La Bella Principessa

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La Bella Principessa / Portrait of Bianca Sforza (attributed to Leonardo da Vinci)
La Bella Principessa / Portrait of Bianca Sforza
Leonardo da Vinci (attributed) , around 1490 (?)
colored chalk, pen and ink on vellum
33 x 23.9 cm
Private collection

La Bella Principessa , also called Young Girl in Profile in Renaissance Dress , Profile of a Young Fiancée or Portrait of Bianca Sforza is a colored drawing that "appeared" publicly for the first time in 1998 at an auction at Christie’s . Century. Alessandro Vezzosi , director of the Museo Ideale di Vinci, attributed the drawing to Leonardo da Vinci . This attribution is u. a. supported by an expertise from the British art historian Martin Kemp from 2010. Kemp has the woman depicted as Bianca Sforza, Ludovico Sforza's illegitimate daughter, identified and given the name La Bella Principessa to the drawing . The attribution by Vezzosi and Kemp is controversial and has been questioned by some art historians and Leonardo experts. So far there are too few indications to be able to develop a provenance of this work of art. Shaun Greenhalgh was suspected as the possible originator .

history

The drawing was sold in 1998 at an auction at Christie's in New York as the "German School, early 19th century" under the title "The Head of a Young Girl in Profile to the Left in Renaissance Dress" for an estimate of US $ 12,000 to 16,000 and auctioned for US $ 21,850. The buyer was the New York gallery owner and art dealer Kate Ganz, who specializes in Italian old masters. After that, the drawing remained in the Ganz gallery for almost ten years, where it was seen by several international curators and collectors. In 2008, the Canadian art collector Peter Silverman, who believes the picture is a drawing from the 15th century, acquired it from Ganz's Old Master Drawings Show for the same price.

Silverman then had the image subjected to a series of tests that have proven successful in comparable cases of questionable or controversial attributions. Scientists from ETH Zurich examined a sample of the vellum , u. a. with the radiocarbon method, and dated the vellum to the time between 1440 and 1650. Then Silverman contacted Martin Kemp, who is considered a proven Leonardo expert. Kemp worked intensively on the image for over two years and published his research results in 2011 in collaboration with Pascal Cotte from Lumière Technology , a Parisian service provider for the use of innovative technologies, particularly in the museum sector. According to their findings, the "Bella Principessa" is a work by Leonardo that was originally written by Leonardo, which was originally in a copy of the Sforziada , which is now in the Polish National Library . The printed book with hand-painted illustrations is a laudation to Ludovico Sforza , Duke of Milan and Leonardo's client and patron at the time. It is said to have been given to Bianca Sforza as a gift on the occasion of her marriage in 1496. Whether the person depicted is actually an illegitimate daughter of Ludovico, who died at the age of 13 or 14, is difficult to verify as no portrait of her is known to date. Doubts about Kemp's version were also raised by Klaus Albrecht Schröder , Director of the Albertina in Vienna , and confirmed on request.

Silverman received an offer to buy in the amount of 80 million US dollars, which he declined. The artwork was valued at more than $ 100 million in 2012.

description

The chest piece shows a young girl in profile, looking to the left. She wears a kind of jacket over a simple undergarment, the sleeve of which is wide slit on the upper arm. The slit is bordered by a border of loops and braided and knotted ornaments . The thick blonde hair is tied into a pigtail with a hairnet and a cross-tied braid, following the fashion of the time. A thin band runs directly under the hairline that holds the hairstyle and hairnet together.

The small-format picture is executed in a mixed technique with pen and brown ink over black, red and white chalk on vellum.

The vellum itself is mounted on an oak panel that is slightly damaged at the edges, so that the original verso of the sheet cannot be seen. There are three small stitch holes in the left margin, which suggest that the sheet was originally part of a codex .

Exhibitions

The picture, which is in private hands, has been shown in four public exhibitions. It was presented for the first time from March 20 to August 15, 2010 in the Eriksbergshallen in Gothenburg as part of the exhibition “And There Was Light, The Masters of the Renaissance”, accompanied by documentation and the reconstruction of evidence that this is is an authentic work of Leonardo's.

