Leonardo
da Vinci Society Newsletter
editor: Francis Ames-Lewis
Issue
16, May 2000
Recent
and forthcoming events
Annual Lecture 2000
Following the SocietyÕs AGM, held at 5.30 pm on Wednesday 17 May, the
Annual Lecture 2000 was given later that evening at the National Gallery,
London, by Professore Pietro Marani. The Society would like to acknowledge with
gratitude the collaboration of the National Gallery in holding this event in
the Sainsbury Wing Lecture Theatre. In 1989 Pietro Marani delivered for
SocietyÕs first Annual Lecture, on the progress of the conservation programme
of Leonardo da VinciÕs Last Supper in the
Refectory of Sta Maria delle Grazie, which had then been underway for some ten
years. In the Annual Lecture 2000, Prof Marani lectured to the title
ÔLeonardoÕda VinciÕs Last Supper: the Restoration and the New FindingsÕ. The
lecture opened with some remarks about the reputation of LeonardoÕs mural in
the sixteenth century, and a history
of the various earlier
restorations and the effects that these had wrought on the painting. In
the recent restoration the accretions of the past two or more centuries have
been removed, revealing LeonardoÕs original colours and clarifying the drawing
of the figures and faces, many of which had been seriously altered, in pose or
in contour, in earlier repaintings. The state of preservation of LeonardoÕs
paintwork is better in the lunettes than elsewhere (and in the lunettes some
startling discoveries have been made); but in various places in the figures of
the last Supper LeonardoÕs long brushstrokes of highlighting may now be seen.
Moreover, traces of the red lake used by Leonardo in the final paint layer to
refine the forms have also survived, demonstrating a subtlety lost under the
subsequent overpainting. Many details, of drapery, and of the still-life
objects on the table, have also been recovered, and are well preserved: some of
the metal dishes show reflections of the colours of the apostlesÕ robes, or of
the fruit they contain. A colour and pigment contrast also newly revealed is
that between the azurite blue used for JudasÕs robe and the costlier
ultramarine of the robes of Sts Peter and John the Evangelist. Although large areas
have entirely lost their original paint and have had to be gently
in-filled, the colours of the areas that do survive well are fresh, and the
details of facial expression and hand-gestures are once more refined and
affecting.
In fairness, we should record here an abstract of the article by
Michael Daley (ÔThe supperÕs finishedÕ, Art Review 51 (July/Aug. 1999),
pp. 22-3) that puts a rather different perspective on the conservation
programme. It should be said that the Newsletter editor does not concur with
the views expressed here. ÔIn the run-up to completing her restoration of
Leonardo da VinciÕs Last Supper, Dr. Pinin
Barcilon Brambilla attracted massive criticism. By all accounts, hers has been
the most intolerant and hugely invasive restoration campaign imaginable. She
has systematically banished every last trace of previous restorations,
including Mauro PellicioliÕs much-acclaimed work of 1951-54, thereby severing
the historical continuity of the mural. In the process, she has also revealed
vast amounts of bare wall, rendering necessary the single biggest repainting of
the mural ever undertaken. In terms of its artistic consequences, her own
repainting merits harsh criticism: it is by turns feeble, half-hearted,
intrusive, unhistorical, and inconsistentÕ.
Recent publications on Leonardo da Vinci
The Ente
Raccolta Vinciana has recently published two important contributions to
Leonardo studies. The first is a volume, edited by Edoardo Villani, entitled Leonardo
da Vinci. I Documenti e le Testimonianze Contemporanee, (Milano, Castello Sforzesco 1999). Building on the great register
of Leonardo documents and early source references, the Documenti e memorie
riguardanti la vita e le opere di Leonardo da Vinci in ordine cronologico, published eighty years ago by Luca Beltrami, this volume adds
documents recently published by scholars such as Cristoph Frommel,
Giovanbattista Sannazzaro, Grazioso Sironi, and Janice Shell. It omits,
however, later sixteenth-century sources from Vasari onwards (on the grounds
that all these have been philologically reedited and fully commented upon by
scholars such as Rosanna Bettarini and Paola Barocchi), preferring to
concentrate on textual comnments of the first half of the sixteenth century.
The register of documents includes LeonardoÕs own ricordi and personal notes, found scattered through his notebooks. Each
transcription includes a bibliography of references in the scholarly literature
up to 1999.
The
second major contribution published by the Ente Raccolta Vinciana in 1999, The
Manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci in the Institut de France: Manuscript A, is the first volume
in a new series of English translations of the group of Leonardo manuscripts in
the Institut de France in Paris. Published with the assistance of the Getty
Grant Program, the new English edition of Manuscript A has been translated and
annotated by John Venerella; publication of Manuscripts I, M and C will follow
shortly. Since these volumes are seen as complements to the recently completed
series of high-quality facsimiles, there are few illustrations. By correcting
earlier uncertain readings and errors in translation, and by offering new
interpretations of obscure terms and passages, however, the translator is
providing authoritative texts for the English-speaking readership of LeonardoÕs
notebooks.
