Culture and catchup in Melbourne Day 2

The Vitruvian Man - based on
work done by a Greek Philosopher
it defines the proportions of
'the perfect body'

 Sunday 23rd  June 

Christine and I had tickets booked for DaVinci at the Lume for 11 o'clock. Christine had elected to drive us in and wanted to leave in very good time just in case of any traffic problems, so we actually arrived at the Lume at about 10:20.

Overwhelming at the entrance!

As we entered the foyer, a lovely Italian gentleman of a certain age approached us to ask if he could help. I told him that we had tickets for 11 and he indicated that that was absolutely fine, he could get us through straight away.

A reproduction of one of his classic

Christine, of course, got chatting with him and made connections going back to her days when her father was a florist in Lygon Street, so they had a lovely time for a little while before we went in to the exhibition.

The Mona Lisa as colurs intended
by Da Vinci (digital interpretation)

The entrance itself was absolutely inspiring, with 2 magnificent paintings projected hugely into the entrance portals. And it just got better from there. While there was very little that was actually Da Vinci's original work, mostly duplicates or projections, it really was absolutely stunningly managed.

The Mona Lisa as she is today

And it was so well set up and laid out and particularly so much space in the main auditorium that no stage did it seem crowded. 

Da Vinci really was a person born before his time; his vision, his ideas, his creativity were amazing, not only in his art did he develop new techniques for painting and as an older teenager was declared by his master as a most excellent painter, but he was also a scientist, and engineer, a war strategist (although his views were pacifist), a mathematician, an anatomist and a designer. The extent of his interest, work and ability was just incredible. 

St Jerome, with all the wrinkles
and frailties of old age

He drew machine that wouldn't actually be constructed and used until 400 years later. His anatomical work, of which I was already aware of having seen an exhibition of his anatomical drawings when I was in Italy in the late 1970s, really are amazingly intricate. The fact that he actually dissected corpses when such an action was absolute anathema to society was a reflective, I think, of his curiosity to know and understand to incredible depth. The replicas of his anatomical drawings included fabulously complex details and their style, apparently, formed the basis of the illustrations in the classic Gray's Anatomy. 

There were many exhibits which were models that had been constructed of his mechanical drawings; models of flying machines; of equipment for submarine use including a diving suit and breathing apparatus; and war machines. And machines that he just designed and constructed purely for entertainment - one of his roles at one stage was to provide the entertainment for his benefactor -  he designed a self-calling car that could drive itself across the stage. He also designed and made costumes for these entertainments.  Truly a man with an incredible range of talent.

The Virgin on the Rocks

Christine and I ended up being there for four hours. That did include having lunch, but we had lunch in the cafeteria in the Lume - a front table, which we were incredibly lucky to get because I thought one had to pay extra for those. Our little table had an amazing view of all the audio visuals that were projected into the main Auditorium: an ever-changing mix of Da Vinci's artwork and drawings, the artwork of sother masters of the Renaissance, as well as a couple of (to be honest) rather odd bits that were designed by some random artists just because...

One of his war machines

I did find some of the projections of the Renaissance art a little on the odd side when animation had been added to the scenes;  it just came across to me as a little bit Monty Pythonesque.

But altogether it was an amazing experience 

AND he produced costumes
under his tenure to Lord Storza
to enhance the entertainments
he designed and produced

Lunch was way too much and Christine wrapped up what was suitable to be wrapped up in paper serviettes and tied it in a neat bundle with a piece of string she happened to have and popped it into the little pocket in her mobility buggy so that went home with us for afternoon tea and to provide Brian with a good afternoon snack. 

There were 4 of Da Vinci's original drawings on display - behind bullet proof glass and having been flown in with an unbelievable level of security, according to our information source.  To stand and view those original works sent shivers down my spine!

A bit of fun:  scan your own body to compare against the
proportions of the Vitruvian Man
I'm 99.39% perfect!

An original!

Brian headed off about 6pm to a movie that had been booked for him as part of his birthday treat, but it turned out that Christine had got the time wrong and he missed the movie so he was back very soon. In the meantime, Christine and I started to prepare the salads to accompany the salmon for dinner. Brian cooked the salmon beautifully and it was complemented with a bottle of my Fat Bastard Chardonnay from the car,  which was much enjoyed, including by Brian who is not a white wine drinker.

Some drawings took a little time to realise the 
full extent

For our evening entertainment, we watched the movie The Lady in the Van starring Maggie Smith, who's the only one I remember; it's based on a true story. A nicely done movie, and quite intriguing to actually put together the story of the life of this old lady who lived in the van. 

Sound a bit like Newton???