The Visions of Leonardo da Vinci (and a Memory of his Childhood)
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Thursday, 4th of March 2010
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6.30-8.30pm
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£5.00 (£3.00 concession)
The Swedenborg Society is proud to have leading art writer Jonathan Jones give a lecture on the theme of the Visions of Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci is equally famous for his inventions and his art. This can lead to the illusion that he resembled a modern scientist—a technocratic rationalist. He was nothing of the sort. The insights and leaps of intuition that characterise his thought are often pre-rational and, in a word, 'visionary'. He had something in common with Blake. He also had something in common with cave painters and nomadic hunter-gatherers who paint animals while in a trance. Leonardo advised painters to get ideas by staring at walls until they could see faces, landscapes and battles: evidently this was his technique and you can see the process happen in many of his incredible drawings. This talk will explore Leonardo the shaman, who believed his genius came to him when a bird visited him as a baby in the cradle.
Jonathan Jones
Jonathan writes for The Guardian newspaper, is also on the jury for this year's Turner Prize. His book The Lost Battles: Leonardo, Michelangelo and the Artistic Duel that Defined the Renaissance is published by Simon and Schuster this April.
This event is organized in conjunction with Swedenborg House: Fourteen Interventions an exhibition curated by Stephen McNeilly in celebration of the Swedenborg Society's 200th anniversary.
ADVANCED BOOKING IS ADVISED
For telephone booking contact 02074057986, or email nora@swedenborg.org.uk