In Light of the Newest One, a Brief History of Mona Lisa Theories
When Leonardo da Vinci wasn’t painting portraits of medieval Italy’s nobility, he was figuring out how to keep their drinks cold. According to the BBC, a prototype based on his design for a cooling machine — the earliest known attempt at refrigeration — has gone on display in Milan.
SINGAPORE — This is a tale of two Leonardos — or rather one possible Leonardo and one definite da Vinci. Singapore, which had never had an exhibition of the work of the Italian artist and polymath Leonardo da Vinci until late last year, recently had two, and each was a revealing portrait of the country today.
Biblioteca Reale, Leonardo da Vinci, Turin, WWII (via Supposedly Hidden from Hitler for Its Supernatural Powers, da Vinci Goes on Rare Public View)
Gradually disappearing beneath a mottle of foxing and fading, a 1512 red chalk drawing believed to be a self-portrait by Leonardo da Vinci is on rare public view in Italy. Kept in a vault at Turin’s Biblioteca Reale (Royal Library), it’s been hidden for much of the past century — including once secretly taken to Rome during World War II. The strangest version of that journey holds this wasn’t just to keep it safe from art looting, but to guard the drawing’s supposed powers from the Führer.
The Pursuit of Art, 2013
Matt Freedman, “Hats and Broom on Bed with Drinking Glass Reflecting Full Moon” (2013), epoxy…
Single Point Perspective: “The Most Beautiful Drawing in the World”
Leonardo da Vinci, “Head of a Young Woman (Study for the Angel in the ‘Virgin of the Rocks’)”…