Portrait of a Musician
Portrait of a Musician | |
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Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan |
The Portrait of a Musician[n 1] is an unfinished painting widely attributed to the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1483–1487. Produced while Leonardo was in Milan, the work is painted in oils, and perhaps tempera, on a small panel of walnut wood. It is his only known male portrait painting, and the identity of its sitter has been closely debated among scholars.
Perhaps influenced by
The portrait's intimacy indicates a private commission, or one by a personal friend. Until the 20th century it was thought to show Ludovico Sforza, a Duke of Milan and employer of Leonardo. During a 1904–1905 restoration, the removal of overpainting revealed a hand holding sheet music, indicating that the sitter was a musician. Many musicians active in Milan have been proposed as the sitter; Franchinus Gaffurius was the most favored candidate throughout the 20th century, but in the 21st century scholarly opinion shifted towards Atalante Migliorotti. Other notable suggestions include Josquin des Prez and Gaspar van Weerbeke, but there is no historical evidence to substantiate any of these claims. The work has been criticized for its stoic and wooden qualities, but noted for its intensity and the high level of detail in the subject's face. Scholarly interpretations range from the painting depicting a musician mid-performance, to representing Leonardo's self-proclaimed ideology of the superiority of painting over other art forms, such as music.
Description
Composition
This painting was executed in oils and perhaps tempera[n 2] on a small, 44.7 cm × 32 cm (17.6 in × 12.6 in) walnut wood panel.[4] It depicts a young man in bust length and three-quarter view, whose right hand holds a folded piece of sheet music.[5][6] The painting is largely unfinished save for the face and hair,[4] but is in good condition overall, with only the bottom right corner suffering damage.[2][7] The art historian Kenneth Clark noted that out of Leonardo's surviving works, the Musician is perhaps the best preserved,[8] despite the fading of colors over time.[9]
The bottom of the work may have been slightly trimmed.[7] There is a small amount of retouching, especially towards the back of the head; the art historian Frank Zöllner has noted that this retouching introduced the somewhat unsuccessful shading of the neck and the left side of the lips.[7] With its black background, the portrait is reminiscent of Leonardo's later portraits, the Lady with an Ermine and La Belle Ferronnière, but differs from them in that the sitter's body and head face the same direction.[10] The biographer Walter Isaacson has noted that due to the work's unfinished state, the portrait's shadows are overtly harsh, and the portrait itself features fewer of the thin layers of oil paint typically found in Leonardo's paintings.[11]
The musician
The sitter has curly shoulder-length hair, wears a red cap, and stares intently at something outside the viewer's field of vision.
The mouth hints at a smile, or suggests that the man is about to sing or has just sung.
Sheet music
The stiffly folded piece of paper, which is held in an odd and delicate manner, is a piece of sheet music with
Attribution
Although the attribution to Leonardo had been controversial in earlier centuries, modern art historians now regard the Portrait of a Musician as one of his original works.
There is no extant record of the portrait's
The pupil dilates and contracts according to the brightness or darkness of the objects [in its sight]; and since it takes some time to dilate and contract, it cannot see immediately on going out of the light and into the shade, nor, in the same way, out of the shade and into the light, and this very thing has already deceived me in the painting of an eye, and that is how I learned it.[18]
Challenge to the painting's attribution stems from its rigid and stoic demeanor,[2] which is uncharacteristic of Leonardo's usual paintings.[7] While some scholars consider this a result of the painting's unfinished state,[4] others have proposed that the clothing and torso were painted by a student.[7] If Leonardo was assisted by another artist, the most frequently cited candidates are Boltraffio and Ambrogio de Predis,[4] due to their style being closer to the hard and rigid qualities of the portrait.[7] According to the art historian Carlo Pedretti, Boltraffio and Marco d'Oggiono, another student of Leonardo, depict eyes in the same way as the portrait, suggesting that either might have collaborated with Leonardo on the work.[6] The art historian Pietro C. Marani noted that it is unlikely that Leonardo would have had assistants in the mid-1480s, and even if so, they would not likely have assisted on a portrait for an official or a personal friend.[26][n 6] Despite Marani's claims, the modern scholarly consensus on whether Leonardo was assisted remains unclear: Zöllner stated that it is "now accepted that Leonardo executed the face, while Boltraffio is credited with the entire upper body",[7] whereas according to Syson only a "substantial minority" of scholars disagreed with a full attribution.[4] While there is debate on the authorship of the painting as a whole, most scholars are agreed that the face, at least, is entirely Leonardo's work.[7][27]
Dating
Art historians place the work within Leonardo's first Milanese period (c. 1482–1499), due to similarities with other works from this time, including stylistic resemblances to the Lady with an Ermine found via X-ray testing,[7] as well as the treatment of chiaroscuro in the Louvre Virgin of the Rocks, and his sketches for a bronze horse sculpture.[8] Older sources dated the work to the middle of this period, with dates of 1485–1490[8] and 1490 given.[21][28]
Modern scholars, including Syson and Marani, have observed that Leonardo could not have executed the portrait much later than 1487,[22][26] as it is considered to lack the refinement and realism of later works informed by his anatomical studies, such as the Lady with an Ermine.[22] It was not until 1489 that Leonardo engaged in a study of human anatomy, particularly that of the skull.[4] Because of this, the painting is now thought to have been completed earlier in the period, during the mid-1480s,[22] usually between 1483 and 1487.[n 7][n 8]
Background
Historical context
The Portrait of a Musician is a radical departure from the prevailing form of portraiture in 15th-century Milan.
