“Saint Jerome in the Wilderness” by Leonardo da Vinci
Sound-up the director of the Château du Clos Lucé, Francois Saint-Bris, seen from behind, facing the painting “Saint Jerome in the Wilderness” by Leonardo da Vinci: “What’s extraordinary is that he uses the technique of wiping with a cloth, but also finger painting, so that he makes a sort of fade with the fresh paint, and you can see his thumb print at the very top of the landscape, at the top left. It’s quite remarkable.”
SOUNDBITE 1 – François Saint-Bris, director and president of the Clos Lucé in Amboise (male, French, 19 sec): “It is very exciting for our family at Le Clos Lucé and our teams to welcome a Leonardo da Vinci, an authentic masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci, in the place where he spent the last three years of his life, here in Amboise.”
SOUNDBITE 2 – François Saint-Bris, director and president of the Clos Lucé in Amboise (male, French, 19 sec): “You can clearly see a fingerprint. This is what is called finger painting, a kind of finger wipe that creates a slight blur and a slight sfumato. This was also a technique used by painters at that time. “
SOUNDBITE 3 – François Saint-Bris, director and president of the Clos Lucé in Amboise (male, French, 16 sec): “It’s particularly moving because everyone has experienced being fingerprinted, and here we have Leonardo’s fingerprint from 535 years ago.”
SOUNDBITE 4 – François Saint-Bris, director and president of the Clos Lucé in Amboise (male, French, 32 sec): “There was the lower part, which was quite important, and there was another part, all around the head – and you can see it when you look closely – well, these two parts were joined together. The upper part, the head, was used as a stool by a cobbler. The lower part was found in an antique shop and was the door of a small chest of drawers.”
SOUNDBITE 5 – François Saint-Bris, director and president of the Clos Lucé in Amboise (male, French, 34 sec): “Many questions remain unanswered, which is what makes this work so enigmatic. Is it a commissioned work or a work of devotion? Was it a work that Leonardo did for himself on the subject of St. Jerome? Or is it from the Florentine period, so before 1480, or from the Milanese period after 1480? The mystery remains.”
© AFP
