Buboni, Lost In The Woods, parts 204 - 207

Richard Britell,  June 4, 2012

204. Aimes had lost his house and his job but he still possessed his authentic Leonardo drawing and his dignity.  The last straw came for him when he had to pack the great Buboni's groceries at the super-market where he had been forced to take a job. Buboni did not recognize him, and he was unsure if he was glad about it or not.

205. That night after work Thomas  did not go right home, he went to the library instead. His intent was to use the library computer and read as much about Buboni as he could in preparation for writing an article about him for an art journal.  Articles were constantly being written about Buboni and his theories, so this was nothing new, but Aimes was filled with evil intentions.

206. Thomas was lucky that day, or fickle fate had decided to undermine Buboni's long run of good luck in the art history field.  For years the great man had supplemented his ample income by appraising works of art. He charged a very small percentage of the assessed value of the work, but this produced huge sums when the item in question turned out to be a work by an old master.

207. Assessed evaluation usually proceeded auctions so that everyone profited all around. For twenty years Buboni's assessments had gone unchallenged and then by accident the Vatican published a letter from Michelangelo to Raphael that proved without a doubt that a drawing in the Vasari collection had not been done by Piero Della Francesca as Buboin had thought, but was an "ineffectual copy by Piero De Cosomo"  of a drawing Fra Angelico's assistants accidentally dropped into a privy while working on the frescoes in San Francesco at Arezzo. 

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.