Art And Science Merge In Leonardo Da Vinci's 'Idea Of Beauty' At The MFA

09:06

April 16, 2015

Leonardo da Vinci, Head of a Young Woman (Study for the Angel in the "Virgin of the Rocks"), about 1483–85. (Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts Boston)

Leonardo da Vinci was one of the bright lights of the Renaissance: an architect, engineer, inventor, mathematician and, of course, one of history's great artists.

His scientific appreciation of form and proportion blended with spectacular artistic talent. You can get a glimpse of that from April 15 to June 14 in a new exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, titled "Leonardo da Vinci and the Idea of Beauty."

Guest

Helen Burnham, Pamela and Peter Voss curator of prints and drawings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Photos

Leonardo da Vinci and follower, Head of a Young Woman, about 1500–10. Red chalk with white chalk on prepared paper. Turin, Biblioteca Reale. (Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts Boston)

Codex on the Flight of Birds, Leonardo da Vinci, about 1505. Pen and brown ink on paper. Turin, Biblioteca Reale. (Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts Boston)

An Old Man and a Youth Facing One Another, about 1500–05. Red chalk on paper. Florence, Uffizi. (Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts Boston)

This segment aired on April 16, 2015.