Upstream | October 23, 2009 | 4 comments

Da Vinci's Code - at the Tip of his Finger! - What's It Worth?

source: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/whats-it-worth/2009/10/da-vincis-code---at-the-tip-of-his-fi...

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vincius
A fingerprint found on the upper left hand side of a 13 x 10in chalk, pen, and ink portrait reveals that it could actually be a long lost work by Leonardo da Vinci.

More Leonardo and Hands information at www.leonardoshands.com

No one thought twice when the portrait sold at Christie's New York in the late 1990's. Then believed to be an early 19th Century German depiction of a young woman in profile, it was purchased for $19 thousand. But two years ago, an anonymous Swiss collector grew suspicious of its true origin after viewing it at the Gantz Gallery in New York. Immediately, art collector and friend, Peter Silverman, purchased it on his behalf for a similar price.

Now, a century old fingerprint leads London dealer Simon Dickinson to say it could be worth over $160 million.

Using Lumiere Technology, Montreal-based forensics expert Peter Paul Biro found the fingerprint within the successive layers of color. "Leonardo used his hands liberally and frequently as part of his painting technique. His fingerprints are found on many of his works," Biro explained to the Associate Press. "I was able to make use of multispectral images to make a little smudge a very readable fingerprint."

The print is considered "highly comparable" to one previously found on Leonardo's St Jerome in the Vatican. Furthermore, a palm print, which was also found within the neck of the young woman, helped determine that the artist was left-handed, as da Vinci famously was.
How apropos that scholars of art, science, and technology should have to work so cooperatively to uncover what would be the first major piece by Leonardo da Vinci found in 100 years! It is just as he would have wanted.
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4 comments // Da Vinci's Code - at the Tip of his Finger! - What's It Worth?

  • nursediesel
    • 0
      nursediesel  

    • It would be lovely to have evidence of Leonardo's palm and finger prints. Such a multifaceted human being, to have produced what we know he has, is astounding let alone more works to be attributed to the genius....
      to have only known him.....

    • 2 years ago
  • larrysnotes
  • masterzip
    • 0
      masterzip  

    • or it means it was a davinci student, and davinci was handed the print to look at it....and he held it in his hands....
      it proves nothing....
      the hand of the artist proves everything.....
      since davinci is not here to defend himself,..we get all these outrageous claims about people knowing everything about davinci, and that is because they can go unchallenged.

    • 2 years ago
  • vincius
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