发现达芬奇(3)

I believe Timothy Clifford who was the Director of the National Gallery until 2006 had recently found a Michelangelo, or identified a Michelangelo rather, and when they asked him about his old fashioned censorial methods he said something like "Can I not recognise my own wife across the breakfast table?"

And that was something that struck him when he first saw the Michelangelo.

So do you have any thoughts about connoisseurship prior to doing the forensic analysis and that kind or scientific detailing?

In a way that first jump of recognition which is a bit like being able to recognise a certain member of your family 200 yards away without you being able to say why you can do that.

That was a starting point for me if you didn't get that and it's kind of interior thinking and it sort of grabs you.

But it's not enough.

I like to get all the science evidence lined up but I also like to adopt other criteria saying does this organically belong.

Does it tell us as much about Leonardo?

We're trying to bring Leonardo to the portrait so I like that big contextual support.

But at the end of the day if it collapses visually as a Leonardo, no amount of evidence helps.