From the end of 2014 to 2015 it was shown successively in Urbino, Lugano and Monza. It was shown under the title “La bella Principessa, opera attribuita a Leonardo da Vinci” from December 6, 2014 to January 18, 2015 in the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino , and from March 21 to April 19, 2015 in the Sala Consiglio Comunale of the Palazzo Civico of Lugano and from May 21st to September 30th 2015 in the apartments of Umberto and Margherita of the Villa Reale in Monza as part of the Expo 2015 . A catalog has been published for each of these three exhibitions.

The picture was not shown in the London exhibition “Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan” (2011/12), which covers Leonardo's time in Milan. According to Nicholas Penny , then director of the National Gallery , it was not requested for this exhibition.

literature

  • Martin Kemp , Pascal Cotte: La Bella Principessa: The Story of the New Masterpiece by Leonardo Da Vinci. London: Hodder & Stoughton 2010. ISBN 978-1-4447-0626-0
  • Elisabetta Gnignera: Leonardo. La Bella Svelata . Introduzione di Martin Kemp. Bologna 2016. (Scripta Maneant.) ISBN 978-88-95847-44-3
  • Katarzyna Krzyzagórska-Pisarek: La Bella Principessa. Arguments against the Attribution to Leonardo . In: Artibus et Historiae. Vol 36. 2015, pp. 61-89.
Full text, pdf

Movie

  • Mystery of a Masterpiece . A production of Nova and National Geographic Television, written, produced, and directed by David Murdock. DVD National Geographic Television & Film 2012. ISBN 978-1-60883-639-0

Web links

Commons : La Bella Principessa  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Shelley Esaak: La Bella Principessa by Leonardo da Vinci , accessed December 10, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b Georges Waser: Beautiful Princess von Coop. In: NZZ , December 4, 2014.
  3. ↑ Jo Ann Caplan: The Da Vinci Question in: Destillations, Spring 2011, accessed December 16, 2018
  4. ↑ a b Martin Kemp: Leonardo da Vinci, Le Bella Principessa. Errors, Misconceptions, and Allegations of Forgery. Full text, PDF accessed on April 2, 2019
  5. ↑ Katarzyna Krzyżagórska-Pisarek: La bella Principessa. Arguments against the attribution to Leonarda. In: Artibus et Historiae, No. 71, 2015. pp. 61–89.
  6. ↑ a b c La Bella Principessa, a 100m Leonardo or a copy, in: The Telegraph , April 12, 2010
  7. ↑ Christie's, Old master drawings, Sale 8012, accessed December 12, 2018
  8. ↑ Gianluca Colla: “La Bella Principessa” - a real da Vinci? In: National Geographic . 2012, issue 2, pp. 122–129.
  9. ^ A b David Grann: The Mark of a Masterpiece The man who keeps finding famous fingerprints on uncelebrated works of art . In: The New Yorker , July 12, 2010, accessed December 16, 2018
  10. ↑ Lumière technology , accessed December 16, 2018.
  11. ↑ La sforziada the Varsavia. Facsimile e commentario. Biblioteka Ordynacij Zamojskiej, deposito. Inc F 1347. Scripta maneunt .
  12. ↑ New Leonardo da Vinci Bella Principessa confirmed . Lumiere-technology.com. September 28, 2011. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
  13. ↑ Jennifer Welsh 'Lost' Da Vinci Portrait, and its Origins, Stir Controversy , LiveScience, accessed September 17, 2019
  14. ↑ PBS / WGBH Television on January 25, 2012 Mystery of a Masterpiece with text
  15. ↑ Broadcast on Arte on March 30, 2019: Leonardo da Vinci: The Secret of the Beautiful Princess arte.tv, accessed on September 17, 2019
  16. ↑ New Leonardo da Vinci Bella Principessa confirmed, last news updated Sept 28th 2011 Lumière technology, accessed April 1, 2019
  17. ^ Statement by Nicholas Turner concerning the portrait on Vellum by Leonardo PDF
  18. ↑ Exhibitions in the Eriksbergshallen in Gothenburg , accessed on December 14, 2018.
  19. ↑ Esposta in anteprima in Svezia la 'Bella principessa', capolavoro di Leonardo accessed on December 15, 2018
  20. ↑ “La bella Principessa” arriva ad Urbino , accessed on December 15, 2018.
  21. ↑ La Bella Principessa a Lugano RSI news, accessed December 14, 2018
  22. ↑ Francesca Piri: La Principessa di Leonardo in: Corriere della Sera, September 29, 2011, accessed on December 14, 2018