According to Franco Amadei, cultural counselor of the Italian embassy in China, the show's significance lies in two aspects.
"First, he implemented his theories on teaching painting. We can read his theories in his writings. If we didn't have these pupils' paintings, we can't see how his theories were practically implemented, which is an important academic perspective," Amadei told China Daily Website.
Second, as Leonardo's works were eagerly sought after by European private collectors in the first half of the 16th century, it triggered the movement of seeking facsimiles of Leonardo's works or paintings in his style from his students and followers.
This group of artists, regarded as the Leonardo School, played an unalienable role in promoting Leonardo's style and artistic innovations in 16th century Europe. This is what this exhibition aims to reveal to visitors.
As a painter, Da Vinci's surviving body of work is disappointingly slim – less than 20 paintings can be safely credited to him. So far, the 17 widely accepted Da Vinci paintings are housed in 11 museums in Europe.
The exhibition runs until Dec 8.
If you go:
Opening hours
Day: 9:30 am - 17:30 pm (Monday to Sunday)
Night: 18:30 am - 21:00 pm (Closed on Mondays)
CAFA Art Museum, 8 Huajiadian South Street, Chaoyang district, Beijing 010-6477-1575北京市朝陽區花家地南街8號中央美術學院美術館
Yang Xiaoyu contributed to this story.
