An $150 million question

Picture taken from www.artnews.com

Esterow, Milton. 'The Real Thing?: A fingerprint has intensified the debate about the origin of a mysterious drawing sold at auction for $21,850.  Experts don't agree whether it's a 19th-century German work or a genuine Leonardo worth $150 million'. ARTnews. Volume 109, Number 1. January 2010. pp82-87.

pp. 85-86

Kemp has coauthored a book (to be published by the London press Hodder & Stoughton in March) in which he states that "by process of elimination," the woman in the drawing is probably the young Bianca Sforza.  He describes the portrait as exhibiting "indescribable delicacy and refinement."

In the book, Kemp summarizes the reasons for his attribution to Leonardo.  Among them are:

• The drawing and hatching was carried out by a left-handed artist, as we know Leonardo to have been."
• The drawing shows strong stylistic parallels with Leonardo's Portrait of a Young Woman, in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle.  "Like other head studies by Leonardo," the drawing has "comparable dedicate pentimenti to the profile."
• "The proportions of the head and face reflect the rules that Leonardo articulated in his notebooks."
• "The interlace or knotwork ornament in the costume and caul corresponds to patterns that Leonardo explored in other works and in the logo designs for his 'Academy.'"
• There have been some diplomatic re-touchings over the years, but the distortion has not affected the expression and physiognomy of the face to a significant degree, and has not seriously affected the overall impact of the portrait."

A scholar of the Italian Renaissance who was asked to comment on the summary said, "not one point in the summary is proof of the authenticity of the drawing.  Leonardo was already a mature artist when this was said to have been done.  He's not going to be timid the way this drawing is.  In the drawing the artist made a contour that outlines the profile.  Leonardo would have built it up in light and shadow.  The embroidery on her shoulder looks very mechanical.  With Leonardo you would have seen the three-dimensional quality of her shoulder.  Here it looks flat.  It could have been made in the 19th century, not to deceive anyone but just as an exercise."

It is interesting to see how those scholars analyse and consolidate their points.  There are much similarity between this and musical analyses.  Composers leave 'signature' in their writing too.  It is very interesting to go through the pieces and discover all the signs, find out the footprint that been purposely wiped out, characteristic sonority that distinguished one from the other or pick up misleading gestures.  Studying the music, itself speaks more than a thousands words...