Leonardo reviews
November 7 2011
Picture: Louvre/National Gallery
Critics from some of the major publications have been given sneak previews of the Leonardo show, ahead of its opening on Wednesday. In The Times (paywall), Rachel Campbell-Johnston said that it was the best show she had ever seen, so good it made her cry. Adrian Hamilton, in The Independent, calls it 'unmissable'. Over in The Telegraph, Richard Dorment is a little less enthusiastic, and gives it four stars out of five. He complains about there being too many pictures by Leonardo's followers and pupils. He's also a little wary of the newly discovered Salvator Mundi (tho' less wary than he was of La Bella Principessa, the 'Leonardo' drawing sold by his ex-wife for $21,000). The Guardian seems not to have been invited yet, while The Daily Mail, predictably, manages to find a negative angle, and focuses on the £1.5 billion insurance bill for the taxpayer if all the pictures are stolen.
Dorment also reveals that the two versions of the Madonna of the Rocks are not hanging side by side, but opposite each other. I was looking forward to making a close comparison of the various details. So I expect to be practising my pirouette tomorrow when I see the show. Check back soon for the first in-depth review of the exhibition.
