Salvator Mundi Revisited
Visible Light images There are fourteen images taken in visible light including the black and white print from the Cook Collection made after its acquisition in 1900. Robert Simon photographed the painting in 2005 with a small digital camera. Eight Ektachrome transparencies were shot by professional photographers, including 4 details, between 2006 and 2010, and four digital images were made…
Historic IMages Two studies by Leonardo for the Salvator Mundi survive, both red chalk on red prepared paper. There is also an etching of the composition by Wenceslaus Hollar, dated 1650 and inscribed “Leonardo da Vinci pinxit.” <img width="1239" height="1279" width_o="1239" height_o="1279"…
Introduction This website has been created as a vehicle for the dissemination of images and technical information related to the Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci for the benefit of the scholarly community and anyone who is interested in understanding more about this painting. With the exception of a brief period prior to the November 2017 auction at Christie’s, it has not been possible to view…
History of the salvador mundi Oil on Walnut panel Painted image dimensions: 64.5 x 44.7 cm (25 3/8” x 17 1⁄2”) Panel Top: 65.5 x 45.6 cm (25 13/16” x 17 15/16”) Bottom: 65.5 x 45.1 cm ( 25 13/15 x 17 ¾”) Although a painting…
Condition and Restoration The restoration of a badly damaged painting, particularly one by a supreme artist, can never be satisfactory. To paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald, 40 who was acutely aware of the contradictory nature of creative endeavor, if one possesses intelligence and humility, essential traits of any decent restorer, you always hold in balance the sense of the futility of your efforts…
Pentimenti A pentimento means a change of mind. It refers to corrections and alterations of the position of a particular part of a composition made by the artist as part of the process of creation. When making these changes, the painter cancels his previous idea by covering it over with new paint to effect the revision. After this was done, the underlying paint, which expressed his earlier idea,…
Materials and Techniques The study and identification of the materials in a painting and the manner in which they are employed, in comparison with other securely documented works that have been the subject of similar analyses, help to understand the artist’s process and establish the school and period to which a painting belongs. Technical studies cannot, however, “authenticate” a painting; they…
Scientific analysis Nine samples were taken from the painting by Nica Gutman Rieppi. They were embedded in Bioplast® resin, cured, and polished as cross-sections. Ms. Rieppi sought assistance from two scientists at the Philadelphia museum of art, Dr. Beth Price and Dr. Kenneth Sutherland, who carried out scientific analyses on these cross-sections. At a later date another sample was taken for…
Technical Images Paintings can be imaged at various wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum. In addition to the visible light range, infrared, x-ray and ultraviolet frequencies reveal additional information. <img width="549" height="800" width_o="549" height_o="800"…
<img src="https://files.cargocollective.com/c481516/SMR_Logo_Animation.gif" class="text-animation" data-scale="100"> Dianne Dwyer Modestini, an internationally renowned conservator of old master paintings, shares details of the restoration of Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, and discusses the materials and techniques used in the creation of this late work by the artist. ︎