Reframing the classics

Iconic Italian Baroque and Renaissance works are juxtaposed with key pieces by contemporary Chinese artists, Zhang Kun reports.

The Shanghai Museum celebrated the opening night on Sunday of Who Is Leonardo da Vinci? with a gala featuring Chinese and Western classical music.

The performance at the museum echoed the exhibition theme of a dialogue between Chinese and Western Renaissance culture, according to Chu Xiaobo, the director of the institution.

The exhibition, which will run until April 14, features 18 original paintings, drawings and manuscripts by da Vinci and his contemporary Renaissance masters, along with 18 ancient Chinese paintings.

The exhibition is presented by the museum alongside the Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana-Treccani in Rome, the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, the Complesso Monumentale della Pilotta in Parma, and the Casa Buonarroti in Florence.