Young Girl in Profile in Renaissance Dress
Encyclopedia
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
is a matter of contention. The portrait is a mixed media
Mixed media
Mixed media, in visual art, refers to an artwork in the making of which more than one medium has been employed.There is an important distinction between "mixed-media" artworks and "multimedia art". Mixed media tends to refer to a work of visual art that combines various traditionally distinct...
drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
in chalk, pen, ink and wash tint on vellum
Vellum
Vellum is mammal skin prepared for writing or printing on, to produce single pages, scrolls, codices or books. It is generally smooth and durable, although there are great variations depending on preparation, the quality of the skin and the type of animal used...
, measuring 33 cm x by 22 cm.
It was purchased by the present owner in 2007. Lumière Technology in Paris performed a multi-spectral digital scan
Multi-spectral image
A multispectral image is one that captures image data at specific frequencies across the electromagnetic spectrum. The wavelengths may be separated by filters or by the use of instruments that are sensitive to particular wavelengths, including light from frequencies beyond the visible light range,...
of the work. The spectral images were analysed by Peter Paul Biro, a forensic art examiner, who discovered a fingerprint "highly comparable" to a fingerprint on the unfinished St. Jerome in the Wilderness
St. Jerome in the Wilderness
St Jerome in the Wilderness is an unfinished painting by Leonardo da Vinci, now in the Vatican Museums, Rome.-Description:The painting depicts Saint Jerome during his retreat to the Syrian desert, where he lived the life of a hermit...
.
Martin Kemp
Martin Kemp (art historian)
Martin Kemp is Emeritus Research Professor in the History of Art at Oxford University. He has written and broadcast extensively on imagery in art and science from the Renaissance to the present day...
, Emeritus Research Professor in the History of Art at Oxford University
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, has written a book about the drawing and has identified the girl as Bianca Sforza, the daughter of Ludovico Sforza
Ludovico Sforza
Ludovico Sforza , was Duke of Milan from 1489 until his death. A member of the Sforza family, he was the fourth son of Francesco Sforza. He was famed as a patron of Leonardo da Vinci and other artists, and presided over the final and most productive stage of the Milanese Renaissance...
and his mistress Bernardina de Corradis, and renamed the portrait La Bella Principessa, though Sforza ladies were not princess
Princess
Princess is the feminine form of prince . Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or his daughters....
es.
Attribution to Leonardo
This is a summary of Kemp's book, published in March 2009 by Hodder & StoughtonHodder & Stoughton
Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.-History:The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged fourteen, with Messrs Jackson and Walford, the official publisher for the Congregational Union...
:
The portrait of a young lady on the cusp of maturity shows her with the fashionable costume and hairstyle of a Milanese court lady in the 1490s. By process of elimination involving the inner group of young Sforza women, Kemp concluded that she is probably Bianca Sforza, the illegitimate (but later legitimized) daughter of Ludovico Sforza ("Il Moro"), duke of Milan. In 1496, when Bianca was no more than 13, she was married to Galeazzo Sanseverino, captain of the duke’s Milanese forces. Galeazzo was a patron of Leonardo. Tragically, Bianca was dead within months of her marriage, suffering from a stomach complaint (possibly an ectopic pregnancy). Milanese princesses were the dedicatees of books of poetry on vellum: such a portrait of a "beloved lady" would have made a suitable frontispiece
Book frontispiece
A frontispiece is a decorative illustration facing a book's title page. The frontispiece is the verso opposite the recto title page. Elaborate engraved frontispieces were in frequent use, especially in Bibles and in scholarly books, and many are masterpieces of engraving...
or main illustration for a set of verses produced on the occasion of her marriage or death (most probably the latter).
The physical and scientific evidence from multispectral analysis and first-hand study of La Bella Principessa may be summarized as follows:
- The technique of the portrait is black, red and white chalks (trois crayonsTrois crayonsTrois crayons refers to a drawing technique using three colors of chalk: red , black, and white. The paper used may be a mid-tone such as grey, blue, or tan. Among numerous others, the French painter Antoine Watteau drew studies of figures and drapery aux trois crayons....
, a French medium), with pen and ink. - The drawing and hatchingHatchingHatching is an artistic technique used to create tonal or shading effects by drawing closely spaced parallel lines...
was carried out entirely by a left-handed artist, as we know Leonardo to have been. - There are significant pentimentiPentimentoA pentimento is an alteration in a painting, evidenced by traces of previous work, showing that the artist has changed his mind as to the composition during the process of painting...
throughout. - The portrait is characterized by particularly subtle details, such as the reliefReliefRelief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
of the ear hinted at below the hair, and the amber of the sitter’s iris. - There are strong stylistic parallels with the Windsor silverpointSilverpointSilverpoint is a traditional drawing technique first used by Medieval scribes on manuscripts.-History:A silverpoint drawing is made by dragging a silver rod or wire across a surface, often prepared with gesso or primer. Silverpoint is one of several types of metalpoint used by scribes, craftsmen...
drawing of A Woman in Profile, which, like other head studies by Leonardo, features comparable delicate pentimenti to the profile. - The members of the Sforza family were always portrayed in profile, whereas Ludovico’s mistresses were not.
- The proportions of the head and face reflect the rules that Leonardo articulated in his notebooks.
