美国国家公共电台 NPR Why Da Vinci's Last Privately Owned Painting Probably Won't End Up In A Museum

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The only painting by Leonardo da Vinci known to be in private hands is going on the market. Titled "Salvator Mundi" or "Savior Of The World," it depicts¹ Christ holding the world in his left hand and offering a blessing² with his right. For centuries, scholars thought it was an inferior copy of a lost original. Then an extensive restoration revealed the hand of the master. And for the next month, it will be on view before it goes to auction³. Rick Karr reports.

RICK KARR, BYLINE⁴: Leonardo da Vinci wasn't a very prolific⁵ painter. And he worked 500 years ago, so only around 20 of his paintings still exist as far as we know, says Alan Wintermute, a specialist in old master paintings at Christie's.

ALAN WINTERMUTE: A third of them are unfinished. So there are really only about 12 absolutely full-scale, finished paintings by Leonardo.

KARR: So when Wintermute learned that "Salvator Mundi" was the real deal and that he'd help bring it to auction, he says the news left him...

WINTERMUTE: Stunned⁶.

KARR: The painting had been part of the British Royal Collection until King James II sold it to the husband of one of his mistresses in the 1680s. It was auctioned⁷ off 80 years later and disappeared. It didn't resurface until a British collector bought it in 1900. It was so badly restored and overpainted that scholars thought it was a poor copy by one of da Vinci's students except, Wintermute says, for a couple of striking details.

WINTERMUTE: That hand is pretty good, or that bit of drapery looks, you know, much better than the rest of it.

KARR: Starting in the late 2000s, layers of overpainting and varnish⁸ were painstakingly⁹ removed, revealing details in the depiction¹⁰ of Christ with shoulder-length light brown hair in ringlets, wearing a square-necked blue tunic¹¹, gazing at the viewer with his right hand raised in benediction¹² as his left hand holds a polished crystal orb¹³ that represents the world. Wintermute says Leonardo's hand and genius are evident in the meticulous¹⁴, almost microscopic¹⁵ detail da Vinci painted into the orb's tiny imperfections or inclusions.

WINTERMUTE: Every single one is different. Every single one follows the shape of the orb. There's a mark for the inclusion. There's a shadow on one side of it. There is a highlight on the other. No one but a sort of crazy, scientific perfectionist like Leonardo would ever dream of doing that.

KARR: It's in the depiction of Christ's raised right hand that biographer Walter Isaacson sees Leonardo's genius. The sale of the painting was timed to coincide with the release of his new book on the artist. Isaacson says da Vinci used a painting technique that rendered most of the image in soft focus except for that right hand.

WALTER ISAACSON: It's much sharper. Why - because it makes it feel like it's coming out at you. He was studying optics at the time. He knew how that worked.

KARR: Isaacson says "Salvator Mundi" has many of the same uncanny qualities as the "Mona Lisa" - the androgynous figure, the ambiguous expression, the evidence of da Vinci's scientific research. When the painting comes up for auction next month, it's expected to fetch well over a hundred million dollars - too much for a museum to afford on its own. But Issacson hopes that the only known Leonardo in a private collection becomes the last Leonardo in a private collection.

ISAACSON: I would hope that a wealthy person along with a museum might buy it and then put it on permanent loan in a museum and eventually it will go to that museum. Certainly you want to make sure the public sees this.

KARR: For the next few weeks, the public can see Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi." It went on display today at Christie's in San Francisco. Next week, it travels to London before finishing its tour in New York at the end of the month. For NPR News, I'm Rick Karr in New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF MARTIN GAUFFIN'S "BIGTOOTH ASPEN")

1 depicts   

描绘，描画( depict的第三人称单数 )； 描述

参考例句：

• The book vividly depicts French society of the 1930s. 这本书生动地描绘了20 世纪30 年代的法国社会。
• He depicts the sordid and vulgar sides of life exclusively. 他只描写人生肮脏和庸俗的一面。

2 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

3 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 prolific   

adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的

参考例句：

• She is a prolific writer of novels and short stories.她是一位多产的作家，写了很多小说和短篇故事。
• The last few pages of the document are prolific of mistakes.这个文件的最后几页错误很多。

6 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

7 auctioned   

v.拍卖( auction的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was sad to see all grandmother's lovely things being auctioned off. 眼看着祖母那些可爱的东西全都被拍卖掉，心里真不好受。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder. 电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 varnish   

n.清漆；v.上清漆；粉饰

参考例句：

• He tried to varnish over the facts,but it was useless.他想粉饰事实，但那是徒劳的。
• He applied varnish to the table.他给那张桌子涂上清漆。

9 painstakingly   

adv. 费力地 苦心地

参考例句：

• Every aspect of the original has been closely studied and painstakingly reconstructed. 原作的每一细节都经过了仔细研究，费尽苦心才得以重现。
• The cause they contrived so painstakingly also ended in failure. 他们惨淡经营的事业也以失败而告终。

10 depiction   

n.描述

参考例句：

• Double rhythms, resounding through the lyric depiction and connecting with each other, indicate the thespian place of mankind and the cognition of the writer to this thespian place. 这双重旋律互为表里，表明了人类的某种悲剧性处境以及作家对这种悲剧性处境的感受和认识。
• A realistic depiction of scenes from everyday domestic life. 日常家居生活的写实画。

11 tunic   

n.束腰外衣

参考例句：

• The light loose mantle was thrown over his tunic.一件轻质宽大的斗蓬披在上衣外面。
• Your tunic and hose match ill with that jewel,young man.你的外套和裤子跟你那首饰可不相称呢，年轻人。

12 benediction   

n.祝福；恩赐

参考例句：

• The priest pronounced a benediction over the couple at the end of the marriage ceremony.牧师在婚礼结束时为新婚夫妇祈求上帝赐福。
• He went abroad with his parents' benediction.他带着父母的祝福出国去了。

13 orb   

n.太阳；星球；v.弄圆；成球形

参考例句：

• The blue heaven,holding its one golden orb,poured down a crystal wash of warm light.蓝蓝的天空托着金色的太阳，洒下一片水晶般明亮温暖的光辉。
• It is an emanation from the distant orb of immortal light.它是从远处那个发出不灭之光的天体上放射出来的。

14 meticulous   

adj.极其仔细的，一丝不苟的

参考例句：

• We'll have to handle the matter with meticulous care.这事一点不能含糊。
• She is meticulous in her presentation of facts.她介绍事实十分详细。

15 microscopic   

adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的

参考例句：

• It's impossible to read his microscopic handwriting.不可能看清他那极小的书写字迹。
• A plant's lungs are the microscopic pores in its leaves.植物的肺就是其叶片上微细的气孔。