We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
THE DIFFERENT POSSIBILITIES OF EVALUATING A WORK OF ART: CASE STUDY OF THE MONA LISA.
- Authors
Lorusso, Salvatore
- Abstract
The topic of attribution and authentication of works of art is a well known one, and is currently the subject of heated debate. What must be highlighted is the importance of the terminology used to distinguish the different degrees of certainty within the system of art work attribution, and in the context of the different possibilities of evaluating a work of art. It is also necessary to integrate historical-humanistic and technical-experimental skills which should necessarily lead to a subjective and objective evaluation in order to arrive at a univocal scientific truth. As an emblematic case, also owing to the uniqueness of the work, the Mona Lisa, prototype of the Renaissance genius of Leonardo da Vinci, is examined. At the same time, the versions and copies of the Mona Lisa are also studied, basing the examination on in-depth archival and bibliographic research, and taking into account the findings of the historical-artistic and technical-material analyses from a methodological point of view. The findings have highlighted the distinction between the two authentic versions by Leonardo, i.e. the Louvre Mona Lisa and the Isleworth Mona Lisa (or Earlier Mona Lisa) and the two copies, i.e. the Prado and Reynolds Mona Lisas. The latter two, considered to be the most complete and qualitatively better than many others, are in fact either copies of previous Mona Lisas or of the two authentic versions. Finally, from an experimental perspective, in order to provide an answer regarding attribution, a precise methodological approach was applied to the painting on canvas "Mona Lisa with columns" (St. Petersburg), establishing that it was a copy, albeit a well-executed one.
- Subjects
DEL Giocondo, Lisa, b. 1479; LEONARDO, da Vinci, 1452-1519; 15TH century painting
- Publication
Conservation Science in Cultural Heritage / Quaderni di Scienza della Conservazione, 2019, Vol 19, p307
- ISSN
1974-4951
- Publication type
Article