A trip to the most visited places in Italy will take people back several thousand years. To many enthusiasts of high culture, the art and the architecture of Renaissance Italy (14th century to the 17th century) are the country’s principal attraction.

The School Sisters of St. Francis are pleased to offer art lovers and people of faith a particularly marvelous learning opportunity that doesn’t require pinching pennies and renewing passports: On Saturday, March 28, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Sister Mary Boyd, OSF, MA, will lead an art appreciation presentation titled “The Sacred Works of Leonardo da Vinci” at St. Joseph Center (Greenfield Ave. at 27th St. or 1501 S. Layton Blvd., Milwaukee) on the sisters’ south side campus.

Sister Mary will present selected works of the man renowned for his genius at intertwining the secular with the sacred. She will cover many fascinating aspects of da Vinci’s life as well as delve into some of his most famous pieces: St. Jerome, Virgin of the Rocks, Salvator Mundi, St. John the Baptist, The Last Supper, The Drawing of St. Anne, and more.

The release of the Da Vinci Code book and movie almost two decades ago brought about an unprecedented resurgent interest in Leonardo’s brilliance, not only his techniques as an artist, but also his insatiable curiosity about anatomy and physics. Fortunately for us, his notebooks and other data have survived to help give shape to the personality that drove him to wonder, experiment, and create.

The legacy Leonardo left behind as an artist has been much studied through the centuries, and today can be scrutinized with powerful, surgically precise analytical instruments. Experts share opinions freely, leaving laypersons in a morass of complex information to wade through. How wonderful to have Sister Mary select the sacred art pieces that could unveil why da Vinci’s works touch hearts in indescribable ways!

Sister Mary, a School Sister of St. Francis, ministered in education for more than 50 years: as an elementary classroom teacher, principal, and Spanish teacher. For many of those years, she was a K-8 art teacher. A resident of Illinois, she now teaches art history at the Fine Line Creative Arts Center in St. Charles and at Womanspace in Rockford. She received her Master of Arts degree in Art History and bachelor’s degree in studio art from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.

The fee for the morning program is only $10. Please send cash or write checks to: School Sisters of St. Francis Outreach Events, c/o Donna O’Loughlin; 1501 S. Layton Blvd.; Milwaukee, WI 53215. Contact: doloughlin@sssf.org or 414-385-5272. Ample free parking is available in the St. Joseph Center lot at 29th St. and Orchard St.