-
Il Condottiere, c. 1475, Antonello. Louvre, Paris. Antonello's method of lighting the face may have inspired Leonardo.[37]
-
Portrait of a Man with a Red Hat, c. 1475–1476, Antonello. National Gallery, London. Like Antonello, Leonardo emphasizes the subject's face, which dominates the frame.[29]
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Portrait of a Young Man, c. 1490–1491, Circle of Leonardo. Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. The artist was noticeably inspired by the Portrait of a Musician.
Provenance
The Portrait of a Musician is Leonardo's only known male portrait painting[4] and his only panel painting to remain in Milan.[25] Marani noted that the work was likely meant for private use.[29] It is generally thought not to have been among the works gifted to the Ambrosiana by its founder, Cardinal Federico Borromeo, in 1618,[25] which at the time made up the bulk of the museum's collection.[21] It is possible that it may have been given to the Ambrosiana in 1637 by Galeazzo Arconati ,[7] a noted collector of works by Leonardo such as The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist and the Codex Atlanticus.[38]
The work is first documented in 1672 when it was catalogued by Pietro Paolo Bosca in the Ambrosiana.[4] Sources vary on whether Napoleon took the Portrait of a Musician to France in 1796. Marani stated that it was looted,[25] but Syson stated that the French considered the Codex Atlanticus to be more valuable and took that instead.[4] Both scholars agree that it was in the Ambrosiana in 1798.[4][25]
The portrait was exhibited in the 2011–2012 exhibition Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan at the National Gallery, London,[39] the 2015 exhibition Leonardo 1452–1519: Il Disegno del Mondo at the Royal Palace of Milan,[40] and the 2019–2020 exhibition Léonard de Vinci at the Louvre.[41]
Identity of the sitter
The identification of the sitter as Ludovico was accepted until a 1904–1905
Franchinus Gaffurius
The architectural historian
Doubt has been cast upon this theory since the iconographic evidence does not match Gaffurius to the sitter.[29] Kemp has noted that the letters "Cant" and "Ang" could just as easily stand for "Cantore Angelico", Italian for 'angelic singer'.[2] The subject of the painting was not depicted in a clerical robe, which would have properly identified him as a priest, and the subject of the painting is a young man, whereas Gaffurius would have been in his early thirties at the time of the painting's creation.[29][45]
Atalante Migliorotti
Marani's 1999 treatise suggests the Tuscan musician Atalante Migliorotti (1466–1532),[46] and since then many commentators have supported the theory.[2][5][17][18] In 1482, Migliorotti and Leonardo left Florence for the court of Ludovico Sforza in Milan.[17] They were known to be friends[13] and Leonardo is believed to have taught Migliorotti the lute.[47] During the painting's conception, Migliorotti would have been in his late teens or early twenties, making him a plausible candidate.[44] Additionally, in a 1482 inventory from the Codex Atlanticus,[n 10] Leonardo listed "a portrait of Atalante with his face raised".[17][n 11] This is thought to have been a study for, or an earlier version of, the Portrait of a Musician.[17][18] The intimate nature of the present portrait makes it especially likely that the subject was a personal friend.[2]
The main argument against this theory is that the subject's face is not raised as described in the 1482 note.[17] However, Marani noted that while the musician's face is not raised in a literal sense, "the expression seems uplifted, suggesting a singer who has just raised his face from the sheet of music".[18] Since the widespread rejection of Franchinus Gaffurius as the leading candidate,[22][44][45] Migliorotti is now favored by many commentators.[5][17][18]
Josquin des Prez
In 1972 the Belgian musicologist
Gaspar van Weerbeke
The art historian Laure Fagnart suggested in 2019 that the sitter is
Others
At the end of the 19th century, the subject of the portrait was identified by Paul Müller-Walde as Galeazzo Sanseverino, Ludovico's son-in-law and captain general of the Sforza militias, a prominent figure of the Milanese court.[49] In support of this thesis, the Italian scholar Piero Misciatelli recalls that Galeazzo had been a patron of Leonardo and was probably passionate about music.[50] Other scholars, such as the French art historian Robert de la Sizeranne , have recognized the traits of his father, Roberto Sanseverino.[51][52]
