This summer, the MIA has Leonardo on the brain. The exhibition “Leonardo da Vinci, the Codex Leicester, and the Creative Mind,” now on display in the Target Galleries, features the master’s original notes and drawings along with contemporary examples of invention and visionary design. But there are links to da Vinci’s life and work throughout the museum, and now—in a loose, broad-minded fashion that da Vinci might have appreciated—we’ve connected the dots. At 10 points in the museum, you’ll encounter stories linking objects and ideas to Leonardo. Here’s a round-up of the tour stops.
Ahab (lobby)
Alexander Calder was a master of kinetic art. His mobiles—like Ahab, suspended above the MIA lobby—ride on air currents, but Ahab refers to the maniacal sea captain who pursued the white whale in Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby-Dick. Add Calder and Melville to the list of artists inspired by the power of H2O—a list anchored by da Vinci. —Diane Richard
Otis elevator (near marble staircase)
Da Vinci spent years finessing his flying machine, never to see it aloft. Elisha Graves Otis earned his own wings by inventing the “safety elevator”—much like this one, installed here in 1930. His invention enabled buildings—and architects’ imaginations—to ascend skyward, allowing the urban skyline to reach ever closer toward the heavens.—D.R.
Entrance to the Codex show (2nd floor Target Galleries)
Writing backwards worked well for left-handed Leo, who didn’t want to smudge his ink. As a lover of animals, he probably would have delighted in the recent discovery, by a team of Russian biologists, that he shared his left-handedness with the vast majority of kangaroos. —Alex Bortolot
Native American ollas, or water jars (G260)
Water, da Vinci believed, is the driving force of nature. But it’s not always where we want it, when we want it—a problem that Native Americans in the Southwest desert addressed with pottery water jars and da Vinci attempted to resolve with engineering. —Tim Gihring
Celestial Horse (G215)
Da Vinci might have admired the great skill and craftsmanship evident in this stunning bronze Han dynasty–era horse, which predates him by more than a millennium. Da Vinci himself completed studies of horses while working on what would have been the world’s largest equestrian statue. It was never cast—at least, not in his lifetime. Starting in 1977, however, three successive American artists worked to realize his intentions. —D.R.
Caduceus (G241)
Hermes, known to the Romans as Mercury, was the messenger to the gods, presiding over communication and trade in general. He was depicted carrying the caduceus staff, an ancient symbol of commerce. He was also a prankster—like da Vinci. Famous in his time for his practical jokes, da Vinci once lured friends into a small room, then inflated a calf’s small intestine like a balloon—completely filling the space and pinning his victims in place. —A.B.
Ram (G304)
Da Vinci was an autodidact, a fancy way of saying he was largely self-educated. Because he was born out of wedlock, universities wouldn’t have him. So his father apprenticed him to an artist when he was 14. William Edmondson was self-taught, too, though for different reasons (poverty, racism) and to a different degree—it’s not clear that he ever learned to read or write. Both men followed their instincts when it came to art, such that their work is like no one else’s. —T.G.
Two Muses (G343)
Da Vinci was apparently a fine musician. Being da Vinci, though, he wasn’t content to play the instruments at his disposal—he wanted to improve on them. He famously constructed a silver lyre in the shape of a horse’s head—he believed it was more resonant and musically interesting than conventional wooden lyres. He also designed a keyboard instrument called a viola organista, in which spinning wheels strike horsehair strings, so that it sounds like a violin but sustains a note like an organ. —T.G.
St. John the Baptist (G340)
I like to imagine Benedetto da Rovezzano, who carved this bust of St. John the Baptist, sharing a bottle of Chianti with da Vinci at a street café in Florence. That these artist contemporaries knew each other seems likely; that they liked each other, well, who knows? Benedetto may be far less known, but he, too, managed to extend his legacy into the present day. —D.R.
Wheel-lock rifle (G340)
Da Vinci was an outspoken pacifist, yet he was fascinated by machines of war and dreamed up ever more complex weapons—most too impractical or simply impossible to make. But his 1499 design for a wheel-lock rifle mechanism became one of the most popular gun designs of its day. —A.B.