Raccolta Vinciana XXVIII, 1999
The 1999 issue
of Raccolta Vinciana, also published by the Ente
Raccolta Vinciana in Milan, includes the following articles:
R. Nanni,
ÔOsservazione, convenzione, ricomposizione nel paesaggio leonardiano del 1473Õ;
V. Pini,
ÔVicende del privilegio di Saronno concesso da Ludovico il Moro a Cecilia
Gallerani (1491-1513)Õ;
L. Brescia and
L. Tom“o, ÔLeonardo da Vinci e il segreto del vetro cristallino, pannicolato,
flessibile e infrangibileÕ;
P.C. Marani,
ÔPresentazione del restauro del Cenacolo di Leonardo da VinciÕ;
E.Villata,
ÔAncora sul San Giovanni Battista di LeonardoÕ;
C. Pedretti,
ÔÒNon mi fuggir, donzella...ÓÕ;
C.D. Duane, ÔThe
San Cristoforo irrigation outlets in MilanÕ;
R. Antonelli,
ÔGli studi preparatori di Giuseppe Bossi per il cartone del ÒParnasoÓÕ;
M.V. Guffanti,
ÔContributo alla fortuna di Leonardo in InghilterraÕ;
ibid, ÔNota sullÕedizione del 1859 del Trattato Della Pittura di
LeonardoÕ.
There is also a
substantial and important section devoted to the ÔBibliographia leonardiana,
1997-1999Õ.
On Friday 9 June
2000 a presentation of all these new publications will be held by the Ente
Raccolta Vinciana at the Villa Melzi, Vaprio dÕAdda; the speakers will be David
Alan Brown (National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.), Maria Teresa Fiorio
(Director, Musei dÕArte Anticha, Castello Sforzesco, Milan) and Pietro Marani.
Select Leonardo bibliography,1998-1999
Bernard, G. G.,
ed., Leonardo e le meraviglie della Biblioteca reale di Torino, exh. cat (Biblioteca reale, Turin, 1998-9), Milano: Electa;
Torino: Biblioteca reale, 1998.
Brambilla
Barcilon, P., and P. C. Marani, Leonardo : LÕultima cena , Milano : Electa, 1999.
Brown, D. A., Leonardo
da Vinci : origins of a genius , New Haven, CT:
Yale University Press, 1998.
Daley, M., ÔThe
supperÕs finishedÕ, Art Review 51 (July/Aug. 1999), pp. 22-3.
Dunton, C.,
ÔMeaning and appearance Ñ a Merleau-Pontian account of LeonardoÕs studies from
lifeÕ, Art History 22, no.3 (September 1999),
pp. 331-46.
Eichholz, G., Das
Abendmahl Leonardo da Vincis: eine systematische Bildmonographie, Munchen: Scaneg, 1998.
Fabjan, B. and
P. C. Marani, eds, Leonardo : la Dama con lÕermellino, exh cat., Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome,1998, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, 1998, and
Palazzo Pitti, Florence, 1998-9), Cinisello Balsamo (Milano): Silvana, 1998.
F. Frosini, ed.,
Tutte le opere non son per istancarmi : raccolta di scritti per i
settantÕanni di Carlo Pedretti, Roma: Edizioni
associate, 1998.
Herding, K., Freuds
Leonardo : eine Auseinandersetzung mit psychoanalytischen Theorien der
Gegenwart, Munchen: Carl Friedrich von Siemens
Stiftung, 1998.
I
Leonardeschi : lÕereditˆ di Leonardo in Lombardia (saggi
di G. Bora et al.), Milano: Skira, 1998.
Leonardo da
Vinci, 1452-1519, (G. Bologna, ed.): Leonardo a Milano, Novara : De Agostini, 1998.
Marani, P. C., Leonardo
: una carriera di pittore, Milano: F. Motta, 1999.
Marani, P. C., LÕAmbrosiana
e Leonardo, exh. cat. (Biblioteca-Pinacoteca
Ambrosiana, 1998-9), Novara: Interlinea ; Milano: Veneranda Biblioteca
Ambrosiana, 1998.
Masters, R. D., Fortune
is a river : Leonardo da Vinci and Niccol˜ MachiavelliÕs magnificent dream to
change the course of Florentine history, New
York/London: Free Press, 1998.
Pedretti, C.,
ed., Leonardo e la Pulzella di Camaiore : inediti vinciani e capolavori
della scultura lucchese del primo Rinascimento,
exh. cat. (Camaiore, 1998-9), Firenze: Giunti, 1998.
Pizzagalli, D., La
dama con lÕermellino : vita e passioni di Cecilia Gallerani nella Milano di
Ludovico il Moro, Milano: Rizzoli, 1999.
Schramm, G.
(ed.), Leonardo : Bewegung und Ruhe, Freiburg im
Breisgau: Rombach Verlag, 1999.
Schršder, K. and
K. Irle, ÒIch habe quadriere den Kreis...Ó: Leonardo da Vincis
Proportionsstudie, Munster / New York: Waxmann,
1998.