Gian Galeazzo Sforza (1469–1494) has been proposed, given that the original, vague, description of the portrait stated that it depicted the Duke of Milan. Syson has noted that this identification would be particularly meaningful, as Gian Galeazzo was the rightful heir to the throne before Ludovico took power. However, there is no direct evidence to support this, and the uncovering of the sheet music makes this very unlikely as Gian Galeazzo is not known to have been a musician.[16]
Francesco Canova da Milano (1497–1543), an Italian lutenist and composer,[53] and the Flemish singer Giovanni Cordier have been proposed, albeit without substantive evidence.[7] The Dutch illustrator Siegfried Woldhek has suggested that the Portrait of a Musician is one of three self-portraits by Leonardo.[54]
Critical opinion
The critical opinion of the Portrait of a Musician has historically been mixed, and negative reactions have given some scholars reluctance to grant it a full attribution to Leonardo.[4] The 19th-century art historian Eugène Müntz complemented its "vigor of modeling worthy of Rembrandt", but criticized the work for a sullen expression, poor coloring and incompleteness.[55] According to Marani, these comments can largely be explained by Müntz's use of a very poor reproduction for analysis.[56] Like Müntz, Zöllner found fault with the work's incompleteness and expression; he also considered its pose inferior to that of Ginevra de' Benci.[7] The art historian Jack Wasserman has stated that the portrait lacks the typical facial intensity of Leonardo's other works;[28] however, Syson and Kemp have praised the sitter's intense stare,[2][4] and the art historian Alessandro Vezzosi stated that in this work "Leonardo attains an unprecedented level of psychological intensity, which reaches the sublime in Lady with an Ermine".[57] The chiaroscuro has been a point of contention: Zöllner and other scholars have criticized it as "over-emphatic";[4][7] Syson considered it dramatic and compelling;[4] whereas Isaacson has criticized the shadowing but praised the lighting of the eyes.[11] Syson has suggested that the work's unfinished state largely accounts for these negative reactions.[4]
Interpretation
Due to a paucity of contemporary records, some scholars have proposed theories as to the purpose of the painting. Some believe that the tension in the subject's face is intense because he has just finished or is in the process of performing.[15][44] Other scholars see the painting as a representation of Leonardo's self-proclaimed ideology of the superiority of painting over other art forms such as poetry, sculpture and music.[16][23] Leonardo declared at the beginning of his incomplete Treatise on Painting:
How Music Ought to be Called the Sister and Junior to Painting. Music is to be regarded none other than the sister of painting since it is subject to hearing, a sense second to the eye, and since it composes harmony from the conjunction of its proportional parts operating at the same time. [These parts] are constrained to arise and to die in one or more harmonic tempos which surround a proportionality by its members; such a harmony is composed not differently from the circumferential lines which generate human beauty by its [respective] members. Yet painting excels and rules over music, because it does not immediately die after its creation the way unfortunately music does. To the contrary, painting stays in existence, and will show you as being alive what is, in fact, on a single surface.
— Leonardo da Vinci, A Treatise on Painting (1490–1492)[58]
These words seemingly disapprove of music's ephemeral nature, in contrast to painting's material and permanent physical qualities.[16] This theory suggests that the sadness in the young man's eyes is due to the idea that music simply disappears after a performance.[58] Another interpretation is that Leonardo was moved to depict the man's beauty. More likely, given the odd and seemingly intimate aesthetic of the painting, is that it was made as a personal gift for a close friend.[2][17]
References
Notes
- ^ The work is most commonly known as the Portrait of a Musician (Italian: Ritratto di musico). It is sometimes known as the Portrait of a Young Man,[1] the Portrait of a Man with a Sheet of Music[2] or the Musician.[3]
- ^ Sources vary on the materials used to create the Portrait of a Musician. The Pinacoteca Ambrosiana (Archived 2 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine) and Zöllner (2019, p. 225) list the work as "tempera and oil", while Marani (2003, p. 339), Syson et al. (2011, p. 95) and Fiorio (2014, p. 153) list only oils, as do older sources such as Ottino della Chiesa (1967, p. 100) and Wasserman (1975, p. 138). None of these sources note any disagreement between scholars on the painting's materials.
