Leonardo’s Legacy: Art and Science from Classical Greece to the Middle Ages

lectures at the Italian Cultural Institute by Professor Giovanni Aloi (School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
Leonardo da Vinci’s ability to see beneath the surface of appearances laid the foundations of the modern world. From architecture and technology to art and science, Leonardo’s desire to discover and understand the secret workings of the natural world bore a deeply modern, existentialist tone to European culture. At times, his genius saw into the future, envisioning a functional world designed to better life, at others he focused his efforts on dreaming up lethal war machines fine-tuned to eradicate it. Leonardo’s oeuvre pieces together the image of a visionary mind capable of shaping the world in ways that still impact our lives today.
This series of lectures explores the legacy of Leonardo’s complex genius, focusing on the key moments that made the polymath’s life and career of incomparable importance to the history of the Western world.
The following lectures will be presented as part of this series:  
 
February 12: Leonardo: The Life and Works
March 12: The Renaissance: Reinventing Nature
April 16: Leonardo’s Legacy: Nature and Technology

Giovanni Aloi is an art historian in modern and contemporary art. He currently teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Sotheby's Institute of Art New York and London, and Tate Galleries. He regularly lectures on modern and contemporary art at the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has been translated in Italian, Chinese, French, Russian, Polish, and Spanish.