Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk

Portrait of an elderly man
Artist	Leonardo da Vinci
Year	c. 1512
Type	Red chalk on paper
Dimensions	33.3 cm × 21.6 cm (13.1 in × 8.5 in)
Location	Biblioteca Reale, Turin

The portrait of a man in red chalk (circa 1510) in the Biblioteca Reale, Turin is widely, though not universally, accepted as a self portrait of Leonardo da Vinci. It is thought that Leonardo da Vinci drew this self-portrait at about the age of 60. The portrait has been extensively reproduced and has become an iconic representation of Leonardo as a polymath or "Renaissance Man". Despite this, some historians and scholars disagree as to the true identity of the sitter.

Description and provenance

The portrait is drawn in red chalk on paper. It depicts the head of an elderly man in three-quarter view, turned towards the viewer's right. The subject is distinguished by his long hair and long waving beard which flow over the shoulders and breast. The length of the hair and beard is uncommon in Renaissance portraits and suggests, as now, a person of sagacity. The face has a somewhat aquiline nose and is marked by deep lines on the brow and pouches below the eyes. It appears as if the man has lost his upper front teeth, causing deepening of the grooves from the nostrils. The eyes of the figure do not engage the viewer but gaze ahead, veiled by the long eyebrows, with a sense of solemnity.

The drawing has been drawn in fine lines, shadowed by hatching and executed with the left hand, as was Leonardo's habit. The paper has brownish "fox marks" caused by the accumulation of iron salts due to moisture. It is housed at the Royal Library (Biblioteca Reale) in Turin, Italy, and is not generally viewable by the public due to its fragility and poor condition. “Researchers have developed a nondestructive way to gauge the condition of the drawing by quantifying the chromophores in the paper, the culprit behind its yellowing. Their technique, described in Applied Physics Letters (2014), will be used to assess the rate at which the image is degrading and to estimate its life expectancy.”

Controversy

The identification of the drawing as a self-portrait is not universally accepted. The identification was made in the 19th century, based on the similarity of the sitter to the portrait of Leonardo in Raphael's The School of Athens and on the high quality of the drawing, consistent with others by Leonardo. On the other hand, Frank Zöllner states: "This red chalk drawing has largely determined our idea of Leonardo's appearance for it was long taken to be his only authentic self-portrait." A frequent criticism made in the late 20th century is that the drawing depicts a man of a greater age than Leonardo himself achieved, as he died at the age of 67. Additionally, some have criticized the circular nature in which it is considered a drawing by Leonardo; it is corroborated by "The School of Athens", which in turns corroborated the self portrait. It has been suggested that the sitter represents Leonardo's father.

It is generally thought that if the drawing represents Leonardo, then this is the only formal self-portrait executed by him. Other portraits of Leonardo by other hands exist, apparently dating from the early 16th century. A red chalk profile portrait at Windsor may be by his pupil Melzi. Other portraits are known to have been made after his death.

Several portraits are thought to exist of Leonardo as a youth or a young man. These include Verrocchio's statue of David and a possible self-portrait in the Adoration of the Magi; critics suspect that the lower right attendant in this painting represents Leonardo. In De divina proportione by the mathematician Luca Pacioli, which Leonardo illustrated, the artist may also have included a self-portrait.

External links

• Leonardo da Vinci: anatomical drawings from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, exhibition catalog fully online as PDF from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Self-Portrait (see index)