Susan Dorothea White Bibliography

(Referencing S.D. White, Surgery Reattaching Ginevra de 'Benci's Arms and Hands, 2005, graphite underdrawing, coloured pencil and conté with giclee, 29 x 21 cm, Published in Draw Like Da Vinci, 2006.)

Extract: In the catalogue of essays written for the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC) exhibition Virtue and Beauty, (2001 p. 145), David Alan Brown in his chapter showed a computer-reconstructed-figure made by the department of imaging and visual services of the Ginevra de Benci painting with her arms and hands digitally restored. The reconstruction used the hands drawn by Leonardo that is now part of the Windsor collection. This beautiful drawing of a woman’s arms and hands was executed in metalpoint over charcoal with white highlights on buff paper (Fig. 21.3). It shows the hands in two positions: one with the hands in repose on one another, anticipating the composition of the Mona Lisa; and the other with the right hand high above the left, holding a flower. The digital restoration chose the former pose, similar to what Susan Dorothea White used in her painting of arms and hands reattached to the Ginevra de Benci portrait. The addition of the hands has an astonishing effect; the rather dour portrait suddenly comes alive (p. 419).