The Vatican Museums on Friday is
opening a special exhibition featuring Leonardo da Vinci's
painting "St. Jerome in the Wilderness" (ca. 1486-1490), the
only work by Leonardo in the Vatican Museums and in Rome in
general.
The show is free of charge, hosted at the Braccio di Carlo
Magno in St. Peter's Square, and runs through June 22.
Vatican Museums Director Barbara Jatta said the show came
from the desire to "share with the public for three months a
work that is a symbol of the painting gallery and has a strong
message of faith".
She said despite the fact that little is known about the
painting and its commission, "there has never been any doubt
about the signature and critics are all in agreement".
The unfinished work, an oil painting on walnut on two levels
of sketching, shows extraordinary technique that leads directly
back to Leonardo.
For this masterpiece Leonardo used brushes as well as finger
painting, choosing tones of ochre and green similar to those in
his work "Adoration of the Magi".
The canvas resonates with the expressive strength in which
Leonardo depicts St. Jerome, not as a father of the church and
cultured academic, but rather as a hermit infused with faith who
is personally experiencing the Passion of Christ.
It contains an exceptional anatomical ability as well as
landscape characteristics reminiscent of Leonardo's "Virgin of
the Rocks".
The painting is displayed in the centre of a wall in a
temperature-controlled display case that is nearly undetectable
to the naked eye.
The hermetically sealed metallic structure was built on the
original 1931 gilded frame, and has a sensor that continually
monitors temperature and humidity to perfectly preserve the
work.
The show is accompanied by a video telling the story of the
painting and its history.
After Rome, the priceless masterpiece will travel across the
Atlantic to New York, where in July it will feature in a show at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Then, prior to returning to Rome, it will travel to the
Louvre in Paris for the city's grand tribute to Leonardo.
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