Luke Syson. Leonardo and the Curators.

I wish I could get to this interesting looking talk to be given in Scotland later this month by Leonardo curator Luke Syson of the Met..

• Tuesday, 28th August 2012 ,6-7.30pm
• Free but ticketed

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Hawthornden Lecture Theatre - Gardens Entrance (Scottish National Gallery)

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For an artist of Leonardo's almost overwhelming fame, there is astonishingly little agreement as to what he actually painted. Thus the choice of works for 2011's London exhibition received considerable attention. And since the attribution to Leonardo of only one of the paintings in the show - The Vatican Saint Jerome - has never been doubted, there is much at stake.

Luke Syson, Iris and B Gerald Cantor Curator in Charge, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, focuses on three of the most debated: The Madonna Litta in Saint Petersburg, the newly restored London Virgin of the Rocks and the Buccleuch Madonna of the Yarnwinder. He will consider the role of traditional connoisseurship as set against what we learn from documentary and, in particular, scientific evidence. What was considered a Leonardo in the years around 1500 and how might we answer - or even ask - that question today?

This talk has been funded by the Association of Art Historians and is a joint initiative between the University of Edinburgh (History of art), Edinburgh Art Festival and the National Galleries of Scotland.

Free tickets available from the Information Desk at the Scottish National Gallery

The origins of controversy in modern connoisseurship began with Leonardo. See my review of this book. I’m intrigued by what Syson has to to say about traditional connoisseurship, although I can guess. Last year’s Leonardo at Milan catalogue, complied by this curator and others didn’t seem to take much account of the more traditional variety of connoisseurship. Instead we were told to bow down to the findings of technical research conducted by laboraties such as the Hermitage concerning such works as the Litta Madonna (above), even though most people dispute the attribution for good reasons. That’s just one of many cases.

If anybody attends this event, I wouldn’t mind a report on the issuers raised.

Comments

[Graeme Cameron]

A salient post David, and my kind regards and thanks to you for your generous time and earlier posts. Several decades ago I wrote to (Sir) Dr. Timothy Clifford, then Director of NGS, regarding Prof. Martin Kemp's yet to published findings on the two versions "The Madonna of the Yarnwinder", with some preliminary research findings suggesting Buccleuch version most probably by Melzi, (whilst the silghtly superior New York version probably by Sodoma), as also when last auctioned at Sotheby's for about $9000. Both may well have had Leonardo's studio oversight, but subsequent VegaScans show little if any evidence Leonardo's active participation. Likewise the "Litta Madonna" appears predominantly the hand of Boltraffio similarly with his oversight. However, initial findings on the NGLondon's "Virgin of the Rocks" suggested a much closer collaborative effort between Leonardo and most probably Boltraffio, with the latter being the most predominant hand throughout the composition. I hope this may be of interest, prior to hearing other opinions expressed on the subject works. My regards, Graeme C.

[Graeme Cameron]

It might also be worth mentioning that upon subsequent critical reviews variously published including in The Burlington Magazine etc. of Prof. Kemp's findings on the two versions of, "The Madonna of the Yarnwinder", the general consensus position supported our earlier proposed findings that, "Niether version being by Leonardo but alternatively by his pupils, after his earlier, now lost original. Some recent comments, if correctly understood, that such oversight or minimal involvement by Leonardo may somehow enable a composition to be considered in general terms a "Leonardo" seem perplexing to this researcher.

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Luke Syson. Leonardo and the Curators. - Art History Today

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