Friday, October 16, 2009

Bella Principessa — a rediscovered da Vinci?

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The first discovery in a century of a Leonardo da Vinci painting has been announced.

The ID seems fairly certain if, as the announcement says, it literally has da Vinci's fingerprint preserved in the paint. Of course, the Old Masters had workshops and sometimes only painted part of a picture or applied the finishing touches, so there are vague borderlines in attribution that will always be controversial.

But most of us can leave it to the scholars to debate such things, and just be happy that this has surfaced. The portrait certainly has Leonardo's refined sensitivity, a profile that combines tenderness and intelligence. What a lovely reminder of the heights artistry can achieve.

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stolen from an African artist, no doubt...

MaryJ said...

That and everything else Da Vinci painted or sculpted will be toast in a Muslim Europe.

Rick Darby said...

MaryJ,

I don't know how a Muslim domination of Western Europe would affect secular Renaissance art, but it would be devastating for Christian-themed art and architecture.

It's easy to envision the mullahs ordering the destruction of Chartres and Notre Dame, as the Taliban did the ancient Buddhist sculptures at Bamiyan in Afghanistan.

MaryJ said...

All pictorial representations of humans or animals are haram according to Islam, Rick. Not just Christian-themed art. You could argue that Classical art such as Winged Victory and the Venus de Milo are even more endangered than Christian art because they depict "pagan" goddesses.

All of Europe's cultural heritage is in danger. All of it. The great cathedrals, the murals, the sculptures, the paintings, the music, everything. Even historical sites such as Stonehenge, as it's got "pagan" religious roots.

They won't destroy Chartres, Nortre Dame or St. Paul's -- they'll turn them into mosques. As what happened to the Aya Sofia, the oldest cathedral in Christendom, in the city formerly known as Constantinople.

Rick Darby said...

MaryJ,

Good points.

I am on record as favoring returning the Parthenon sculptures to Athens. The Greeks have a long historical memory and know what it is like to live under Muslim rule. The sculptures will be safer there than in London once Islam becomes dominant in what was once the center of the English-speaking world.

MaryJ said...

Greece is actually folding over for Islam like a cheap suit, Rick. Their government is even on record as favoring Turkey's entry into the EU. Must be a case of mass hysterical amnesia. They'll have to bleed all over again for their independence from Islam, if they surivive this time.