May 23, 2024

New Leonardos at the Hermitage?


New Leonardos at the Hermitage?
An alternate version of Leonardo's "Virgin of the Rocks," which is currently on display at the Louvre. Evgenii Zolotarev / BBC

An exhibit at the Hermitage claims to be displaying paintings determined to have been created by Leonardo da Vinci. But international experts agreed: these paintings were not touched by the Renaissance master. 

The exhibit, entitled "New Mysteries of the Paintings of Leonardo da Vinci," was partly financed and organized by Konstantin Goloshchapov, an influential St. Petersburg businessman and apparent close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Goloshchapov collects religious art and provided several of the paintings displayed in the Hermitage exhibit. The Hermitage website describes the exhibit as being created "in collaboration" with the scholars Carlo Pedretti and Luca Tomio. One minor issue: Pedretti has been dead since 2018, and Tomio has no academic or institutional affiliations backing up his research. 

The paintings newly attributed to Leonardo, "The Battle of Anghiari" and "The Virgin of the Rocks" are a variation and version, respectively, of works located at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence and the Louvre in Paris. While it is not unheard of for works of art to be reattributed after extensive research and study by experts, or for variations of famous paintings to be discovered, these paintings are near universally considered to not be by Leonardo. 

“Not a single serious researcher, that is, a qualified expert on Leonardo’s work, will support such an attribution," Frank Zöllner, a professor at Leipzig University, told BBC Russia. 

You Might Also Like

Hermitage Cats
  • March 09, 2006

Hermitage Cats

A look at the cats that guard one of the world's great museums.
Worthy of Aivazovsky's Brush
  • September 19, 2021

Worthy of Aivazovsky's Brush

If you love the sea, Ivan Aivazovsky is your man. Everyone should know about this Armenian-Russian painter.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

93 Untranslatable Russian Words
December 01, 2008

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

The Samovar Murders
November 01, 2019

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas
October 01, 2013

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.

 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955