In honor of the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death, one of his masterpieces is officially on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
As of today, July 15, anyone who visits the Met can see Da Vinci’s Saint Jerome Praying in the Wilderness painting. The piece, which was begun circa 1483, is one of the artist’s unfinished works. The “monumental, exquisitely rendered painting” is being brought to NYC on a special loan from the Vatican Museum. Saint Jerome gives viewers a rare and unique opportunity to study the creative process of a genius, artist, and true Renaissance Man. If you look closely, you’ll even find his fingerprints on the surface. Max Hollein, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, comments:
“We are thrilled to honor Leonardo da Vinci’s legacy by displaying this rare and exceptional painting, as it provides an intimate glimpse into the mind of a towering figure of Western art. Scholars over centuries have hotly debated, rightly or wrongly, the attribution of certain paintings by Leonardo, but the Vatican Museums’ Saint Jerome is one of possibly six paintings whose authorship by Leonardo has never been questioned.”
The unfinished masterpiece is displayed in a dark gallery by itself. The gallery’s somber tone in commemoration of his death is a “nod to the funerals of great Italian artists, which typically featured one of the artist’s works as part of the funerary display.”
The exhibition will run through October 6 in Gallery 955 (located in the Robert Lehman Wing).
featured image source: Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Also published on Medium.