- ^ Alternatively translated as: "the face of the Duke of Milan, with such elegance, that perhaps the living Duke would have wanted it for himself".[9]
- ^ Beltrami, Cook, Ricci, Schiaparelli , Bode, Liphart, Suida, Berenson, Goldscheider, Clark and Heydenreich attributed the work to Leonardo; Morelli, Seidlitz, Frizzoni, Carotti, A. Venturi, Mallaguzzi Valeri , Poggi, Hildebrandt to Ambrogio de Predis; Bottari to Boltraffio; Cagnola and Castelfranco were undecided.[21]
- ^ Clark noted that a study for the Virgin of the Rocks in Turin bears an even closer resemblance to the Musician.[8]
- ^ Marani specified that there is no evidence that Boltraffio was in Leonardo's studio before 1490.[26]
- ^ a b Scholars date the painting to 1483–1487:
- Kemp (2019, p. 47): c. 1483–1486
- Marani (2003, p. 339): c. 1485
- Syson et al. (2011, p. 95): c. 1486–1487
- Zöllner (2019, p. 225): c. 1485
- ^ The earliest scholars date the work is 1483,[n 7] even though Leonardo's first Milanese period began c. 1482. This may be explained by the uncertainty surrounding Leonardo's arrival in Milan; while he is believed to have moved there some time in 1482, he is first firmly documented there in April 1483.[23]
- ^ The Brera Portrait of a Young Man is attributed variously to Ambrogio de Predis (Marani 2003, p. 163), Boltraffio (Syson et al. 2011, p. 100) and the Master of the Archinto Portrait (Fiorio 2014, pp. 155–161).
- ^ Folio 888 recto (ex 324 recto).[44]
- ^ Alternatively translated as: "a portrait of Atalante with his upturned face"[20] or "a head portrayed from Atalante who raises his face".[2]
- ^ An example is Josquin's motet Illibata Dei Virgo nutrix.[44]
Citations
- ^ Zöllner 2015, pp. 47–48.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Kemp 2019, p. 47.
- ^ a b c d Brown 1983, p. 105.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Syson et al. 2011, p. 95.
- ^ a b c d e f Bambach 2012, p. 83.
- ^ a b c Pedretti 2006, p. 62.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Zöllner 2019, p. 225.
- ^ a b c d e Clark 1961, p. 55.
- ^ a b c d Fagnart 2019, p. 74.
- ^ a b Zöllner 2015, p. 45.
- ^ a b Isaacson 2017, pp. 238–239.
- ^ a b c Isaacson 2017, p. 237.
- ^ a b Palmer 2018, p. 122.
- ^ a b Fagnart 2019, p. 73.
- ^ a b c d Pedretti 1982, p. 68.
- ^ a b c d e f g Syson et al. 2011, p. 97.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Isaacson 2017, p. 238.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Marani 2003, p. 165.
- ^ a b Isaacson 2017, p. 239.
- ^ a b Fagnart 2019, pp. 75–76.
- ^ a b c d e f g Ottino della Chiesa 1967, p. 100.
- ^ a b c d e f Syson et al. 2011, p. 96.
- ^ a b c d Kemp 2003.
- ^ Marani 2003, p. 339.
- ^ a b c d e f Marani 2003, p. 160.
- ^ a b c d Marani 2003, p. 163.
- ^ Isaacson 2017, p. 236.
- ^ a b c Wasserman 1975, p. 138.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Marani 2003, p. 164.
- ^ Syson et al. 2011, p. 85.
- ^ Syson et al. 2011, p. 86.
- ^ Marani 2003, pp. 164–165.
- ^ Arasse 1998, p. 399.
- ^ Arasse 1998, p. 394.
- ^ Syson et al. 2011, p. 100.
- ^ Fiorio 2014, p. 155.
- ^ Syson et al. 2011, pp. 95–96.
- ^ Bell 2003.
- ^ Barone 2013, pp. 738–739.
- ^ Robertson 2015.
- ^ Bambach 2019.
- ^ Syson et al. 2011, pp. 96–97.
- ^ a b Fagnart 2019, p. 76.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Fagnart 2019, p. 75.
- ^ a b c Blackburn 2001.
