French author and art historian
Vincent Delieuvin (born 1978) is a French author and art historian specializing in the work of Leonardo da Vinci, and in Italian paintings of the sixteenth century, generally. Since 2006, he has worked as a heritage curator at the Louvre museum.
Biography
Vincent Delieuvin is an art historian and chief curator of Italian painting of the sixteenth century paintings department of the Louvre since 2006.[1] He has written several books on Leonardo da Vinci.[2] He is a knight of Arts and Letters.[3] A graduate of the Institut national du patrimoine (Museums - State - Jacques Tati Promotion - 2003),[4] he has curated several exhibitions. He has been a member of the editorial board of the Revue de l'Art since 2015.[5]
Winner of the Carnot Foundation grant in 2004, he spent five months in Rome to study the artistic fortune of Federico Barocci.[6] A recipient of the Focillon grant in 2015, he spent several months in the United States thanks to Yale University for his project: "Original, copy, derivation. The work of Leonardo da Vinci through the covers of his followers. Study of Leonardo's works in public collections in the United States".[7]
Delieuvin has commented on the authenticity of one of the paintings under his supervision, the Mona Lisa. In 2005, a scholar at Heidelberg University discovered a marginal note in a 1477 printing of a volume by ancient Roman philosopher Cicero. The note was dated October 1503, and was written by Leonardo's contemporary Agostino Vespucci. This note likens Leonardo to renowned Greek painter Apelles, who is mentioned in the text, and states that Leonardo was at that time working on a painting of Lisa del Giocondo.[8] In response, Delieuvin stated "Leonardo da Vinci was painting, in 1503, the portrait of a Florentine lady by the name of Lisa del Giocondo. About this we are now certain. Unfortunately, we cannot be absolutely certain that this portrait of Lisa del Giocondo is the painting of the Louvre".[9] Circa 1505,[10] Raphael executed a pen-and-ink sketch of the Mona Lisa, with columns flanking the subject. It was thought that the Mona Lisa had been trimmed,[11][12][13][14] but by 1993, Frank Zöllner observed that the painting surface had never been trimmed,[15] which was confirmed through a series of tests in 2004.[16] In view of this, Delieuvin stated in 2017 that the sketch and other copies must have been inspired by another version.[17]
He wrote a book about the Salvator Mundi at the end of 2019 which was reportedly only distributed for 2 hours before being withdrawn from sale due to the exhibition context and political tension with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salmane, who is said to own it.
