A new da Vinci painting! How cool is that? According to the Fox News article a Swiss collector bought a painting from the Ganz Gallery in NY for $19,000 knowing that it might be a da Vinci. After some research and finding da Vinci’s fingerprint on the painting, it most likely is one of his paintings and is worth maybe 150 million dollars! I kid you not! This from the article: "I would say it is priceless. There aren't that many Leonardo's in existence," Biro said. He said he had heard that one London dealer felt it could be worth more than $150 million.
Jesse was only 19 years old when we were in Italy. She was a big Leonardo fan and wanted to see some of his work, but the truth is that there is not that much of his work in Italy – or at least not where we were. We saw all sorts of famous paintings, sculptures, and buildings, but not much da Vinci. While we were in Venice there was suppose to be some sort of da Vinci show going on, but we had little time and could not see it. It was at that point that Jesse broke down and cried. It was so unlike her. I knew she was just worn out from traveling and sightseeing and I said as much. Still, I wish I could have granted her wish to see lots of da Vinci works. On her recent trip to France, I believe she did get to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris. She was probably worn out from her travels then, too. Maybe some day she will get to see more of his drawings and such. You know she is a drafter and likes that sort of thing.
For me, it was Michelangelo’s Pieta and his David - I just stood in awe – staring – thinking, "Wow, here I am up close and personal with a Michelangelo." I did not have the same feeling seeing the Sistine Chapel due to being herded through the place like a bunch of cattle. But I can say that I saw it.
Never let your little dreams die.
6 comments:
A new da Vinci IS cool. And $150 million is a lot o' money, too. I think I know which of the two I'd rather have.
re: Italy, Rome, etc. I saw what I saw of Italy as a pre-teen child. My parents were on a strict timetable, as we were in transit from one assignment to the next and they uncharacteristically opted for the cattle tours while we were in Rome. I wasn't much impressed, more than likely because of the hurried nature of the tours. I never went back to Italy as an adult.
Buck, Italy is worth renewing your passport. You should do it.
Wish I had known this when they were here...just a couple weekends before their arrival we drove to a city about 3 hrs. away (Amboise) and visited da Vinci's home (the one where he lived out his life) and the wonderful da Vinci museum -- seeing many of his inventions and all the drawings of his then "hair-brained" ideas (like the helicoper!) I wish I had known of Jesse's wish; we could have made it come true!!!! Okay, send her back, right now!
I felt the same sense of awe when seeing the David for the first time. Funny thing is, there were replicas of the statue all over Florence, but none of them inspired the same awe that the original did.
I also saw the Sistine chapel, though I wasn't herded through like cattle. We were given plenty of time to look. It was pretty awesome. When I was there, they were in the process of cleaning and restoring the painting, and you could definitely tell the difference. We weren't allowed to take photos, though, because some film company was doing a documentary on the cleaning process.
Lou, I have spent a lot of time in Italy during the '70's while in the Navy. Naples has a deep water bay that we would anchor in sometimes for a couple of weeks at a time. It was a great hub to work the country from. But we also anchored off Taranto, Brindisi and Bari in the south to Venis, Ancona, Livorno and even the tiny little town of Varazze. There were more of us on the ship then in the town itself. We were invited there in thanks from the Italian people (or at least its government) for helping to put out the fires on the Island of Capri. Who knew you could get 2,000 men to leave the ship and go live for a few days on Capri if you didn't mind fighting fires!!!
BT: Jimmy T sends.
Jimmy,
Halliburton has business in Italy and that is why we were there - particularly on the Adriatic Sea side - Ravenna and Pescara. One of my other readers, Becky, was Navy and stationed in Italy near Bari, which is pretty close to where we were.
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