of the church and chapel in the Middle Ages and for the cabinet and table of the wealthy collector in the Renaissance.
 
A highlight of the exhibition is a fascinating notebook by Leonardo da Vinci known as Forster Codex 1. The text is written in mirror-image cursive, a form commonly used by Leonardo as a practical solution to writing left-handed and working with slow drying materials that could easily smudge. The notebook pages on view are an example of Leonardo da Vinci’s fascination with geometry and mathematics.
 
This exhibition is rich in exquisite and unique ivories, among them the carved front cover of the Lorsch Gospels made for the court of Charlemagne, a rare carved ivory holy water bucket probably presented to the Ottonian Emperor in 980 and the only known Byzantine ivory statuette of the Virgin and Child carved entirely in the round.
 
Equally exceptional is the largest and most splendid Limoges enamel reliquary casket of St. Thomas Becket made about 1180, ten years after his martyrdom. Gothic and renaissance sculpture is brilliantly represented in works by Donatello, Antico, Viet Stoss and Giovanni Pisano, whose powerful ivory figure of the crucified Christ dates from about 1300.
 
Exhibition organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The exhibition is presented in Louisville by New Covenant Trust Company, a subsidiary of the Presbyterian Foundation.
 
Exhibition support in Louisville has been generously provided by Dr. and Mrs. Frederick K. Cressman, Jr., The Norton Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Brown, Jr., Dorothy Norton Clay Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Richard H. C. Clay, Mr. Richard Condon, Jean Frazier, Mrs. Downey M. Gray, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Joe Sterling Grimes, Jr., Mr. Michael Judd and Mr. Ben Small, Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Kulp, Jr., Mrs. Julie B. Morton, The Honorable and Mrs. John David Myles, Reverend and Mrs. Alfred R. Shands, III, John A. Stough, Jr. and Sandy Gulick, Kentucky Select Properties, Bill and Lindy Street, Sypris Solutions, Inc., Underwriters Safety and Claim, The University of Louisville, and Mr. and Mrs. Darrell Wells.
 
A national leader in arts education, serving over 30,000 children each year, the Speed Art Museum has repeatedly been voted Kentucky’s best museum and is considered one of the top ten sites each Kentuckian should visit. The Speed honors its mission to bring great art to our communities through its distinguished collections and as the Commonwealth’s number one venue for international art exhibitions.
 
The Speed Art Museum is located at 2035 South Third Street in Louisville.  Other features of the museum include a hands-on Art Learning Center for families, a café and gift shop.  Gallery hours are Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; Thursday 10:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.; Saturday 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; and Sunday 12:00 to 5:00 p.m.  The museum is closed on Mondays.  For general information, call (502) 634-2700 or visit www.speedmuseum.org.