Vecce, C., Leonardo, Roma: Salerno, 1998.
Zwijnenberg, R.,
The writings and drawings of Leonardo da Vinci : order and chaos in early
modern thought, New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1999.
The restoration of the Uffizi Annunciation
0n 13 May the
Sindaco of Vinci, Giancarlo Faenzi, hosted a presentation by Antonio Natali and
Alfio Del Serra of the recently completed programme of conservation on Leonardo
da VinciÕs early Annunciation in the Uffizi,
Florence. We hope to carry a report of this programme and its findings in a
future issue of the Newsletter.
Lettura Vinciana XL, 2000
The fortieth Lettura
Vinciana, entitled ÔLÕAutonoma programmabile di
LeonardoÕ, was delivered at the Biblioteca Leonardiana, Vinci, on Saturday 15
April 2000 by Mark Elling Rosheim. The lecture revolved around LeonardoÕs
design in Codex Atlanticus, f.812 recto, for a programmable ÔrobotÕ. In 1478,
at the age of twenty-six, Leonardo designed a programmable automaton, perhaps
the prototype of the legendary mechanical lion of some forty years later. The
influence of ancient texts on Leonardo and the affinity of his early
technological conception with an eighteenth-century Japanese automaton were
reviewed and illustrated in the lecture. Mark Elling Rosheim proceeded to
speculate about the possible loss of detailed studies for automata from Codex
Madrid I, where only hints of these remain. In order to understand these
better, he introduced the famous De motu animalium by Giovanni Alfonso Borelli (1608-79), because of its striking
similarities to LeonardoÕs studies on the mechanics of human movement.
LeonardoÕs programmable ÔrobotÕ was then interpreted on the basis of sketches
and fragmentary construction drawings in the Codex Atlanticus and elsewhere in
the Leonardo corpus. Finally, the detailed operation and control of the
reconstructed automaton was explained and illustrated.
The
lecturer is the author of various important studies on the history of robotics,
and especially of anthroporobotics (notably his Robot Evolution: the
Development of Anthroporobotics, 1994). Mark Elling
Rosheim is President of Ross-Hime Designs Inc of Minneapolis, which works inter
alia for NASA, the US space agency. Several years
ago he took up the problem of the interpretation of the leonardesque documents
and designs for his ÔrobotÕ. The results of his initial research were published
as ÔLeonardoÕs Lost RobotÕ in Achademia Leonardo Vinci 9, 1996. An initial digital reconstruction of LeonardoÕs ÔrobotÕ was
displayed in the New York edition of the Florentine Instituto e Museo di Storia
della ScienzaÕs exhibition of Renaissance Engineers from Brunelleschi to
Leonardo.
The art of invention at the Science Museum, Exhibition Road,
South Kensington, London.
The run of the
exhibition entitled ÔThe art of invention: Leonardo da Renaissance engineersÕ, reviewed
by J.V. Field in the last issue (issue 15, November 1999) of this Newsletter, has been extended until the end of August 2000. Having been
Ôstrongly advisedÕ by our Hon. President to see this exhibition, readers of this
issue who hitherto have not heeded the advice still therefore have the
opportunity to visit this splendid exhibition. At the entrance to the
exhibition is a long showcase containing facsimiles of all Leonardo da VinciÕs
surviving notebooks: this offers a valuable chance to compare the sizes and
principal contents of these books. Your editor can confirm J.V. FieldÕs
experience that the models of machine designs by Brunelleschi, Mariano Taccola,
Francesco di Giorgio Martini and Leonardo himself are impressive, elegantly
constructed and beautifully finished. It is understandable, though a pity, that
they are not displayed under working conditions, but the smaller-scale
metal-geared models effectively demonstrate how the machines worked, and allow
the visitor to build up a picture of the technological development of machine
design during the fifteenth century in Tuscany.
The Leonardo da Vinci Society
Proposals for future events - conferences, symposia, lectures, or
other activities that the Society might sponsor or undertake - are always
welcomed by the Committee. Please write to any of the officers listed below if
you have any suggestions to offer. The Committee is also anxious to recruit new
blood to its membership, so if any readers have ideas to contribute and would
be interested in serving, please will they let us know of them.
President:
Dr J.V. Field, Department of History of Art, Birkbeck College, 43 Gordon
Square, London WC1H 0PD; e-mail: jv.field@hart.bbk.ac.uk
Vice-President:
Dr Francis Ames-Lewis, Department of History of Art, Birkbeck College, 43
Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PD; tel.: 0171.631.6108; fax: 0171.631.6107;
e-mail: f.ames-lewis@hart.bbk.ac.uk
Secretary/Treasurer:
Dr Thomas Frangenberg, Department of Art History, University of Leicester,
University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK; tel.: 01533 522522. fax: 01533
522220. Please
send items for publication to the editor of the Leonardo da Vinci Society
Newsletter, Francis Ames-Lewis, Department of
History of Art, Birkbeck College, 43 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PD; fax:
0171.631.6107; e-mail: f.ames-lewis@hart.bbk.ac.uk