Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man has done quite well for a notebook scribble — hyped-up for centuries as one of those “Hey, I know that thing!” things everyone “knows.” Now, the Smithsonian wants to stir up some shit, claiming that da Vinci’s architect friend Giacomo Andrea de Ferrara might have possibly drawn his man first maybe. Oooooh. Read more »
A former owner of a 15th-century ‘da Vinci’ valued at $150,000,000 is suing Christie’s. She claims that the drawing was negligently misrepresented as a 19th-century German picture and sold for $17,000, less than 0.01% of its potential worth, in July. She wants full compensation. Can Christie’s afford it? The auction house raked in $335.54 million last Tuesday, its highest total since 2006, mostly because of their record sale of the ‘Eat, Shoots & Leaves’ Picasso painting of his muse sadomasochist sex toy. Read more »
Scientists plan to exhume the remains of Leonardo da Vinci to try to determine if his Mona Lisa was actually a self-portrait of himself in drag. If they find his skull to be well-preserved, the scientists can then use CAT scan imaging technology to reconstruct his face. Read more »
The world’s largest Mona Lisa, a paint-by-numbers imitation of the Da Vinci masterpiece, was rolled out at a Welsh shopping mall today where the public can not only touch, but also trample it. |BBC|
Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Wow, the buyer of this artwork made out pretty lovely. The seller? Not so much: “A portrait of a young woman thought to be created by a 19th century German artist and sold two years ago for about $19,000 is now being attributed by art experts to Leonardo da Vinci and valued at more than $150 million.” |AP|
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