Brussels examines the Da Vinci mode

 

Italian renaissance polymath Leonardo da Vinci is being hailed as "The European Genius" at a new exhibition in Brussels, and the crowds are flocking to decode his works.

The major show, housed in the impressive National basilica of Koekelberg in the city centre, has attracted over 10,000 visitors in its first week, despite some carping that there are not that many original works on display.

What is clear from a walk around the exhibits is the many codes which Da Vinci (1452-1519) mastered as the archetypal renaissance man, with the exhibits divided into the themes of the man, the artist, the engineer and the humanist.

The organisers could have added scientist, mathematician, inventor, anatomist, architect, musician and writer, but that may have required a second basilica with 3,000 square metres to spare for several months.

The show is part of Brussels' celebrations to mark 50 years since the European Union founding Treaty of Rome.

While Leonardo was around 500 years before Brussels became the capital of Europe, he certainly experienced the continent's pre-EU political and military ups and downs, eventually dying in France at the age of 67.

"He has been described as the archetype of the European ideal and is thus the personality par excellence to symbolise 50 Years of Europe," the shows organisers enthuse.

Another star of the show here is "Mary Magdelene," an alluring vision depicting the biblical figure bare-breasted, wearing a red robe and holding a transparent veil over her belly.

The painting, measuring 58 cm by 45 cm, was until recently attributed to a pupil of Leonardo's, known as Giampietrino.

Hardly ever shown in public, it came under the scrutiny of renaissance painting specialist Professor Carlo Pedretti, who helped put the exhibition together.

Pedretti believes that the Florentine master's hand is evident in the painting, perhaps in collaboration with one or two students.

The masterpiece is thought to have been painted in 1515, four years before Leonardo's death.

The show's organisers, Collections et Patrimoines, have built up the knack, over the last 20 years, of attracting exhibition goers in their thousands, although even the biggest Tintin fan would admit that the cartoon Belgian reporter's creator Herge, the subject of an earlier extravaganza, is not quite in Leonardo's league.

However the concept is the same in inviting the curious visitor to what is dubbed "the most complete exhibition about Leonardo da Vinci ever" in the advertising blurb.

The show, with its opportunities to interact with exhibits such as models of some of Leonardo's many inventions is "about quality but is not just for the expert," explains the exhibition's curator Rene Schyns.

There are plenty of "reconstructions" here, still fascinating as they have been put together from the master's blueprints, including a parachute, helicopter, sailplane, automobile carriage, floating bridge, and a double-hulled boat.

Each one is impressive, together they are a startling tribute to a man so thoroughly deserving of the show's title.

Organiser Francois-Xavier Remion is proud of what has been possible on a budget of no more than five million euros.

"Of course it is very difficult to get hold of original works," he admits.

"The Mona Lisa doesn't leave the Louvre (in Paris) and the drawings are extremely fragile".

Along with the sensuous Mary Magdalene visitors here can also see, for the first time in Belgium, one of the three known versions of "The Virgin on the Rocks" along with 14 original drawings.

The familiar face of the Mona Lisa does smile down from one wall, but this Joconde is a copy by another Da Vinci student.

Further into the exhibition, appearing at the end of a sombre corridor, is a huge photographic image of "The Last Supper," from a contemporary copy of the great work on show in Belgium's Tongerlo Abbey.

Is that really a woman to Christ's right at the last supper?

"Of course it's a woman," exclaims one visitor, a fully-fledged disciple of the key theory in Dan Brown's best-selling "The Da Vinci Code."

"Of course not," her friend replies, "those aren't a woman's feet!"