Amazing Leonardo Sculpture

We visited the Strozzi Palace museum on Sunday, to see an exhibition of the work of Verrocchio, the master under whom Leonardo da Vinci learned his art, and his circle of other important artists of 15th century Florence. It's a large and impressive show, but one of the most amazing aspects of the show is a piece that was not thought to be particularly important when it was included in the show, but it turns out to be a scene-stealer. It's a small terra cotta sculpture belonging to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, long attributed to Antonio Rossellino, a Quattrocento sculptor known for his small Madonnas. When it arrived in Florence, the curator was thunderstruck: it appeared to him to be, and his analysis suggests strongly that it is, a sculpture by Leonardo da Vinci--in fact, the only piece of sculpture known to exist that is by Leonardo da Vinci.

My teacher at the Scuola Leonardo had also seen the show last weekend, so we talked about it, and the next day she brought in a magazine from February of this year with an article about the new claim/discovery. It contains many photos and a lengthy interview with the curator, and it's pretty convincing, through its comparisons of details (hand, hair, smile, drapery, etc.) of the piece in the show with known works of Leonardo's that it resembles, and with similar comparisons of the piece with known works of Rossellino's, which in truth it does not at all resemble. The Victoria & Albert, which doesn't of course want to admit to the world that they have misidentified a unique work by Leonardo for the 161 years they have owned it, is not making any rash statements at this point about whether they accept the new identification, but it has already been announced that the piece is too fragile to travel to Washington, D.C., with the rest of the show this summer. So we're doubly fortunate to have seen it here, in its first public appearance identified as a Leonardo work. In the future, however, it will surely be available for viewing as a Leonardo in London.