artfirstprimo and Brian Sewell visit the Leonardo at the NG

On Jan 4th I took the opportunity, straight after my one of free tours of the National Gallery, to see the Leonardo exhibition and briefly look at a few favourites.  I was delighted to bump into Brian Sewell, whereupon we briefly walked around the Leonardo exhibition.  Both myself and Brian have seen the Leonardo exhibition on many occasions, but Brian informed me that he was only here to set his mind straight about a few of the paintings that he had his doubts about.

 

Brian then informed me that he still did not believe the painting of the Musician was by Leonardo despite what the label said.  And having looked at the painting on many occasions myself and now with with Brian, I must say it is very odd with what seems to be a dark background added later to the painting.  Clearly the 'Musician' with its unfinished jacket lapels and also later added hand (transparent) as one can see the music sheet through the fingers (this suggests its later inclusion), begs many questions as to how many artists may have contributed to this picture said to be solely by the hand of Leonardo.  Yet the curls at the front of the hair seem unmistakable by the hand of Leonardo in the way that they also seem to be the same as Leonardo's evocation of water in drawings such as the 'Deluge',or seem also to match the hair of the angel seen in the 'Baptism of Christ' attributed to Leonardo and his one time Teacher Verrocchio in the Uffizi, Florence.  Although the background over painting may have obscured the delicate edges of the hair of the so called young 'Musician'.

 

Brian also casted some doubt on the pin-up girl of the exhibition - Cecilia Gallirani (The Lady with the Ermine).  Essentially Brian argument here was that if you took away Cecilia's hand and the Ermine it could not be then argued that this work was by Leonardo.  This argument I found very hard to agree, if anything, I thought this hypothesis could be reversed.  However, we both agreed that the 'Madonna Litta' could not be by Leonardo. Indeed before the exhibition it was given to Leonardo's pupil Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio and also said on previous occasions to be by both artists.

 

There is very little time to make up your mind as this stunning exhibition ends on Feb 5th.  Tickets on the day only still available if your are prepared to start queueing from 06:30 am.