Author of a little-known portrait of a young girl in a dress of the Renaissance identified by fingerprints

«Profiled portrait of a young girl in a dress of the Renaissance", previously regarded as the product of an unknown German painter of the beginning of the XIX century, may be the product of Leonardo da Vinci (Leonardo da Vinci). This convinced Professor Emeritus of Art at Oxford University, Martin Kemp (Martin Kemp).

The basis for this assumption was the results of recent research. Portrait of 33 by 24 inches, executed in chalk and ink on parchment, was scanned using a new multispectral camera company Lumiere Technology. These pictures carefully studied the judicial art expert from Montreal, Peter Paul Biro (Peter Paul Biro), which is one of the first to engage in the study of fingerprints to determine the authenticity and attribution of works of art. Biro found in the upper left corner of the sheet print index or middle finger, which was very similar to the mark with Leonardo "Saint Jerome" from the Vatican picture gallery. This work, as emphasized by Biro, belongs to the early period of the master's, when he worked without assistants.

The expert also saw a palm print in colored chalk on the neck of a model that is consistent with the technique, which uses Leonardo: He created the texture and shades with his hands.

The portrait also was scanned in the infrared radiation, which resulted in identifying some of the painted parts with stylistic similarities with other work by Leonardo - Portrait of a Woman in Profile "from the collection at Windsor Castle. In addition, infrared scan showed that the drawing and shading were performed lefty (which is well known, and Leonardo), and the later restoration of the right-hander spent.

Some doubts about the authorship is the fact that they no longer know any of da Vinci, made on parchment. However, this argument from Martin Kemp found the answer. The professor cited a passage from one of Leonardo's writings, which speaks of how in 1494, when, in Milan, along with King Charles VIII came to the court painter Jean Perreal (Jean Perréal), Leonardo asked him questions about the technique of using colored chalk on parchment. Professor Kemp suggested that da Vinci had decided in this case, use the parchment, as the portrait was to decorate the collection of poetry dedicated to that shown in the picture girl. This is confirmed by the works done are three needle holes on the left edge of the sheet - obviously, once was attached to the parchment manuscript.

do not contradict the assumption Kemp and the results of carbon analysis of the parchment, conducted by the Institute of Particle Physics at ETH in Zurich. According to information received, the portrait could be created in the period from 1440 to 1650. This corresponds to the image of girls, dressed and coiffed by the Milanese fashion end of the XV century.

But who is she, this beautiful stranger? Operating by process of elimination, Kemp came to the conclusion that it was Bianca Maria Sforza (Bianca Sforza), the daughter of the Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza (Ludovico Sforza, 1452-1508) and his beloved Bernardino de Korradis (Bernardina de Corradis). The professor suggested that the portrait could be written about in 1496, when Bianca, who was then 13 or 14 years old, married Captain Galeazzo Sanseverino (Galeazzo Sanseverino). Four months after the wedding, she unfortunately died.

After many centuries of oblivion alleged portrait of Bianca Maria Sforza was set on Jan. 30, 1998 at Christie's auction in New York on the drawings of old masters. In the list of lots, he was listed at number 402 and was accompanied by a modest description: "profile portrait of a young girl in a dress of the Renaissance," the German school, the beginning of the XIX century, with the estimate: in the 12-16 thousand dollars. As a result, he was sold for 19 thousand dollars a New York dealer Kate Ganz (Kate Ganz). And in 2007 it now resold for the same amount of Canadian origin, the European expert Peter Silverman (Peter Silverman).

Ganz believed that the portrait could be written by the German artist, who studied in Italy for example, the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci. Silverman also took part in the above auction Christie's, was with her did not agree and asked for advice to Dr. Nicholas Turner (Nicholas Turner), had worked the keeper of prints and drawings at the British Museum. Turner said Silverman, that the creation of this work, probably really could not have done without the involvement of Leonardo. In favor of this hypothesis high quality work and shading made the left hand - brand of the great master. After that, Turner and Silverman sent to one of the recognized experts on creativity Leonardo Martin Kemp.

Initially, Kemp have little confidence in the drawing: "This sounds too good to be true. After 40 years of work in this field, I was sure he saw everything. " But at the end of the study "all the pieces of the puzzle to take their seats. And now more and more Italian art historians tend to believe that the portrait is genuine creation of Leonardo.

Exposure of this work is associated with certain financial difficulties because of insurance. According to the London dealer Simon Dickinson (Simon Dickinson), the cost of a portrait, if he really was created da Vinci, could reach 100 million pounds. However, despite this, in March next year, the portrait should be brought before the eyes of the public at the exhibition "Creation of masters of the Renaissance in a new light," which will be held in the venue Eriksbergshallen in Goteborg, Sweden.

article prepared by Catherine Onuchina, AI

Source: antiquestradegazette.com , artinvestment.ru