You can be the first person in the States to see 12 of da Vinci’s over 300-year-old rare drawings. These 12 original drawings from the legendary Italian polymath, Leonardo da Vinci, will debut in Washington D.C.-the first showcase in the entire U.S.
The drawings hail from Italy and are part of da Vinci’s Codex Atlanticus. Washingtonians can catch the first glimpse of these works at a special exhibit titled Imagining the Future—Leonardo da Vinci: In the Mind of an Italian Genius. Hosting the exhibit is D.C.’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.
Codex Atlanticus, where the drawings were pulled from, houses the largest collection of the famed polymath’s work. Entries date back to 1478, with the last entry in the year of Da Vinci’s death, 1519. Far beyond his time, Washingtonians can explore Da Vinci’s preamble to vehicle design and flying machines. To put his advanced cognition into context, air flight didn’t come into fruition until the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Speaking of flight, the artifacts will be flying their way across the Atlantic from Milan’s Ambrosiana Biblioteca which has housed Da Vinci’s Codex Atlanticus since 1637. The partnership is the brainchild of Confindustria, an Italian trade association that is will soon have a home base in D.C.
The exhibit runs June 21-August 20. Alongside the Codex Atlanticus exhibit, the library will host a special “Leonardo’s Lab” for children from June 9-September 30. The interactive lab will invite children to explore engineering, science, and math with various activities inspired by da Vinci’s works! The exhibit will also have a special Leonardo Pop-Up at the National Gallery of Art on for First Saturday’s on July 1 featuring face painting, crafts, and more!