Leonardo's Lost Princess , livre ebook

Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Found!
Chapter 2: Who Is She?
Chapter 3: Leonardo’s World
Chapter 4: Real or Fake?
Chapter 5: The Magic Box
Chapter 6: A Scholar’s View
Chapter 7: Leonardo’s Principles
Chapter 8: Beloved Daughter
Chapter 9: The Art of Fingerprints
Chapter 10: The World Reacts
Chapter 11: The $100 Million Blunder?
Chapter 12: The Art World Strikes Back
Chapter 13: What Constitutes Proof?
Chapter 14: Miracle in Warsaw
Epilogue: Life’s Fleeting Grace
Appendix: Nicholas Turner’s Report on Portrait of a Young Woman in Profile
Statement by Nicholas Turner Concerning the Portrait on Vellum by Leonardo
Notes
Bibliography
Color Plates
Index

Copyright © 2012 by Peter Silverman. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Silverman, Peter, date. Leonardo’s lost princess : one man’s quest to authenticate an unknown portrait by Leonardo da Vinci / by Peter Silverman with Catherine Whitney. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-470-93640-5 (hardback); ISBN 978-1-118-16310-8 (ebk.); ISBN 978-1-118-16311-5 (ebk.); ISBN 978-1-118-16312-2 1. Leonardo, da Vinci, 1452–1519—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Drawing—Expertising. 3. Portraits—Expertising. I. Whitney, Catherine. II. Title. NC257.L4S55 2012 741.945—dc23 2011042291
To all the wonderful people who have so generously stood up to defend the honor and reputation of La Bella Principessa —often at great personal risk. Without you this astounding saga could never have progressed so far so fast. I am humbly in your debt.
To my patient and perceptive wife, Kathleen, for your invaluable collaboration and forbearance over these past three years.
This book is further dedicated to those who were instrumental in helping to make me who I am: Dr. Irene Duerking and my teachers, Swami Rudrananda (Rudi) and Professor Namkai Norbu Rimpoche.
Acknowledgments
I am indebted to the many people who made this book, and the amazing discovery that prompted it, a reality. First and foremost, my wife, Kathy, who shares my passion for art and has been my partner in both life and work, joined me in a search for the truth about the found portrait. My sister, Tina, a consultant on the project, has been a great help as well, particularly with press relations.
Nicholas Turner, the former curator of drawings at the British Museum and a former curator of the J. Paul Getty Museum, was the first person to suggest to me that I might be holding a Leonardo, and he followed up his initial intuition with a full support of the portrait’s authenticity.
My dear friend Mina Gregori, an acclaimed doyenne of art history, also saw the hand of Leonardo in my find and supplied excellent advice. She insisted on being the first to actually write down the Leonardo attribution. Giammarco Cappuzzo, an independent art consultant in Paris, supplied me with the right contacts at the right time, including recommending Lumiere Technology and the Swiss laboratory for carbon-14 dating. His input saved many months of futile work.
Pascal Cotte of Lumiere Technology, the visionary inventor of the technology that allows one to view great works of art “like Superman,” took on the task of proving that the portrait was the Master’s work. His work and that of his associate, Jean Penicaut, was invaluable. Martin Kemp, a sleuth extraordinaire, one of the world’s foremost Leonardo scholars, and an emeritus professor of art history at Oxford, surmised rightly from the start that the portrait represented Bianca Sforza, which led us to the Warsaw revelations. His analysis was exemplary and masterly in its scope and detail. Peter Paul Biro was brought into the analysis, and using his expertise in art forensics and fingerprint science, he concluded that a fingerprint and palm print on the portrait were of high probability Leonardo’s.
I am grateful to other experts who have supported the Leonardo attribution. Sir Timothy Clifford, the former director general of the National Galleries of Scotland, was an early enthusiast. Considered by many to be one of the most successful and dynamic museum directors, he is a specialist on Renaissance art and concluded early on that it was Leonardo’s hand in the drawing. Alessandro Vezzosi, the director of the Museo Ideale Leonardo da Vinci in Leonardo’s birthplace of Vinci, believed it was the work of Leonardo and published his findings in his superb monograph on da Vinci. Carlo Pedretti, the director of the Armand Hammer Foundation, added his belief in the Leonardo attribution. Although Pedretti was suffering from a serious health issue and was in pain, he made the trip to Paris to view Lumiere’s findings firsthand. Simon Dickinson, a former director of Christie’s and now one of the world’s leading Old Master dealers, showed his mettle in coming out early in support of the attribution.
I am also very appreciative of the other specialists who took the time to study the portrait and concurred in the da Vinci attribution. These include Cristina Geddo, a scholar of Leonardo’s workshops and the first to actually write a detailed study of the work; Claudio Strinati, the former head of Rome’s museums and now in the Italian Ministry of Culture, who was an enthusiastic supporter from the early stages; and long-term acquaintance Catherine Goguel, a former Louvre drawing specialist, who made a number of interesting observations. For the hairstyle comparison and analysis in its historical context, special thanks to Elisabetta Gnignera. A tribute, too, to D. R. Edward Wright, an emeritus professor of art history at the University of South Florida, Tampa, who discovered clues that could resolve the mystery of provenance (the record of the artwork’s history). His insights led us to the Sforziada manuscript in Warsaw.
I also appreciate the work of Simon Hewitt, Oxford trained and a journalist with Antiques Trade Gazette , who helped launch the story to the world. Simon is a fine sleuth and scholar in his own right. Other journalists who took the time and made the effort to get the story right include Milton Esterow of ARTnews ; Julien Pfyffer of Paris Match ; Jean Folain of the Times of London; Stefan Simon of Der Spiegel ; and Randy Boswell of Canadian broadcasting. I am grateful for the time Simon took to review this manuscript. His insights were always helpful.
Thanks, too, to Mats Ronngard and his team at Excellent Exhibitions, as well as to the officials and city of Gothenburg for their kindness in helping with the first showing of La Bella Principessa .
Special thanks to Peter Haas and his team at Moebel Transport for their invaluable help and expertise in storing and shipping La Bella Principessa .
I am grateful to my art-savvy legal team—Eric Kaufman in New York and Peter Mosimann in Basel—for advising on this project, as well as Brinsley Dresden in London.
Madame Jeanne Marchig, La Bella Principessa ’s former owner, gave of her time to explain her and her late husband’s involvement and fill in the gaps of the provenance during the past half century. When she consigned the painting to Christie’s for sale, she hoped to be better served by a company with which she had had a fruitful and trusted relationship for decades. It is her fervent hope that she will be made whole in the end.
Producing a book is a collaborative effort, and many people have made this one possible. I am grateful for the fine work of my collaborator, Catherine Whitney, who faithfully recorded my story and views. My literary agent, Jane Dystel, brought her considerable experience and expertise to the project, finding a good home for the book with John Wiley & Sons. My editor, Stephen Power, has been passionate and insightful in his pursuit of a great story.
I beg forgiveness if anyone has be