The search for the perfect machine, which would work with total efficiency and be self-sufficient ad infinitum, occupied natural philosophers and engineers from the Middle Ages onward. Leonardo has a central place in this story, but his studies on perpetual motion have not been thoroughly researched yet. This project, which includes an international conference and an exhibition, will offer an original contribution to the studies on Leonardo and, more generally, on the relationship between art and science in the Renaissance. The conference will focus on Leonardo’s studies on perpetual motion and on their relationship with the historical context in which they were developed. The exhibition will feature original drawings, paintings, and manuscripts as well as working models of the machines conceived by Renaissance engineers and scientists. Multimedia applications and digital videos will help visitors to fully understand Leonardo’s thought and the exhibition’s main topics.

Both the exhibition catalogue and the proceeding of the conference will be published.