One of the key works of Leonardo - "Saint Anne with the Madonna and Christ Child" - began to play with new colors after a recent restoration. From now on it can be seen in the Louvre, the exhibition of paintings and sketches by Leonardo and his school

Louvre, March 29 - June 25

• photographer takes a picture of the recently restored by Leonardo da Vinci's" Saint Anne with the Madonna and Child Christ "at the opening of the exhibition" Saint Anna: The last masterpiece of Leonardo da Vinci "in the Louvre
  Source: telegraph.co.uk

Exhibition of paintings by Leonardo da Vinci in London National Gallery last fall passed with extraordinary success, it is not surprising that the Louvre decided to hold an exposition at the great Florentine. Especially in the collections of the Louvre is the last of his unfinished masterpiece "Saint Anne with the Madonna and Christ Child," which after the recent restoration began to play with new colors. The picture can be seen at the exhibition "St. Anna: The last masterpiece of Leonardo da Vinci," opening today at the Louvre.

Restoration "St. Anne" was not an easy thing: during the 18-month work two experts resigned from the committee, who led the process for updating the web. Although they are silent about the reasons that prompted them to care, many speculated that the experts did not agree with the overly aggressive cleaning of the canvas.

But museum officials deny this version. In the accompanying materials for the exhibition said that "a very accurate restoration of the rediscovered sheet of warm and cold tones, and returned to life a magnificent lapis lazuli, and crimson-red color." Depending on your taste some people may think that the picture has lost the spirit of antiquity, while others, conversely, to enjoy its fresh colors.

accompany the solo exhibition of the work of another 130 exhibits - paintings and sketches made by Leonardo's hand, paintings and sculptures by Raphael, Michelangelo, Pontormo and others, drew inspiration from the "St. Anne».

most appropriate to the exposure looks well-known drawing by Leonardo charcoal and chalk " Madonna and Child with Saint Anne and John the Baptist "(1499-1500) from the National Gallery in London (the so-called" Sketch of the Burlington-House "). Figure Saint Anne, Madonna and Christ are depicted in other than the picture, poses: the Saviour is not inclined to the lamb, and another boy - a little to John the Baptist.

In addition, exposure There are other sketches for "Saint Anne" from the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle and the British Museum.

history of the painting "Saint Anne with the Madonna and Christ Child" is no less mysterious than the smile of the most holy, reminding us of Mona Lisa smile. The historian Giorgio Vasari wrote in his memoirs, which exhibited a sketch by Leonardo to the picture in the Florentine convent, but did not write this oil painting. The researchers interpreted this phrase definitely an art - a painting of St. Anne was not written by Leonardo. This was confirmed by, for example, that the work was first cataloged in Paris, not in the palace of Fontainebleau, the residence of Leonardo's patron King Francis I. It was only in 1876, when it was discovered the diary secretary of Cardinal Antonio de Beatisa (Antonio de Beatis), all doubts about the authorship of the "last of Leonardo's masterpiece," have been resolved: in 1517, during a visit Beatisa in Amboise, where Leonardo spent the last years of his life , the master himself showing visitors their work, among which was the "Saint Anna". A recently discovered recording of Florentine official Agostino Vespucci (Agostino Vespucci) states that a well-known to be extremely slow Leonardo worked on the "St. Anna" from 1503.

• A visitor looks at a copy of the "Mona Lisa", performed by one of Leonardo's pupils about 1503. Work from the collection of the Prado
  Source: artdaily.com

One of the many works of Da Vinci's workshop at the show - it's a known copy of the "Mona Lisa "from the Prado. Recent studies have disproved the former, the later dating of this work. It has been proven that a copy has been written about the same time with the original by Leonardo, and thus is the earliest known copies of the "Mona Lisa." The author of this copy may have been a pupil of Leonardo Salai (Gian Giacomo Kaprotti), and it seems that he had finished his work even before the teacher's work, in particular, differ in some details the background, seems to be corrected on the original after the copy.

Prepared by Mary Onuchina, AI

Sources : bloomberg.com , artdaily.com , artinvestment.ru