Negronipannacotta,anyone?Smith& Daughters’ShannonMartinezcooksveganItaliandishesat
Melbourne’sGourmetInstituteon8 May,whileChaseKojima(Kiyomi,Sokyo)makestunatatakiand
Moreton Bay bug tempura on the Gold Coast on 29 May. harveynorman.com.au/gourmet-instituteFromleft:
ceiling
paintingby
Leonardoda
Vinciatthe
Saladelle
Asse,Castello
Sforzesco,
Milan;A
seatedold
man,and
studiesand
notesonthe
movement
ofwater, by
Leonardoda
Vinci,circa
1512-1513.Life of Leo
TheextraordinarygeniusofLeonardodaVinciis
celebratedina seriesofglobalexhibitionsthisyear.16 GOURMET TRAVELLER
It tooka 15th-centurygeniustobroker
a rapprochementbetweenItalyand
Franceearlierthisyear,afterescalating
politicaltensionsbetweenthetwo
nationsthreatenedtoscotchplansfora
landmarkLeonardodaVinciexhibition
at theLouvre.
Bothnationshaveclaimsonthe
Renaissancepolymath.DaVinciwas
bornintheTuscanhilltownofVinciin
1452 anddiednearAmboiseincentral
Franceon2 May, 1519 – a datethatlooms
largethisyearas dozensofexhibitions
aroundtheworldarestagedtomarkthe
500th anniversary of the master’s death.Amidaccusationsfrombothsides
ofmeddlingindomesticaffairs,Italian
authoritiesappearedtobacktrackon
anagreementtoloankeyartworksto
theLouvre,whichholdsthecrowd-
pleasingMonaLisaandalmosta third
ofDaVinci’ssurvivingpaintings.
Fornow,though,thediplomatic
dramahaseased.Frenchpresident
EmmanuelMacronsaysheplansto
celebratetheanniversaryalongsideItalian
presidentSergioMattarellainParison
2 May,andtheLouvreexhibitionof
paintings,sketchesandsculptureswill
open on 24 October (louvre.fr/en/).Inanotherambitiousproject,by
theRoyalCollectionTrust,a collection
of 200 DaVincidrawingsis showing
at TheQueen’sGalleryinBuckingham
Palaceuntil 13 October,andthen
inthePalaceofHolyroodhousein
Edinburghfrom 22 Novemberuntil
15 March 2020 (rct.uk).
Otherblockbusterexhibitionsof
DaVinci’sartisticandscientificwork
areinTurin,VeniceandDenver(the
latterincludesreplicasofhisinventions
and“theonly360-degreereplicaof
theMonaLisa”).
Perhapsthemostcomprehensive
homageis plannedinMilan,wherethe
masterlivedformanyyears.Afterseven
years’restoration,DaVinci’svirtuosic
wallandceilingpaintingswilldazzlein
CastelloSforzesco’sSaladelleAsse,which
reopenson2 May.A virtualtourofDa
Vinci-eraMilanopenssimultaneously
inthecastle.
Elsewhereinthecity,thePinacoteca
Ambrosianafocusesonthemaster’swork
inarchitectureandsciencethroughout
theyear,anduntiltheendofJunethe
Stellinefoundationshowsworksbytop
contemporaryartistsinspiredbyDa
Vinci,amongthemAnish Kapoor
and Wang Guangyi.