Léonard de Vinci Etude pour la tête d'un guerrier
Culture
The Masters on View
Da Vinci and Rembrandt headline the fall exhibition calendar.
By Jason Edward Kaufman
This year marks the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci and the 350th anniversary of the death of Rembrandt. The Louvre owns about a third of da Vinci’s surviving work, including the Mona Lisa, and is organizing the landmark show Leonardo da Vinci (October 24–February 24, 2020).
The British Royal Collection, whose 500 da Vinci drawings form the largest cache in the world, has gathered 200 for Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing at The Queen’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace (through October 13), with another 80 to be presented at the Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland (November 22–March 15, 2020).
To celebrate “the year of Rembrandt,” the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam exhibited its entire Rembrandt collection—22 paintings, 60 drawings, and 300 engravings—and now will restore Rembrandt’s largest and most famous work, the group portrait of civic guardsmen known as The Night Watch. The painting, an icon of Dutch culture, is actually a daytime scene, but darkened varnish gave rise to the misnomer in the 18th century. Operation Night Watch will study the history and physical condition of the roughly 12-by-14.5-foot canvas in preparation for restoration. The entire project will take place within a glass chamber in the galleries, allowing the public to watch. The museum is also collaborating with the Museo del Prado in Madrid on Rembrandt-Velázquez, juxtaposing the Dutch and Spanish masters and their contemporaries at the Rijksmuseum (October 11–January 19, 2020). And Young Rembrandt, the first thorough survey of his early career, will take place in Leiden, the city of his birth, at Museum De Lakenhal (November 3–February 9, 2020).
The British Royal Collection, whose 500 da Vinci drawings form the largest cache in the world, has gathered 200 for Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing at The Queen’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace (through October 13), with another 80 to be presented at the Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland (November 22–March 15, 2020).
To celebrate “the year of Rembrandt,” the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam exhibited its entire Rembrandt collection—22 paintings, 60 drawings, and 300 engravings—and now will restore Rembrandt’s largest and most famous work, the group portrait of civic guardsmen known as The Night Watch. The painting, an icon of Dutch culture, is actually a daytime scene, but darkened varnish gave rise to the misnomer in the 18th century. Operation Night Watch will study the history and physical condition of the roughly 12-by-14.5-foot canvas in preparation for restoration. The entire project will take place within a glass chamber in the galleries, allowing the public to watch. The museum is also collaborating with the Museo del Prado in Madrid on Rembrandt-Velázquez, juxtaposing the Dutch and Spanish masters and their contemporaries at the Rijksmuseum (October 11–January 19, 2020). And Young Rembrandt, the first thorough survey of his early career, will take place in Leiden, the city of his birth, at Museum De Lakenhal (November 3–February 9, 2020).
Léonard de Vinci Sainte Anne
Léonard de Vinci Etude de draperie
Also on the fall calendar in Paris are major shows of Francis Bacon at the Pompidou Centre (September 11–January 20, 2020); Degas at the Opera at Musée d’Orsay (September 24–January 19, 2020); Toulouse-Lautrec at the Grand Palais (October 9–January 27, 2020); and El Greco at the Grand Palais (October 14–February 10, 2020). In Vienna, the Albertina Museum will show 200 works by Albrecht Dürer (September 20–January 6, 2020), as well as about 60 Baroque paintings and sculptures in Caravaggio and Bernini at the Kunsthistorisches Museum (October 15–January 19, 2020).
Rounding out the season are two prominent surveys of contemporary art, the venerable Venice Biennale (until November 24) and the Istanbul Biennial (September 14–November 10).
Rounding out the season are two prominent surveys of contemporary art, the venerable Venice Biennale (until November 24) and the Istanbul Biennial (September 14–November 10).
