London, June 6 (IANS): Marking 500 years since Leonardo da Vinci's death, an exhibition here will showcase his manuscript legacy and will reveal how he believed motion to be the 'cause of all life'.

The exhibition "Leonardo da Vinci: A Mind in Motion" will open at the British Library on Friday.

It will focus on his three notebooks that are close observations, detailed recording and systematic analysis of natural phenomena, with a particular emphasis on water in motion, the British Library said.

"It offers crucial evidence as to how Leonardo thought on paper and, as a scientist and artist, attempted to understand the natural world in terms of its principles in order to recreate nature," the show's curator Juliana Barone said.

Through a selection of studies ranging from water flow to geometry, mechanics, astronomy and the human body in motion, the visitor can sense the depth of da Vinci's creative mind, she added.

The exhibition will also look at how the scientific exploration of nature and motion found in his notebooks influenced his work as an inventor and artist.

It offers an immersion in the restless creativity of the notebooks, which will help visitors see his famous paintings with a fresh view.

The three-month exhibition is supported by Automobili Pininfarina, an Italian design and luxury brand creating the world's first pure-electric, zero-emission hypercar.