The artistic undertaking
The historical painting’s present appearance reflects both its surviving original paint and its history of conservation and restoration. The guild’s undertaking is to imagine and re-create a coherent light-filled image. It approaches the optical logic associated with Leonardo’s painting through its own patented method. The historical painting’s condition and restoration ↗.
Form is first revealed from a dark prepared surface by abrasion. Tempera and watercolour are applied in very thin layers to develop the relationships of light, shadow and colour gradually. Selected colour work and a final, thin oil application enrich the image’s depth and chromatic presence. The aim is a continuous pictorial space in which transitions belong to the form itself.
This is an artistic hypothesis about the image’s earlier wholeness, open to comparison with research on Leonardo’s layered painting. Research on Leonardo’s sfumato ↗.
Look closely
Follow the passage of light across the face and into the surrounding darkness.
Examine how the hair and facial contours emerge through subtle transitions.
Look at the modelling of the blessing hand, then return to the balance of the whole image.
The work and its value
The value proposed for this painting rests on the guild’s artistic interpretation, its specialised method and the sustained work required to bring the whole image into balance. The canvas carries a contemporary painted re-creation with its own authorship and history. Its sense of inward luminosity can be encountered directly in the work.
The painting was created by the guild under the artistic direction of Leonid Lukin, who devoted substantial time to realising its intended qualities of light and colour. Specialists contribute to a shared result, with final artistic review by the master. At present, the guild can undertake approximately five new commissions a year.