Thursday, November 16, 2017

Did Leonardo da Vinci REALLY paint the "Salvator Mundi"?



Since 2010, my ladyfriend (who has a degree in Art History) and I have collaborated on a project to determine the truth about Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi. At that time, many thought that the "red" version -- often called the de Ganay version -- was the likeliest to have come from the master's hand. In 2012, a "blue" Salvator Mundi, which used to be known as the Cook version, was identified as the genuine work by Leonardo.

The Cook version was purchased a few years ago by Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev, whose name has cropped up in certain discussions of the ongoing Trump/Russia scandal. Yesterday, that same painting was sold in a Christie's auction to an unknown buyer for a record price: $450 million. Our understanding is that the version previously owned by the de Ganay family was sold (for a much lower price) to a museum in Brazil.

We believe that both versions -- the red and the blue -- originated in Leonardo's studio, that both derive from the same cartoons (note that plural), that neither one was entirely painted by Leonardo, and that the de Ganay version has the best claim to be the prime version -- the original.

In 2013, we prepared a documentary to explain our findings. The film is unfinished. The final version -- if ever we do complete it -- will be some ten or fifteen minutes longer. Of the missing final act, I can say this: In 2010, my ladyfriend presented her findings to professors and colleagues at the University of California at Riverside, and the Renaissance specialist at UCR declared her work to be "inarguable." (Let us be clear: He said those words about the material which is not yet included in our film.)

Many of you will feel that this film ends "just when it was getting good." Apologies! Perhaps a complete version will appear soon.

The press has given the public a great deal of misinformation about these two works. I believe that this video will give audiences a much fuller understanding of the history and provenance of these two paintings. If you watch this video in a calm and objective frame of mind, you too may come to the conclusion that both paintings came from Leonardo's studio, and that the de Ganay should be considered the "prime" version. We invite viewers to double-check our sources and we welcome any and all serious counter-arguments.

Nota bene: It is my custom to edit video to a temp track. This technique allows greater freedom to rewrite and to rework sections of the film. The final version of this film will be narrated by my ladyfriend.

You may be wondering why we did not finish the film in 2013. To be honest, we are both a bit puzzled ourselves! We took a break from the project at a time when we could not determine the ownership of both paintings. (We knew that the de Ganay had been sold, but we did not know to whom.) After a while, we became diverted by...well, by life. My ladyfriend took a job at a local museum, and her duties have proven rather demanding.

This video was placed on YouTube quite a while ago, but was marked "private" until yesterday. We have decided to place it before the public because the record-smashing sale put the Salvator Mundi in the news.

6 comments:

Michael said...

The machine-generated subtitles are funny - sprinkled with naughty words like cock and cunt. Are the subtitles created added by YouTube?

Joseph Cannon said...

Until I saw your comment, Michael, I wasn't aware that YouTube could auto-generate subtitles. I tested it just now. That's a pretty impressive capability!

In this case, I wrote the narration as a word file which was turned into audio via a text-to-speech app. That audio file was used when I edited the film. So that's a robot voice. The final version of the film (if one ever exists) will have a human narrator, of course. Apparently, YouTube can automatically take that voice and turn it back into written speech.

It does so with pretty good accuracy, but there are mistakes. The Cook version of the Salvator Mundi was indeed owned for a while by an American calling himself Kuntz, which was almost certainly a fake name. I tried to find out who this guy really was, but ran into a wall. Youtube apparently heard "Kuntz" as you-know-what.

Tom said...

Thanks for posting that very interesting video. Look for ward to you the completed project.

Anonymous said...

Fascinating vid, Joe. Thanks for putting it up. Only a few short months ago I read about the on-going arguments over these two works and was astonished when I heard that the one painting was up for auction, touted as the authenticated original. And the final price! Three times plus what was predicted.

Would love to see/hear your final conclusion in the video.

Peggysue

ColoradoGuy said...

Thanks for sharing the video ... the quality and detail of the eyes and the leatherwork is astonishing, and I admire the depth of the analysis of the two works. Thanks again for sharing!

quasiblotto said...

You guys really should finish this, it's fantastic. Well written and edited, and the timelines, reference imagery, and material explainers (nice use of the clip from 'agony and the ecstasy,' btw) all make for compelling viewing. It ends on a real cliffhanger, too.

Had you finished this sooner, who knows--you could've saved someone $400 mil.

Yeah, right...