- The interlaceInterlace (visual arts)In the visual arts, interlace is a decorative element found in medieval art. In interlace, bands or portions of other motifs are looped, braided, and knotted in complex geometric patterns, often to fill a space. Islamic interlace patterns and Celtic knotwork share similar patterns, suggesting a...
or knotwork ornament in the costume and caulCaul (headgear)A caul is a historical headress worn by women that covers tied-up hair. A fancy caul could be made of satin, velvet, fine silk or brocade, although a simple caul would commonly be made of white linen or cotton. The caul could be covered by a crespine or a mesh net to secure it from falling off.It...
corresponds to patterns that Leonardo explored in other works and in the logo designs for his Academy. - The portrait was executed on vellum—unknown in the surviving work of Leonardo—though we know from his writings that he was interested in the French technique of dry colouring on parchment (vellum). He specifically noted that he should ask the French artist, Jean PerréalJean PerréalJean Perréal -- sometimes called Peréal, Johannes Parisienus or Jean De Paris -- was a successful portraitist for French Royalty in the first half of the 16th Century, as well as an architect, sculptor and limner of illuminated manuscripts...
, who was in Milan in 1494 and perhaps on other occasions, about the method of colouring in dry chalks. - The format of the vellum support is that of a √2 rectangle, a format used for several of his portraits.
- The vellum sheet was cut from a codexCodexA codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...
, probably a volume of poetry of the kind presented to mark major events in the Sforza women’s lives. - The vellum bears a fingerprint near the upper left edge, which features a distinctive "island" ridge and closely matches a fingerprint in the unfinished St Jerome by Leonardo. It also includes a palmprint in the chalk pigment on the neck of the sitter, which is characteristic of Leonardo's technique.
- The green of the sitter’s costume was originally obtained with a simple diffusion of black chalk applied on top of the yellowish tone of the vellum support.
- The nuances of the flesh tints were also achieved by exploiting the tone of the vellum and allowing it to show through the transparent media.
- There are noteworthy similarities between La Bella and the portrait of Cecilia GalleraniCecilia GalleraniCecilia Gallerani , born in Siena, Italy, was the favourite and most celebrated of the many mistresses of Ludovico Sforza, known as Lodovico il Moro, Duke of Milan. She is best known as the subject of Leonardo da Vinci's painting The Lady with an Ermine...
, including the handling of the eyes, the modelling of flesh tones using the palm of the hand, the intricacy of the patterns of the knotwork ornament and the treatment of the contours. - The now somewhat pale original hatching in pen and ink was retouched in ink in a later restoration, which is far less fluid, precise and rhythmic.
- There have been some diplomatic re-touchings over the years, most extensively in the costume and headdress, but the restoration has not affected the expression and physiognomy of the face to a significant degree, and has not seriously affected the overall impact of the portrait.
Disagreement with attribution
A number of Leonardo experts have concurred with Kemps's conclusions, including Carlo Pedretti, Nicholas Turner, Alessandro Vezzosi, who is the director of the Museo Ideale Leonardo Da Vinci in Vinci, Italy, Dr. Christina Geddo, Dr. Claudio Strinati of the Italian Ministry of Culture, and Mina Gregori, professor emerita at the University of FlorenceUniversity of Florence
The University of Florence is a higher study institute in Florence, central Italy. One of the largest and oldest universities in the country, it consists of 12 faculties...
.
However, the attribution to Leonardo is not unchallenged, with other connoisseur
Connoisseur
A connoisseur is a person who has a great deal of knowledge about the fine arts, cuisines, or an expert judge in matters of taste.Modern connoisseurship must be seen along with museums, art galleries and "the cult of originality"...
s expressing reservations. Among the reasons for doubt are the lack of provenance
Provenance
Provenance, from the French provenir, "to come from", refers to the chronology of the ownership or location of an historical object. The term was originally mostly used for works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including science and computing...
prior to the 20th century – unusual given Leonardo's renown dating from his own lifetime, as well as the fame of the purported subject's family – and the fact that vellum lasts for centuries, which would facilitate a forger's acquisition of old sheets. Further, there exist around 4,000 drawings by Leonardo, none of which feature vellum as a surface. Leonardo scholar Pietro C. Marani discounts the significance of the drawing being made by a left-handed artist, noting that imitators of Leonardo's work have emulated this characteristic in the past. Marani is also troubled by the vellum surface, 'monotonous' detail, use of colored pigments in specific areas, lack of craquelure
Craquelure
In art, craquelure is the fine pattern of dense "cracking" formed on the surface of paintings, in particular due to the aging of paints. It is often used to determine the age of paintings and to detect art forgery, as craquelure is a hard-to-forge signature of authenticity.-Authentic:Authentic...
, and firmness of touch. A museum director who wished to remain anonymous believes the drawing is "a screaming 20th-century fake," and finds the damages and repair to the drawing suspicious. Planning an exhibition of Leonardo's work, Nicholas Penny
Nicholas Penny
Nicholas Penny, FSA is a British art historian. Since Spring 2008 he has been director of the National Gallery in London....
, director of the National Gallery
National gallery
The National Gallery is an art gallery on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom.National Gallery may also refer to:*Armenia: National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan*Australia:**National Gallery of Australia, Canberra...
, said simply "We have not asked to borrow it."