Gian Giacomo Caprotti, known as Salaì, sold four paintings to the king of France in 1518; among these was a Leda with the Swan, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci or considered a perfect forgery created by Salaì himself. In Salaì’s will, written in 1525, a Leda with the Swan appears again: was it perhaps a gift from Leonardo or a work performed by his favorite pupil? Silvano Vinceti, historian and expert on Leonardo, declares to Adnkronos: “On the basis of the historical documentation concerning the complex relationship between Leonardo and Salaì, whom the master describes as a ‘thief, liar, obstinate and greedy’, it is quite difficult to prove that the Leda with the Swan sold to the king of France in 1518 is an authentic work by Leonardo. Just as it is difficult to establish whether the one documented in Salaì’s will, then sold a few years later, is a work created by his pupil or a legacy from Leonardo himself. Perhaps there are two Ledes with the Swan attributable to Leonardo: the first, entirely created by the master and exhibited in Fontainebleau; the second, perhaps identifiable with the one now preserved in the Borghese Gallery in Rome, created jointly by Leonardo and Salaì”.
Throughout the history of art we have witnessed, and continue to witness, a veritable war of attributions, often divergent and conflicting. In the case of great artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, this subjective exercise has reached one of its most extreme levels. An emblematic case is precisely that of the enigmatic painting of Leda with the Swan, initially attributed to the pupil Cesare da Sesto and subsequently reconsidered on the basis of historical-documentary research conducted by Annalisa Di Maria and other scholars, who proposed that a painting preserved in Wilton House is in reality Leonardo’s lost Leda. This hypothesis is based on the analysis of pictorial laws and stylistic details attributable to the master, but is not shared by many Leonardo art historians.
Today we have numerous copies or versions of Leonardo’s work, created by students such as Francesco Melzi, Cesare da Sesto and others, as well as a drawing attributed to Raphael. “What can be stated with certainty is the existence of a thick fog of attribution that envelops two Ledes with the Swan, in which, in different ways, Gian Giacomo Caprotti, known as Salaì, is the protagonist”, comments Vinceti.
From a historical-chronological point of view, an important documentary discovery made in 1999 by the Leonardesque scholar Bertrand Jestaz certifies that Salaì sold a Leda with the Swan to the King of France Francis I, together with a Saint Anne, the Mona Lisa and Saint John the Baptist, now preserved in the Louvre. The validity of this document was confirmed by the Louvre itself, which considers these works to be paintings by Leonardo da Vinci.
The complex relationship between Leonardo and Salaì can constitute the background for formulating an alternative hypothesis on the authenticity – or the nature of a perfect forgery – of the Leda with the Swan sold by Salaì to the King of France in 1518, then exhibited in Fontainebleau and seen in 1625 by Cassiano dal Pozzo. Leonardo wrote of Salaì calling him “thief, liar, obstinate and greedy”. In 1518 Salaì had not followed Leonardo to France: he was in Milan, in need of money to build a house-atelier on a vineyard given to him by the master. He urgently needed funds also to support an expensive lifestyle, beyond his means. After about twenty-five years spent alongside Leonardo, he was now able to faithfully reproduce his works. What better opportunity, therefore, to sell four paintings presented as works by Leonardo da Vinci for very high prices? Originals or fakes? It is not possible to provide certain answers to this question, but only fragile conjectures, observes Vinceti. The same aura of mystery surrounds the other Leda with the Swan bequeathed by Salaì to the two sisters after his violent death, which occurred between 1523 and 1524. The painting, mentioned in the will transcribed by a Milanese notary and valued at a high figure, disappeared a few years later from the list of inherited works, presumably sold.
As regards the events of Leda with the Swan now preserved in the Borghese Gallery, on which dozens of scholars with different attributions have discussed, it is necessary to stick to objective data rather than subjective readings. There are two main facts to consider, explains Vinceti. The first is the strong resemblance to the drawing of Leda with the Swan made by Raphael after meeting Leonardo in his Florentine studio between 1504 and 1505. Just as Raphael saw a study of the Mona Lisa and faithfully reproduced its drawing and pictorial structure, he did the same with Leda with the Swan (see the attached photo), showing impressive analogies with the Villa Borghese work and clearly referring to the model Leonardo da Vinci in progress.
The second fact emerges from the radiographic investigations conducted on the work in the Borghese Gallery. The painting today features only two cherubs and a fleeting and sharp face, typical of Salaì’s style; if compared with the Saint John the Baptist in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, it shows notable affinities. However, the x-rays reveal surprising elements: there were originally four putti, as in Leonardo’s version, and in reality as many as six can be identified, two of which can be traced back to compositional tests which were subsequently covered.
These objective data can form the basis for a series of hypotheses: the work could have been created by Salaì, or executed by four hands with the direct intervention of Leonardo, as also happened for the painting known as Monna Vanna or Monna Nuda. Furthermore, we should not forget what Giorgio Vasari reported in the Life of Leonardo in his Lives of the most excellent painters, sculptors and architects, where he recalls how Leonardo often intervened on the works of his students.
Once again, Silvano Vinceti states: “On the basis of the historical documentation concerning the complex relationship between Leonardo and Salaì, it is quite difficult to prove that the Leda with the Swan sold to the king of France in 1518 is an authentic work by Leonardo. Just as it is difficult to establish whether the one documented in Salaì’s will, then sold a few years later, is a work created by his pupil or a bequest from Leonardo himself. Perhaps there are two Lede with the Swan attributable to Leonardo: the the first, entirely created by the master and exhibited in Fontainebleau; the second, perhaps identifiable with the one now preserved in the Galleria Borghese in Rome, created jointly by Leonardo and Salaì”.