LEONARDO’S GEOLOGY: A KEY TO IDENTIFYING THE WORKS OF BOLTRAFFIO, D’OGGIONO AND OTHER ARTISTS

One of the most critical problems for art historians is identifying the hand of painters who generated works from Leonardo da Vinci’s studio. A diagnostic tool which could separate the works of Leonardo from his students and other artists would therefore, be valuable. I argue that one such diagnostic tool is the analysis of geological features in the paintings. In a previous work, I discussed the fact that in his paintings and drawings, Leonardo portrayed geological features so precisely, that geological accuracy could be used as a method of determining authenticity. I here apply this tool to the works of Leonardo’s students, Boltraffio and d’Oggiono.