Art is the most sophisticated form of portraying a character, telling a story or making anything worth remembering. We have seen many scandals and intrigue connected to it and here we will discuss some unsolved mysteries of the art world.
Unsolved Mysteries of the Art World
Did Leonardo da Vinci paint Salvator Mundi?
The painting of Salvator Mundi sold for a mouthwatering $450 million at Christie’s in 2017. This is because it was associated with Leonardo Da Vinci but, did he really paint it? Some experts including Oxford art historian Matthew Landrus, think that only 20 percent of the painting was made by Leonardo himself. Calling artistic features and art techniques obvious in the brushwork, Landrus assumes the rest of the painting was done by Leonardo’s assistant, Bernardino Luini. Bernardino’s craft has never got more than $654,545. Adding fuel to the fire, it’s considered the da Vinci made a mere 15 paintings in his lifetime.
Watercolors by Adolf Hitler
Even though Adolph Hitler was rejected from art school, he made quite a bit of painting in his youth. And some art junkies in the world who’d pay good money to get the artistic works of der Führer, art being fanciful after all. But last month, German prosecutor confiscated 63 paintings signed “A. Hitler” on doubt of fraud. The panel is out on their authenticity, and attestation is apparently very challenging.
The death of Joseph Boehm
Sir Joseph Boehm was a rich Victorian-age sculptor attributed with, among other things, creating the British Victoria-head coin. At the age of 56 in 1890, Boehm died suddenly of a stroke in his studio, but he wasn’t alone in the studio when he died. He was with Queen Victoria’s sixth daughter, Princess Louise, a sculptor herself. Many believe his death happened while a sexual assault with Louise. Historians, including Lucinda Hawksley, author of Queen Victoria’s Mysterious Daughter: A Biography of Princess Louise, think Louise and Joseph had been engaged in a longtime relationship.
Why did Caravaggio kill?
The painter, Caravaggio, was known as a rowdy. For beginners, in 1596, he murdered another man during a brawl in Rome. No one knows what led to the brawl, although chances include money, sports, and romantic envy, what’s even more strange is whether Caravaggio lived the rest of his life showing his offense through his paintings, some of which art historians think include slightly veiled confessions. These include his painting of the murder of St. John the Baptist and his portrait of a depressed Goliath as Caravaggio himself.
Did Rembrandt reveal a murder plot in one of his paintings?
Rembrandt’s art, The Night Watch, portrays a civilian militia rousing to action at midnight. But some, including the director and artist, Peter Greenaway, believe the painting is “really an exposé of murder – of one officer by another.” It’s a philosophy he supports with 20 points – all visual and based on the painting in his films, Night Watching and Rembrandt J’ Accuse.
Is there another woman hidden beneath the Mona Lisa?
In 2017, French scientist Pascal Cotte announced he’d found the hidden picture of a woman beneath the surface of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. It had taken him more than a decade of observation and analysis and has led to thought about who the woman might be. Cotte has said it’s another woman from Florence, Pacifica Brandano. But not only is the panel out on that, not all specialists even admitting there’s actually a different woman portrayed. Some think what Cotte found is nothing more than a painter’s “first draft” of the finished product.
Who’s the man hidden under Picasso’s The Blue Room?
In 2014, scientists proclaimed they discovered, hidden beneath the surface of Pablo Picasso’s The Blue Room, a portrait of a man wearing a bow tie, his chin resting on his hand. It’s not all that surprising for an artist to reuse a canvas, but what’s hidden is the identity of the man. Some think he might be the art dealer who hosted Picasso’s first show in 1901 (Ambroise Vollard). What’s known for sure is that it is not a self-portrait.
Who stole from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist?
In 1990, 13 artworks worth almost $500 million were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in a theft committed by two men pretending as law enforcement officers. “Despite some encouraging traces in the past, the theft remains unsolved,” the Museum declares on its website. In fact, the Museum has announced a $10 million reward for information leading straight to the recovery of the art, also another reward of $100,000 for the return of one particular piece.
Who is Banksy?
The artist, Banksy, has been active since the early 1990s, producing stunning and extremely recognizable street art in public places. Yet their identity remains a secret. Who is Banksy? “Over the years several different people have attempted to ‘unmask’ Banksy,” states Artnet, in its 2016 analysis of ten popular theories, to which street artist Carlo McCormick, gave his own views (could he be Banksy?). It is still one of the unsolved mysteries of art world.
