A portray of Mary Magdalene lately attributed to Leonardo da Vinci’s collaborator and lover Gian Giacomo Caprotti, often known as Salaì, offered on the Paris public sale home Artcurial yesterday for €1.7m ($2m, with charges), a brand new file for the artist. The oil on panel, courting from round 1515 to 1520 and beforehand considered by Giampietrino, was estimated at €100,000 to €150,000. In opposition to fierce cellphone bidding throughout the public sale (closed as a consequence of Covid-19 precautions), it offered to an American collector.
Salaì was a poor boy from a working-class background and, as recorded within the older artist’s diaries, entered da Vinci’s workshop aged simply ten on 22 July 1490, when da Vinci was in his late 30s.
Regardless of this age distinction he turned one in all da Vinci’s “lovers”, a problematic time period at present given the age distinction and Salaì’s excessive youth when he first joined the older artist’s workshop. The good-looking, curly-haired Salaì appeared to infuriate Leonardo as a lot as he captivated him and he wrote in one in all his journals that the younger artist was a “thief, liar, obstinate, glutton.” Therefore his nickname, that means little satan.
However da Vinci forgave him his petty crimes and Salaì stayed with him for greater than 25 years, till da Vinci’s loss of life in 1519, serving as a monetary supervisor, mannequin, agent and lover and accompanying him on all his travels. He carried on portray, too, and have become a trainer on the workshop in 1515. Leonardo left the Mona Lisa to Salaì upon his loss of life.
Solely 4 or 5 work by Salaì are identified to exist, and the attribution of this one, depicting Mary Magdalene overlaying her breasts with lengthy locks of hair, was decided by the Milan-based artwork historian Cristina Geddo.
The French Outdated Masters knowledgeable and guide to Artcurial Eric Turquin advised AFP: “This portray actually comes out of the night time. Its proprietor, who had purchased it for a modest sum, entrusted it to us on the market…with out attribution.” Turquin provides: “We discovered fingerprints: the painter crushed his thumb on the recent paint, which is attribute of Leonardo and Salaì ‘s approach.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by MAGZOID staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
