An "undiscovered" Leonardo da Vinci painting that could be worth over $150 million has been authenticated thanks to modern technology and the talent of a London art dealer. The portrait was bought for about $19,000 from Christie's in the 1990s, then by Peter Silverman in 2007 for about the same price. Silverman researched the painting and in 2009 sent it to Paris to be tested by new technology that could take images of layers of paint. Experts found a partial handprint and fingerprint and matched them to prints on some known da Vinci paintings. The portrait was definitely by da Vinci. The painting is on vellum (animal skin) and historians think it was made to be the cover of a book. The now famous and very valuable portrait of "La Bella Principessa" will be on display in Gothenburg, Sweden, in March.
3 comments:
The portrait is so lovely that someone should write a really wonderful book, perhaps about the girl in the picture, just so we could see the portrait on the cover of such a book! I think it would jump off the shelves for sheer beauty alone!
How wonderful to have identified another DaVinci painting! I have seen one of his paintings in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and it virtually glows, much as it appears this newly identified portrait "glows". How large is it?
Thank you for sharing this tidbit!
Modern science is amazing! What a great story.
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