Some people’s sketches are simply fated to be doodles. Other’s mini works turn into complex artistic masterpieces to be drooled over.
For the first time, one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s preparatory drawings for his “Adoration of the Magi” is leaving Italy — specifically, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence — and will be on display at the Library of Congress for two days only, today and Friday. The exhibit is sponsored by Finmeccanica, an Italian aerospace and defense company.
In 1481, Da Vinci was commissioned by the monks of the Florentine monastery San Donato a Scopeto to do the 9-foot-long “Adoration of the Magi,” but Da Vinci never finished the work or paid his fee, moving to Milan from Florence a year later to work under Ludovico Sforza. In 1497, the piece (also on display at the Uffizi) was finished by Filippino Lippi.
The preparatory drawing depicts animals, men fighting on horseback and architecture of the day, and in the final painting, it acts as the background to a depiction of the Virgin Mary, baby Jesus and the adoring Magi.
Scenes from the drawing are also similar to some of the scientific findings done by Maurizio Seracini on the orignal painting. Commissioned by the Uffizi in 2002 to study the painting to see if the color could be restored without damage and reportedly an inspiration behind some of Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code,” Seracini examined several of the painting’s underdrawings using infrared photography that showed early Da Vinci sketches that had been covered by the later artist.
“We found similarities we couldn’t have expected just looking at the drawing with the naked eye,” Seracini said.
Using multiple wavelengths enabled Seracini to go under layers and bring unseen faces and figures to the surface. While the painting presents a small fight between men on horseback, the underdrawing sheds light into what Da Vinci was thinking, showing more action and even efforts to change the head of one of the horses and the fierce expression of its rider.
“It’s a revelation of its own,” Seracini said.
Da Vinci Drawing
Leonardo Da Vinci’s preparatory drawing for his “Adoration of the Magi” is on display Thursday and Friday.
Venue: Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. SE, Washington
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission: Free
More info: 202-707-8000
