Preview: Leonardo At The National Gallery

M@
By M@ Last edited 148 months ago
Preview: Leonardo At The National Gallery
GE-249;0; Leonardo da Vinci. Madonna and Child (Madonna Litta).
Tempera (and oil?) on panel, transferred on canvas 42 x 33 cm
Virgin and Child (Madonna Litta) about 1492. © The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Photo by Vladimir Terebenin, Leonard Kheifets, Yuri Molodkovets
oil on wood  63 x 45 cm
Musee du Louvre Paris
La Belle Ferroniere, about 1490. © RMN / Franck Raux
oil on panel 43 x 31 cm
Portrait of a Musician, about 1490-95. © Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Pinacoteca – Milan
OIL ON PANEL 36.8 X 48.9
The 10th Duke of Buccleuch and The Trustees of the Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust
The Madonna of the Yardwinder. © Photo Antonia Reeve / courtesy of the owner
Mona Lisa, alas, isn't coming. But she's here in spirit. (Silliness by M@, background by some Italian guy)
Mona Lisa, alas, isn't coming. But she's here in spirit. (Silliness by M@, background by some Italian guy)

One of the biggest art exhibitions in London's history opens at the National Gallery this week. Leonardo Da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan brings together more Leonardo art than any previous exhibition, anywhere, ever. Almost half of the master's surviving paintings are on show. The Guardian calls it a 'knockout'.

Needless to say, tickets are being snapped up like After Eights at the Last Supper. All viewing slots up to mid-December are now full, despite the £17.60 full ticket price. If you hold any hope of seeing the show, now is the time to book for late December and January.

So big is this opening that the Gallery has teamed up with cinemas across the UK to offer special live screenings of the exhibition's opening. It's hard to imagine this working with any other artist. In London, the ribbon-cutting will be screened at nine cinemas, including all Picturehouse venues, the Phoenix in Finchley, the Lexi in Kensal Rise and RADA (7pm, Tuesday 8 November). Tickets are still available for some of these.

Leonardo Da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan runs at the National Gallery 9 November 2011 to 5 February 2012. Live screenings at various cinemas on Tuesday 8 November, 7pm.

Last Updated 07 November 2011