Buboni, Lost In The Woods, parts 208 - 211

Richard Britell June 5, 2012

208. This mistake of Buboni's may very well have gone unnoticed, and even if it had been commented on in art circles would have done him little damage but there was another article Thomas found in the Vatican Journal that was more embarrassing, although of an anecdotal character.

209. The magazine article which ended Buboni's professional career, and turned him from a respected art historian into a laughingstock concerned the attack on Michelangelo's  Pieta by Laszlo Toth, in 1972.  Here are the highlights of that
article:

210. The art treasures of the Roman Catholic  Church had been freely on view to the public for hundreds of years but after the Lazilo Toth attack on the Pieta the Vatican decided to reconsider it policies.  The church could not afford the enormous increase in insurance costs the attack on the sculpture produced, and so a new policy was put in place.

211. For years at the University of Padua,  the post-graduate art students completed an annual project consisting of making a copy of some great Renaissance masterpiece, and these beautifully executed copies lined the great hall of the school's library.  The Vatican began purchasing these paintings and, one by one replacing the originals with them in the various important churches in Rome.

Buboni, Lost In The Woods, parts 192 - 195

Richard Britell June 1, 2012

192. There was a exhibit at the university; professors were invited to display works from their private collections. This exhibit included many never before seen paintings and drawings, the cherished possessions of their owners. Thomas Ames, a professor of painting and drawing, had to be teased and coaxed to display his small drawing by Leaonardo, which had been in Vasari's collection. The University agreed to take out insurance for this drawing to be included.

193. Buboni, taking a quick look at the drawing declared, "This is not a Leonardo, these strokes are  right handed, it's probably just something by a lesser known artist like Cesare Da Sesto.  *(author's note the drawing above illustrates this misattribution, the strokes are said to be 'right handed' but their 'arc' shows that the paper was upside down!)

194. Buboni however, was  entirely wrong about this. Professor Ames had noticed the right-handed strokes years ago, took the drawing to a specialist who said. "Leonardo was just shading with the paper upside down, this is clear from the very slight backward 'tails' at the end of the stroke which showed that the stroke was a left handed stroke with the paper upside down.

195.  Professor Ames was too proud, and too full of hatred for Buboni to come to the defense of his Leonardo, as if to have to defend such a thing was beneath his dignity, but he should have said something when he had the chance, because soon after the bank foreclosed on his house because his loan was backed up by his Leonardo drawing.