- ^ Marani 1999, p. 165.
- ^ Harrán 2001.
- ^ a b c Macey et al. 2011.
- ^ Müller-Walde 1897, p. 110.
- ^ Misciattelli 1914, pp. 148–149.
- ^ Beltrami 1919, p. 55.
- ^ Venturi 1920, p. 173.
- ^ Site maintained by Marina Wallace and Martin Kemp. "Portrait of a Musician". Universal Leonardo. London: University of the Arts London. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- TED Conferences. Archivedfrom the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
- ^ Marani 2003, pp. 160–161.
- ^ Marani 2003, p. 161.
- ^ Vezzosi 1997, pp. 59–60.
- ^ a b Fagnart 2019, p. 77.
Sources
- Books
- ISBN 978-1-56852-198-5.
- OCLC 1000856466.
- Ottino della Chiesa, Angela (1967). The Complete Paintings of Leonardo da Vinci. Penguin Classics of World Art. London: ISBN 978-0-14-008649-2.
- OCLC 187223.
- Fagnart, Laure (2019). "Gaspar Depicted? Leonardo's Portrait of a Musician". In Lindmayr-Brandl, Andrea; Kolb, Paul (eds.). Gaspar van Weerbeke: New Perspectives on his Life and Music. Epitome musical. Turnhout: ISBN 978-2-5035-8454-6.
- Fiorio, Maria Teresa (2014). "Leonardo's Portrait of a Musician and some reflections on his Milanese Workshop". In Menu, Michel (ed.). Leonardo da Vinci's technical practice: paintings, drawings and influence. Paris: Hermann Éditeurs. pp. 152–161. ISBN 978-2-7056-8455-6.
- ISBN 978-1-5011-3915-4.
- ISBN 978-1-4549-304-26.
- Marani, Pietro C. (1999). Leonardo: Una Carriera di Pittore [Leonardo: A Career as a Painter] (in Italian). Milan: Frederico Motta. ISBN 978-88-7179-196-8.
- Marani, Pietro C. (2003) [2000]. Leonardo da Vinci: The Complete Paintings. New York: ISBN 978-0-8109-3581-5.
- Misciattelli, Piero (1914). Personaggi del Quattrocento italiano. Rome: G. Garzoni Provenzani. OCLC 563510314.
- Palmer, Allison Lee (2018). Leonardo da Vinci: A Reference Guide to His Life and Works (Significant Figures in World History). Lanham: ISBN 978-1-5381-1977-8.
- ISBN 978-0-3844-5281-7.
- ISBN 978-1-8440-6036-8.
- ISBN 978-1-85709-491-6.
- OCLC 974188298.
- ISBN 978-0-500-30081-7.
- Wasserman, Jack (1975). Leonardo da Vinci. New York: ISBN 978-0-8109-0262-6.
- ISBN 978-3-8365-0215-3.
- ISBN 978-3-8365-7625-3.
- Journal and encyclopedia articles
- Bambach, Carmen C. (February 2012). ""Seeking the Universal Painter" (review of exhibition, Leonardo, Painter at the Court of Milan, National Gallery, London)". Apollo. Vol. 175, no. 595. London: Press Holdings. p. 83. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
- Bambach, Carmen C. (22 November 2019). "The Big Review: Leonardo at the Louvre". The Art Newspaper. London. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
- Barone, Juliana (November 2013). "Review of Exhibitions: Afterthoughts on the London and Paris exhibitions". Renaissance Studies. 27 (5): 738–753. JSTOR 24423435.
- Bell, Janis Callen (2003). "Arconati [Arconato], Conte Galeazzo". ISBN 978-1-884446-05-4. (subscription or UK public library membershiprequired)
- ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membershiprequired)
- Brown, David Alan (1983). "Leonardo and the Idealized Portrait in Milan". Arte Lombarda. 64 (4): 102–116. JSTOR 43105426.
- ISBN 9781561592630. (subscription or UK public library membershiprequired)
- ISBN 9781884446054. (subscription or UK public library membershiprequired)
- Macey, Patrick; Noble, Jeremy; Dean, Jeffrey; ISBN 9781561592630. (subscription or UK public library membershiprequired)
- JSTOR 25167380.
- Robertson, Charles (September 2015). "Leonardo da Vinci". The Burlington Magazine. Vol. 157, no. 1350. London: The Burlington Magazine Publications.
Further reading
- Marani, Pietro C., ed. (2010). Leonardo da Vinci: Il musico (in Italian). Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana. ISBN 978-88-366-1923-8.
External links