Elizabeth II

It took to prepare More Than a decade and was almost foiled by a diplomatic row. Now, one of The World 's most expensive art-exhibitions - to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's Death - is finally opening.

The museum of the Louvre In Paris , the home of Leonardo 's Mona Lisa , opens its doors on Thursday to a display of More Than 160 Renaissance paintings and drawings, some of which are on loan from Queen Elizabeth Ii and Bill and Melinda Gates .

The Exhibition , Which is expected to More Than half a million visitors in the next four months, a deeper understanding of The Artist 's working methods with his notebooks, infrared imaging technology and Virtual Reality .

emits infra-red light to some of his most famous works has revealed A Number of secrets, with several layers of drawings found under The Artist 's finished Pieces .

It is not the First Time this method has been used. In August, with macro X-ray fluorescence maps, and infrared and Hyper spectral imaging.

Leonardo da Vinci was an engineer, designer, scientist and artist who was fascinated by the human form and the behavior of the animals and plants have.

with the growth of the trees, the movement of the Birds - he was obsessed with flight, and designed a flying machine based on the wings of a bat - Leonardo studied the complexity and will be documented with drawings. Some of these drawings are shown Here .

He also designed weapons, tools and utensils, and his Notebooks include interpretations of the architectural design.

Among The Most famous of The Works on loan at the Louvre, Leonardo . da Vinci's Vitruvian Man , a pen-and-ink drawing of a perfectly proportioned human form inside a square and a circle

to leave The piece, which is part of The Exhibition for eight weeks after Paris was transported in the past week, despite attempts to ban them, it, Italy .

Standing next to delicate works of art, exhibition co-curator, Vincent Delieuvin, said showed the drawing, the importance of The Relationship between Science and art. "In this case, it shows the beauty of the [human] body," he said.

"We hope to Show who he was as an artist, how and why Leonardo was so important. [He's] very special and original method of work is based on Science . "

The Mona Lisa , perhaps one of The Artist of the best-known paintings, in this exhibition, in its physical form - it is held elsewhere in the Louvre in a protected display case - But the visitors can see The Painting On the glass.

The virtual-reality experience, The First of its kind, in the Louvre, to reveal the scientific research, the details in The Painting otherwise invisible to the Naked Eye , say the developers of The Project , Vive art.

Then there are The Works on loan from The Queen , who usually kept behind closed doors in The Royal household at Windsor Castle .

this Leonardo study of hands and The Head of Leda, the mythological mother of Helen of Troy belong.

"Elizabeth was very generous to send 24 Pieces from their collection; because of you we are able to Show , a fine selection of his drawings," said Mr Delieuvin.

The Exhibition of Renaissance-era Pieces by other artists, including sculptures, to help put Leonardo da Vinci's own work in the context of, say, the Louvre.

Mr Delieuvin told the BBC that he is expecting around 600,000 people visit The Exhibition In Paris , thanks to the impressive volume of work after the Show .

Born in Tuscany in 1452, Leonardo was a Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect and mathematician. Before his Death in may 1519, he spent his last years in France as The Guest of the monarch Francis I.

It was this fact that led to current political and cultural line between France and Italy .

The big plans for The Exhibition , which were already for a long time in The Works , almost foiled at the end of last year, when in Italy , extreme-right, nationalist League party against submission of several works, was the claim of Italy as the left "at the edges of large political event".

In an interview last November, said under-Secretary for Italy 's heritage Ministry, Lucia Borgonzoni ,: "Leonardo was Italian. He died in France. France can't have Everything . "

The spat was only room in The Last week settled in an Italian court, when it was agreed that the Vitruvian Man , which had been kept in a climate-controlled room in Venice for years, could go to Paris.

The Venice court cited the "extraordinary global relevance of the [Louvre] to travel The Exhibition and the [Italy ] the desire to maximise their legacy potential," in announcing its decision, the drawing.

"Now, the great Italian-French culture operation can begin, the two exhibitions on Leonardo In Paris and Raphael in Rome," Italy 's Cultural heritage Minister Dario Franceschini tweeted after the verdict.

Source of news: bbc.com