Word: vasari
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Writing not long after the death of Leonardo da Vinci, art historian and biographer Giorgio Vasari described the late master’s “Mona Lisa,” placing special emphasis on the lady’s uncanny simper. “And in this work of Leonardo’s there was a smile so pleasing, that it was a thing more divine than human to behold; and it was held to be something marvelous, since the reality was not more alive,” he wrote. The sublime expression of “La Joconde?...
...life character mentioned in the book, as the man who "unveiled the unsettling truth" about Leonardo. Seracini has devoted 30 years to the task, interpreting ancient diaries and city records to try to locate the spot where the uncompleted masterpiece was painted. He has proof, he says, that Giorgio Vasari, the artist who renovated this hall in 1563 and painted the mural that covers it today, was an admirer of Leonardo's and had "saved" other works of his behind interior walls. Seracini says his ultrasound instruments have detected gaps behind the giant mural that follow the contours of Leonardo...
...stand together for 20 minutes in the center of the sprawling sala, Seracini looks at me with a twinkle in his eye. "I know I haven't told you where it is yet," he says. He then indicates a 250-sq.-ft. area on the eastern stretch of the Vasari mural, behind which, he asserts, lies the masterpiece. Having looked at sketches and copies of Anghiari, I strain to tap into an inner X-ray to see through the mural to the Leonardo behind. The original, a Renaissance forebear of Pablo Picasso's Guernica, was described by Italian writer Anton...
...University of California at San Diego and Emory University to capture chemical clues of any paint colors that may be present behind the wall. There's a good chance that Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli will grant Seracini permission in the next year or two to peel back the Vasari mural, which won't have to be damaged in the process. A great work might be found, but a great mystery would be gone...
...artist's favorite idealized head. Like all the ignudi, Adam looks like the young Marlon Brando. In a detailed study for one of the ignudi, the model's own features are lightly indicated-a rare occurrence, as Michelangelo avoided portraiture. According to his contemporary, the famous chronicler Giorgio Vasari, "he abhorred anything from life unless it was of the utmost beauty." Occasionally, though, he pulled grotesque faces out of his imagination. Some of the sheets have notes or poems scribbled among the figures. One explains exactly where on the artist's premises are the various components of the tomb...