Lucan portrait of Leonardo da Vinci

Lucanian portrait of Leonardo da Vinci
The Lucanian portrait of Leonardo da Vinci
ArtistUnknown
Year1505–1510
Mediumtempera grassa on panel
Dimensions60 cm × 40 cm (24 in × 16 in)
LocationMuseo delle Antiche Genti di Lucania, Vaglio Basilicata
OwnerMuseo delle Antiche Genti di Lucania

The Lucan portrait of Leonardo da Vinci is a late 15th- or early 16th-century portrait of a man. The picture was discovered in 2008 in a cupboard of a private house in Italy.

It composition, it strongly resembles a portrait of Leonardo da Vinci held by the Uffizi Gallery and is generally believed to be a 19th century forgery.[citation needed] In size, style and medium it resembles a portrait of Leonardo by Cristofano dell'Altissimo, painted posthumously for the Medici and also held by the Uffizi. The painting was previously thought by its owners to represent Galileo but on its discovery a claim was made that it is a self-portrait by Leonardo da Vinci.[1] Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the Museo Ideale Leonardo da Vinci at Vinci, said in 2011 that he had excluded the possibility that it was a self-portrait but that the painting "remains intriguing because it adds a new element to the Leonardo puzzle".[2][3]

Painted in tempera grassa on panel, 60 by 44 centimetres (24 in × 17 in), it depicts a man in three-quarter view, with a long beard and wearing a dark hat. In 2019 it was exhibited in Madrid along with other material related to Leonardo. It is usually in the Museo delle Antiche Genti di Lucania (Museum of the Ancient Peoples of Lucania) in Vaglio Basilicata, a region of Southern Italy.[4]

In 2008 Nicola Barbatelli, Director of the Museo, discovered the painting, attributed it to Leonardo, and gave it the name Lucan portrait, from Lucania, the ancient name of Basilicata.[4] In 2010 a conference was held at which a team comprising David Bershad, Professor at University of Calgary (Canada); Peter Hohenstatt, Professor at the University of Parma; Felice Festa, Professor of Orthodontics and Gnathology at the D'Annunzio University of Chieti–Pescara; and Nicola Barbatelli, presented the findings in support of Barbatelli's attribution.[5]

In 2017, the University of Malta refused permission for an exhibition in which the Lucan portrait was meant to be the centrepiece, citing doubts by its art history department over the attribution to Leonardo.[6] Nicola Barbatelli has however dismissed this decision, stating that the university did not have academics "with sufficient expertise on the subject".[6]

  1. ^ Richard Owen, Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci discovered in Basilicata, The Times, 2009-02-24, accessed 5 November 2010
  2. ^ "Leonardo da Vinci portrait 'discovered'". Telegraph Media Group. 23 February 2009. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Faces was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Vinci portrait discovered in Southern Italy, Daily Contributor, 24 February 2009
  5. ^ Leonardo and the Renaissance Fantastic, Aponte Viaggo, accessed 19 November 2010
  6. ^ a b Ltd, Allied Newspapers. "Doubts over authenticity halt da Vinci self-portrait exhibition in Valletta". Times of Malta. Retrieved 25 January 2018.