Famous da Vinci self portrait 'seriously damaged'
Source: Agencies |
June 27, 2012, Wednesday
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LEONARDO da Vinci is sick and no one really knows if he ever will be able to receive visitors again.
Art conservation and restoration experts recently concluded weeks of tests on the famous self portrait of one of history's greatest geniuses, sketched in the early 1500s when he was in his 60s.
And the diagnosis is decidedly grim.
The non-invasive studies confirmed art experts' worst fears: the drawing is seriously damaged and deteriorating and any restoration would be delicate and risky to say the least.
"I think we need to think very hard before we do anything to this very familiar face," said Jane Roberts, Royal Librarian and Curator of the Print Room at England's Windsor Castle.
"But we can tell quite a lot more about it by continuing to ask questions," she told a news conference in Rome.
The small drawing of the Renaissance master, which measures 33.5 by 21.6 centimeters, shows da Vinci with pensive, baggy eyes, bushy eyebrows and a flowing beard.
The self portrait, done with red chalk on paper, is suffering from what the art restoration world calls "foxing," a generic term for blotches, spots and stains - marks that should not be there.
Foxing can be caused by oxidation of the pigmentation da Vinci used as well as fungi on the paper, made of hemp, flax and wool, or rust from the iron in the pigments. Da Vinci's forehead, aquiline nose and puffy cheeks look like he has a bad case of the measles.
"Because this is a masterpiece, prudence has prevailed," said Maria Cristina Misiti, head of Italy's Central Institute for Restoration and Conservation of Archival and Book Patrimony.
"It scary to deal with a work of art of this magnitude and uniqueness," she said.
Art conservation and restoration experts recently concluded weeks of tests on the famous self portrait of one of history's greatest geniuses, sketched in the early 1500s when he was in his 60s.
And the diagnosis is decidedly grim.
The non-invasive studies confirmed art experts' worst fears: the drawing is seriously damaged and deteriorating and any restoration would be delicate and risky to say the least.
"I think we need to think very hard before we do anything to this very familiar face," said Jane Roberts, Royal Librarian and Curator of the Print Room at England's Windsor Castle.
"But we can tell quite a lot more about it by continuing to ask questions," she told a news conference in Rome.
The small drawing of the Renaissance master, which measures 33.5 by 21.6 centimeters, shows da Vinci with pensive, baggy eyes, bushy eyebrows and a flowing beard.
The self portrait, done with red chalk on paper, is suffering from what the art restoration world calls "foxing," a generic term for blotches, spots and stains - marks that should not be there.
Foxing can be caused by oxidation of the pigmentation da Vinci used as well as fungi on the paper, made of hemp, flax and wool, or rust from the iron in the pigments. Da Vinci's forehead, aquiline nose and puffy cheeks look like he has a bad case of the measles.
"Because this is a masterpiece, prudence has prevailed," said Maria Cristina Misiti, head of Italy's Central Institute for Restoration and Conservation of Archival and Book Patrimony.
"It scary to deal with a work of art of this magnitude and uniqueness," she said.
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