Experts at the Florentine Institute of Restoration at the Uffizi Gallery have found evidence to suggest that Leonardo da Vinci was equally good at using both hands.
Restorers from the Opificio delle Pietre Dure (literally “Workshop of Gems”) spent several weeks studying a sketch of the landscape, which is considered one of the first works of the Italian master. The work with accession number 8P depicts the bank of the Arno River with the castle of Montelupo and is dated August 5, 1473, when the future author of Mona Lisa and The Last Supper was only 21 years old.
A work of Leonardo da Vinci under inventory number 8P. Front side.
Deep scientific and technological analysis of the landscape made it possible to find and compare two inscriptions on the front and back sides of the picture. On the first, the artist indicated the date of the painting in his famous "mirror" manner - from right to left. The second inscription contains information about the customer of the painting, who is apparently “satisfied” either with the work itself, or agrees with the agreement reached.
“Comparing the two inscriptions confirms to us that Leonardo was ambidextrous. First of all, they are both hand-drawn by the artist himself (as well as the sketches of the head and a human figure on the back of the sheet), because they are written with the same ink (which he used to paint most of the landscape),”the Uffizi Gallery said.
A work of Leonardo da Vinci under inventory number 8P. Back side.
Meticulous calligraphic research by comparing the two inscriptions with other signed texts by da Vinci provided further evidence of this.
“The artist made a 'mirror' inscription on the front, presumably with his left hand, and for the usual one - on the back surface - he used his right. Both calligraphy, although containing a number of different graphic elements associated with the use of both hands, are characterized by numerous common features that are uniquely attributed to the unique style of Leonardo,”the message says.
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The find was made ahead of the 500th anniversary of the death of the Italian genius, which will be widely celebrated in May with exhibitions and events across Europe.
The director of the Florentine Museum, Eike Schmidt, called the discovery "a real revolution in the study of Leonardo's work."
“The elements that emerged from this research campaign open up new perspectives in the interpretation of the 8P drawing and in the way the artist 'built the landscape', in his technique and even in his writing habits and skills,” said Schmidt.
Alexander Logunov