Works by Artists of the School of Leonardo da Vinci
December 22, 1998 - March 14, 1999

This exhibition is the first to bring together a large group of works by artists of the school of Leonardo da Vinci. All 27 paintings come from the Hermitage collection, and several have never previously been exhibited. The majority of the works were acquired by the Museum as originals by Leonardo himself, but over the years have been reattributed, thanks to the efforts of leading scholars. Today, works by painters of the school of Leonardo, often described as the "leonardeschi," are popular with people around the world, not only for their artistic merits, but also for their ability to recreate a picture of this unique and separate trend in Renaissance painting.

Leonardo's paintings have enjoyed great popularity and been repeatedly copied for many centuries. Nude Gioconda is a variant of the famous portrait in the Louvre Museum, Paris. The Hermitage's Nude Gioconda presents the very individual manner of an unknown artist, who was possibly of Netherlandish origin.

The Repentant Mary Magdalene was the work of the enigmatic Giampetrino (first half of the 16th century), one of Leonardo's followers.

Francesco Melzi (1493-1570) was Leonardo's favourite pupil. His Flora is very close in spirit to the work his master.

In the 19th century, The Holy Family with St. Catherine was regarded as one Leonardo's best works. Although the painting was later rightly reattributed to Cesare da Sesto (1477-1523), it is nonetheless a masterpiece of Italian painting.

This exhibition, presenting the viewer with a wide variety of subjects and providing an understanding of the world of Leonardo da Vinci, will be of interest to numerous art lovers