National Gallery – Leonardo: Experience A Masterpiece

The National Gallery

Leonardo: Experience a Masterpiece

The National Gallery commissioned Sentio Space to create a series of short animations on Leonardo Da Vinci for its immersive exhibition Leonardo: Experience a Masterpiece. The exhibition ran from November 2019 to January 2020 and focused on just one of his works: The Virgin on the Rocks. Angelica Lena, Art Director at Sentio Space, developed a style inspired by Leonardo & illustrated four beautiful chapters, with animation support from Cactus Motion.

Chapter 1: The Time in Which He Lived

This chapter blasts through the Renaissance in 30 seconds, a time of war and political unrest and a flourishing of the arts.

Each chapter we created was made in such a way that we could cut shorter segments for The National Gallery to use as Instagram stories.

Chapter 2: Introducing The Virgin of The Rocks

Leonardo’s masterpiece The Virgin of The Rocks depicts an angel in adoration of Christ. It was originally designed for an altarpiece in Milan.

At the exhibition, The National Gallery recreated the altarpiece to give its audience a chance to witness the work as it would have been seen when it was first painted.

Chapter 3: Leonardo’s Notebooks

We wanted to find a style that work work with the aesthetic of the exhibition. This was achieved primarily through the use of colour.

Leonardo was arguably the finest example of a renaissance man, comfortable both as an artist and a scientist.

Chapter 4: Leonardo’s Techniques

Leonardo developed a range of painting techniques that are still used my modern painters. Our work was created using digital tablets, an invention Leonardo would have relished: for it blends the scientific with the artistic.

It’s remarkable to think that 500 years after Leonardo’s death, The National Gallery of Great Britain has curated an exhibition devoted to just one of his paintings. A remarkable endurance.

Testimonial

“We wanted to engage new online audiences with themes from our immersive exhibition, Leonardo: Experience a Masterpiece. We were looking for a format that was optimised for social media and would resonate with a younger audience. The four 30-second animations produced by Sentio Space have proved hugely successful in engaging online audiences with introductory topics and themes from the exhibition.”

John Shevlin, Planner at National Gallery