Focus on Portrait of a Musician and explore the Critical opinion.
The critical opinion of the Portrait of a Musician has historically been mixed, and negative reactions have given some scholars reluctance to grant it a full attribution to Leonardo. The 19th-century art historian Eugène Müntz complemented its "vigor of modeling worthy of Rembrandt", but criticized the work for a sullen expression, poor coloring and incompleteness. According to Marani, these comments can largely be explained by Müntz's use of a very poor reproduction for analysis. Like Müntz, Zöllner found fault with the work's incompleteness and expression; he also considered its pose inferior to that of Ginevra de' Benci. The art historian Jack Wasserman has stated that the portrait lacks the typical facial intensity of Leonardo's other works; however, Syson and Kemp have praised the sitter's intense stare, and the art historian Alessandro Vezzosi stated that in this work "Leonardo attains an unprecedented level of psychological intensity, which reaches the sublime in Lady with an Ermine". The chiaroscuro has been a point of contention: Zöllner and other scholars have criticized it as "over-emphatic"; Syson considered it dramatic and compelling; whereas Isaacson has criticized the shadowing but praised the lighting of the eyes. Syson has suggested that the work's unfinished state largely accounts for these negative reactions.
Lady with an Ermine Ginevra de' Benci Rembrandt chiaroscuro Alessandro Vezzosi Portrait of a Musician Eugène Müntz