Dundee has been urged to take full advantage when a priceless selection of Leonardo da Vinci drawings go on display in the McManus next year.
The 10 drawings, which have been cared for by the Royal Collection since 1690, are to travel round the UK as part of the Queen’s diamond jubilee celebrations.
The director of the Royal Collection, Jonathan Marsden, was at the McManus on Monday to talk about the event and says it will bring Dundee to international attention.
He is ”truly excited” at the prospect of one of the world’s most important art collections coming to Tayside, and is keen to get local people, from school age to pensioners, involved.
”This matches perfectly our mission at the Royal Collection which is to promote as wide an audience as we possible can,” said Mr Marsden.
The drawings depict each area of Da Vinci’s life and reflect his extraordinary talents.
Mr Marsden said: ”You can see through the drawings his thought process and this is particularly true in working out how the human body works in his anatomical drawings, his engineering drawings and his botanical studies.
”I don’t think you have to be an art gallery-goer to find these completely compelling.”
Beyond a handful of paintings, most of Leonardo’s great projects were never completed and, according to Martin Clayton, senior curator of prints and drawings at the Royal Collection: ”We can often grasp the true nature of Leonardo’s intentions only through his drawings.”
Mr Clayton told The Courier: ”We are very fortunate to hold this exhibition in a venue such as the McManus. It is a very special collection.
”These drawings were carried out by Leonardo himself and you can see his hand at work and understand what he was doing.”
Thousands of visitors are expected to travel to the city next year to view the collection. The McManus is working on an education programme that will use the exhibition to get local schoolchildren interested in art and culture.
There are also plans for the exhibition to tie in with the national campaign for drawing, The Big Draw.
Bob Duncan, chairman of Leisure and Culture Dundee, said: ”The city can expect wonderful exhibition this is top-notch stuff. It’s going to be here for months, so we anticipate a large number of visitors and I am expecting this to beat the exhibition we have on at the moment of the royal photographs, which has been very popular.”
10 Drawings By Leonardo da Vinci A Diamond Jubilee Collection, opens in Birmingham next month before travelling to Bristol and Ulster. It will arrive at the McManus on August 31 and will remain there until November 4, after which it will go on display in Hull.