The first etched self-portrait by Ottavio Leoni (Rome 1578-1630), without date (approximately 1621), based on the drawing held at the Marucelliana Library in Florence, was revisited by Anthonie van Dyck, who worked in Rome between 1622 and 1623, in the technically equivalent self-portrait (approximately 1630), then altered by Jacob Neffs for the cover of “Iconographia”. The conceptual genesis of this work has been coherently ascribed to the roman artist of Paduan origin. The originality of the vantage point, located behind the viewer, compared to the canonical frontal foreshortened position, mainly used by the roman artist, the head’s torsion emphasized by a further focus on the angle of the glance, are now better understood and analyzed, both in their geometric and historical meaning, thanks to the most updated technologies. A precise geometric and icno-orthographic individuation of the shadow areas and of the overlapping areas is made possible by modern rendering technologies (i.e. 2D computer graphics and 3D animation softwares). Similarly, the mathematic analysis of the source of light and the study of rays of light direction, reveals the stylistic difference, in the luministic composition, between Van Dyck’s and Leone’s self- portrait. This element has been crucial for the critical analysis, starting from Thomas (1916), who attributed the self-portrait to Van Dyck by comparing it to Ottavio Leoni’s, that, by looking at the Flemish painter, reached an important point in the history of European portraiture (see the portrait of Arenberg’s Duke at Holkam Hall by Van Dyck) and self-portraiture.
Geometry of the self-portrait. Proposing a New Interpretation of Van Dyck’s Painting in the Westminster Collection.
TORDELLA, Piera Giovanna
2013-01-01
Abstract
The first etched self-portrait by Ottavio Leoni (Rome 1578-1630), without date (approximately 1621), based on the drawing held at the Marucelliana Library in Florence, was revisited by Anthonie van Dyck, who worked in Rome between 1622 and 1623, in the technically equivalent self-portrait (approximately 1630), then altered by Jacob Neffs for the cover of “Iconographia”. The conceptual genesis of this work has been coherently ascribed to the roman artist of Paduan origin. The originality of the vantage point, located behind the viewer, compared to the canonical frontal foreshortened position, mainly used by the roman artist, the head’s torsion emphasized by a further focus on the angle of the glance, are now better understood and analyzed, both in their geometric and historical meaning, thanks to the most updated technologies. A precise geometric and icno-orthographic individuation of the shadow areas and of the overlapping areas is made possible by modern rendering technologies (i.e. 2D computer graphics and 3D animation softwares). Similarly, the mathematic analysis of the source of light and the study of rays of light direction, reveals the stylistic difference, in the luministic composition, between Van Dyck’s and Leone’s self- portrait. This element has been crucial for the critical analysis, starting from Thomas (1916), who attributed the self-portrait to Van Dyck by comparing it to Ottavio Leoni’s, that, by looking at the Flemish painter, reached an important point in the history of European portraiture (see the portrait of Arenberg’s Duke at Holkam Hall by Van Dyck) and self-portraiture.
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