Leonardo da Vinci's only known signature will undergo digital restoration

Theonly known signature of Leonardo da Vinci (Vinci, 1452 - Amboise, 1519) is the one placed at the bottom of the contract for the execution of the Virgin of the Rocks, now in the Louvre: the precious document is kept in theState Archives in Milan, but in these days it has left its premises in the direction of Florence, where, in the premises of theOpificio delle Pietre Dure, it will undergo some investigations aimed at achieving a “digital restoration” of the act. The idea is to make the contract fully available for consultation electronically, with high quality images.

“We already miss it,” sighs the director of the State Archives of Milan, Benedetto Luigi Compagnoni, “but the purpose is noble: to subject the contract to diagnostic investigations on its state of health, to then proceed to a digital restoration of the document, which will make readable with the naked eye even the part currently interpretable only with the help of Wood’s lamp.” The director of the Opificio, Marco Ciatti, says he is “pleased to put all the skills and technologies of my institute at the disposal of this interesting project, in the year dedicated to Leonardo.”

Wood’s lamp is a device that emits electromagnetic radiation in the ultraviolet range and is used to read parts of the document that would otherwise be impossible to encode with the naked eye (some parts, due to damage caused by moisture, have in fact seen the ink fade). The digital restoration (which follows the “physical” one that took place in 2010) will serve precisely to avoid the use of the tool.

The document is a notarial deed signed on April 25, 1483 between the Scuola della Concezione of Milan and the great Florentine artist (along with two of his collaborators, brothers Giovanni Ambrogio and Evangelista De Predis), in the presence of notary Antonio De Capitani: the contract set the date by which Leonardo (identified as “magister Leonardus de Vintiis Florentinus”) undertook to deliver the work (on December 8, 1484), the fee (800 lire) and all the technical details. Leonardo signed the contract, writing “Io Lionardo da Vinci in testimonio ut supra subscripsi,” from left to right. The signature appears along with those of the other signers of the contract.

Pictured is the contract for the Virgin of the Rocks. Leonardo da Vinci’s signature appears at the bottom of the sheet.

Leonardo da Vinci's only known signature will undergo digital restoration

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