So whatever happened to that new Da Vinci painting that sold for a billion dollars? Well, not a whole lot...I mean, someone owns it now, but some photos of it pre-restoration surfaced and changes everyone’s opinion of it, especially mine.

If you read my article about it here, you know I really liked the mystery of this that is typical of Leonardo’s work. Now, looking at the pre-restoration photos, it shows how respect for an artist can skew your perspective of a painting.

I was under the impression the glass orb was painted poorly on purpose. I knew Leonardo understood lenses. But apparently it was just poorly painted by the heavy handed restorer who thought he was doing the world a favor by acting as Leonardo and “finishing” this painting and adding value to it. The orb wasn’t even in the Da Vinci painting. Was it unfinished and supposed to be there, or was it intentionally just a hand gesture? We don’t even get the option of questioning it now.

Not only that, but the akwardness in the scale of the face and hair that I was willing to overlook was a creation of this restorer. It honestly reminds me of the botched fresco of Christ in that Spanish tower...

I rescind basically everything good I said about this painting. I honestly feel bad for the person that bought this. I hope to god they knew about the restoration beforehand and agreed to purchase it still and he wasn’t blindsided like I was. Are we that shallow as a society that we can’t accept a painting with some damage, even if it was painted by one of the best in history? Do we honestly think doing a bad painting over a damaged exceptional painting is doing it a service?

What a joke...