The year 2019 is full of commemorative events for the art world, including the 100th anniversary of the founding of Bauhaus, the 100th anniversary of the death of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, the 350th anniversary of the death of Rembrandt and, of course, the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, the first of the "Big Three of the High Renaissance."

In honor of one of the most recognizable artists in human history, major art museums from all over the world are taking action and seem to be competing for exhibitions. Throughout the exhibition, lasting more than a year, people will come face to face with these precious works born 500 years ago and feel the atmosphere of the Renaissance while enjoying the unique talent of this artist, architect and scientist. 

The Teylers Museum in Hallam, the Netherlands, is the first to take action, with the exhibition running from October 5, 2018, to January 6, 2019. The Taylor Museum itself has no Da Vinci collection. It borrowed 30 manuscripts from other museum collections, half from the British Royal collection, the rest from Budapest, Vienna and Paris, and focuses on Da Vinci's portrait studies and depictions.

The Uffizi Gallery's exhibition focused on the Codex Leicester manuscript, now owned by Bill Gates, which he bought for 30.8 million U.S. dollars at Christie's in New York in 1994. The Codex Leicester is a manuscript of scientific works compiled by Da Vinci between 1504 and 1508. The script has 18 pages, each of which is folded in half and written on both sides, so it has a total of 72 pages.

It contains insights into astronomy, the nature of water, rocks and fossils, light and celestial bodies. Among the diverse topics, the discussion about "water" accounted for about one-third of the manuscript — the exhibition, titled "Water as Microscope of Nature. Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester," ran from October 29, 2018, to January 20, 2019.

According to incomplete figures, there are about 5,000 pages of Da Vinci's manuscripts in existence, while the British Royal Family's more than 550 Da Vinci manuscripts are undoubtedly an important collection.

In 2019, the royal family will use the collection to launch a nationwide, year-round campaign to honor da Vinci.

The exhibition, titled "Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing," is being held simultaneously at 12 major galleries across the United Kingdom on February 1 to May 6. Each gallery will feature 12 carefully selected manuscripts to showcase the master's eclectic interests, including painting, sculpture, architecture, music, anatomy, engineering and botany.

More than two hundred of his manuscripts from the royal collection will be on display at the Queens Gallery at Buckingham Palace from May 24 to October 13, after 12 exhibitions. To conclude, the exhibition will move to Edinburgh, Scotland, on November 22 and will be on display at the Queens Gallery at the Palace of Holyroodhouse until March 15, 2020.

Throughout the year, the Louvre is worth mentioning in its commemoration of da Vinci. A major exhibition marking the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death at the Louvre will take place at the Hall Napoleon from October 24 to February 24, 2020.

Among the 15 important works of Leonardo da Vinci known to the world at present, the Louvre Museum accounts for one third of them, including Virgin of the Rocks, Portrait of Unknown Woman, Mona Lisa, The Virgin and Child with St. Anne, and St. John the Baptist.

According to Wang Chunchen, deputy director of the Art Museum of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA Art Museum) in China, the museum will hold an exhibition entitled "da Vinci and his students" in September as part of the celebration of the 500th anniversary of his death by Italy's ministry of culture.

The exhibition will include a legendary work that was eventually discovered and certified as one of his works by Italian scholars, as well as more than 20 works by his students.