Ghoulish Art History: Will Leonardo Be Exhumed for "Mona Lisa" Comparison?
"Mona/Leo" by Lillian Schwartz: Fusion or delusion?
To the arsenal of Leonardo da Vinci researchers, we may now have to add not only medical science but also grave digging.
The Times of London, which earlier this month brought us Mona Lisa's cholesterol problem, now reports:
Scientists seeking permission to exhume the remains [in France] of Leonardo da Vinci plan to reconstruct his face to discover whether his masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, is a disguised self-portrait....Recreating Leonardo's face could test the theory of Lillian Schwartz, an American expert who drew on computer studies to highlight apparent similarities between the features of the Mona Lisa and those of a self-portrait by the artist.Who is Lillian Schwartz, the creator of the fused physiognomy, above? Not an art historian. The biographical information on her website tells us:
Lillian Schwartz is best known for her pioneering work in the use of computers for what has since become known as computer-generated art and computer-aided art analysis, including graphics, film, video, animation, special effects, virtual reality and multimedia. Her work was recognized for its aesthetic success and was the first in this medium to be acquired by the Museum of Modern Art.
I haven't double-checked this with MoMA (which doesn't include her in the "Collection" section of its website), but we'll let that pass. What we don't see in her eight-paragraph bio is any scholarly expertise in the art of the Renaissance in general or Leonardo in particular. (But she has worked "with [unnamed] colleagues to construct three-dimensional models of the refectory at
Santa Maria [delle] Grazie, to study the perspective construction of Leonardo's
"Last Supper.")
Apparently her self-portrait theory, which has been around for many years, is now being taken seriously. John Follain of the Times tells us:
Contacted by the Times, former Getty Museum drawings curator Nicholas Turner (who issued a 2008 owner-commissioned report supporting the controversial attribution to Leonardo of a drawing of a young woman in profile, sold at Christie's in 1998 for $21,850) debunked the Mona Lisa self-portrait theory and channeled the artist's spirit to answer: What would Leonardo say?
Wait a minute, Leonardo fans! What's the story about that mysterious maybe-Leonardo at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts?
When I know more, you'll know more. (Or maybe we'll just have to wait for the Dan Brown sequel.)
Apparently her self-portrait theory, which has been around for many years, is now being taken seriously. John Follain of the Times tells us:
Talks about the exhumation with French cultural officials...have resulted in an agreement in principle, according to the Italian team, and the project could receive formal permission this summer....While we're at it, can we also test to see if he was taking Lipitor? I say, let sleeping old masters lie.
Giorgio Gruppioni, an anthropologist, said..., "If we manage to find his skull, we could rebuild Leonardo's face and compare it with the Mona Lisa."
Contacted by the Times, former Getty Museum drawings curator Nicholas Turner (who issued a 2008 owner-commissioned report supporting the controversial attribution to Leonardo of a drawing of a young woman in profile, sold at Christie's in 1998 for $21,850) debunked the Mona Lisa self-portrait theory and channeled the artist's spirit to answer: What would Leonardo say?
If Leonardo heard about all this, he'd have a good chuckle.Maybe he'd just be rolling in his grave.
Wait a minute, Leonardo fans! What's the story about that mysterious maybe-Leonardo at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts?
When I know more, you'll know more. (Or maybe we'll just have to wait for the Dan Brown sequel.)
January 25, 2010 11:00 AM
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LEE ROSENBAUM I'm a veteran cultural journalist with many pieces in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and major art magazines. I have been a cultural contributor on New York Public Radio (WNYC and WQXR) and have provided arts commentary on NPR and public radio stations in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. I am a HuffPost Arts writer. I've been profiled on the PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer's Art Beat and in the Chicago Reader. I've appeared as an art-market commentator on BBC-TV and have published numerous Op-Ed pieces in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. I am author of The Complete Guide to Collecting Art (Knopf) and have lectured on cultural property issues at the New Acropolis Museum and the University of Pennsylvania, on deaccessioning at at Investigative Reporters and Editors 2011 Annual Meeting, Columbia Law School, the University of Iowa and a conference of the Museum Association of New York, on museum governance and cultural property issues at Seton Hall University, on arts blogging at American University and on Smithsonian exhibition controversies at Rutgers University.
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________________________
moreLEE ROSENBAUM I'm a veteran cultural journalist with many pieces in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and major art magazines. I have been a cultural contributor on New York Public Radio (WNYC and WQXR) and have provided arts commentary on NPR and public radio stations in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. I am a HuffPost Arts writer. I've been profiled on the PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer's Art Beat and in the Chicago Reader. I've appeared as an art-market commentator on BBC-TV and have published numerous Op-Ed pieces in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. I am author of The Complete Guide to Collecting Art (Knopf) and have lectured on cultural property issues at the New Acropolis Museum and the University of Pennsylvania, on deaccessioning at at Investigative Reporters and Editors 2011 Annual Meeting, Columbia Law School, the University of Iowa and a conference of the Museum Association of New York, on museum governance and cultural property issues at Seton Hall University, on arts blogging at American University and on Smithsonian exhibition controversies at Rutgers University.
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