Siegfried Woldhek: The true face of Leonardo Da Vinci?

Translator: Mer Moreno Reviewer: Carmen Vega-Reina

Good morning.

Bon dia.

Let's look for a minute at the greatest icon of all, Leonardo da Vinci.

Mirem un moment la més gran icona de totes, Leonardo da Vinci.

We're all familiar with his fantastic work --

Tots estem familiaritzats amb la seva fantàstica obra...

his drawings, his paintings, his inventions, his writings.

els seus dibuixos, les seves pintures, les seves invencions, els seus escrits.

But we do not know his face.

Però no coneixem la seva cara.

Thousands of books have been written about him,

S'han escrit milers de llibres sobre ell.

but there's controversy, and it remains, about his looks.

però hi ha controvèrsia, i es manté, sobre la seva aparença.

Even this well-known portrait is not accepted by many art historians.

Inclús el seu famós retrat no és acceptat per molts historiadors de l'art.

So, what do you think?

Així, què en penseu?

Is this the face of Leonardo da Vinci or isn't it?

És aquesta la cara de Leonardo da Vinci o no?

Let's find out.

Esbrinem-ho.

Leonardo was a man that drew everything around him.

Leonardo va ser un home que dibuixava tot el que tenia al voltant.

He drew people, anatomy, plants, animals, landscapes, buildings, water, everything.

Va dibuixar persones, anatomia, plantes, animals, paisatges, edicifis, aigua, tot.

But no faces?

Però, cap cara?

I find that hard to believe.

Em sembla difícil de creure.

His contemporaries made faces, like the ones you see here --

Els seus contemporanis van fer cares, com les que veieu aquí.

en face or three-quarters.

De front o tres quarts.

So, surely a passionate drawer like Leonardo

Així que un dibuixant apassionat com Leonardo segurament

must have made self-portraits from time to time.

deu haver fet autoretrats de tant en tant.

So let's try to find them.

Així que mirem de trobar-los.

I think that if we were to scan all of his work

Crec que si escanegéssim tota la seva obra

and look for self-portraits, we would find his face looking at us.

i busquéssim autoretrats, trobaríem la seva cara mirant-nos.

So I looked at all of his drawings, more than 700,

Així que em vaig mirar tots els seus dibuixos, més de 700.

and looked for male portraits.

i vaig buscar retrats d'homes.

There are about 120, you see them here.

Hi ha uns 120, els veieu aquí.

Which ones of these could be self-portraits?

Quins d'aquests podrien ser autoretrats?

Well, for that they have to be done as we just saw, en face or three-quarters.

Bé, perquè haurien d'haver estat fets com hem vist, de front o tres quarts.

So we can eliminate all the profiles.

De manera que podem eliminar tots els perfils.

It also has to be sufficiently detailed.

També ha de ser suficientment detallat.

So we can also eliminate the ones that are very vague or very stylized.

Així que podem també eliminar els que són molt imprecissos o molt estilitzats.

And we know from his contemporaries

I sabem pels seus contemporanis

that Leonardo was a very handsome, even beautiful man.

que Leonardo era un home molt atractiu, inclús bonic.

So we can also eliminate the ugly ones or the caricatures.

De manera que també podem elimar els lletjos o les caricatures.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

And look what happens -- only three candidates remain that fit the bill.

I mireu què passa -- només quadren tres candidats.

And here they are.

I són aquests.

Yes, indeed, the old man is there,

Sí, efectivament, el vell és un d'ells,

as is this famous pen drawing of the Homo Vitruvianus.

com ho és el seu famós dibuix a tinta de l'home de Vitruvi.

And lastly, the only portrait of a male that Leonardo painted, "The Musician."

I finalment, l'únic retrat d'un home que Leonardo va pintar, "El músic".

Before we go into these faces,

Abans que entrem en aquestes cares,

I should explain why I have some right to talk about them.

hauria d'explicar perquè tinc dret a parlar sobre elles.

I've made more than 1,100 portraits myself

Jo mateix he fet més de 1.100 retrats

for newspapers, over the course of 300 -- 30 years, sorry, 30 years only.

per a diaris, al llarg de 300 -- perdó, 30 anys, només 30 anys.

(Laughter)

(Rialles)

But there are 1,100, and very few artists have drawn so many faces.

Però hi ha 1.100, i molt pocs artistes han dibuixat tantes cares.

So I know a little about drawing and analyzing faces.

Així que en sé una mica, de dibuixar i analitzar cares.

OK, now let's look at these three portraits.

D'acord, ara mirem aquests tres retrats.

And hold onto your seats, because if we zoom in on those faces,

I agafeu-vos a la cadira, perquè si fem zoom sobre aquestes cares,

remark how they have the same broad forehead, the horizontal eyebrows,

noteu com tenen el mateix front ample, les celles horitzontals,

the long nose, the curved lips and the small, well-developed chin.

el nas llarg, els llavis corbs, i la barbeta petita i ben desenvolupada.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw that.

No podia creure els meus ulls el primer cop que ho vaig veure.

There is no reason why these portraits should look alike.

No hi ha cap motiu pel qual aquests retrats s'haurien de semblar.

All we did was look for portraits that had the characteristics of a self-portrait,

Tot el que vam fer va ser buscar retrats que tinguessin les característiques d'un autoretrat.

and look, they are very similar.

i mireu, són molt semblants.

Now, are they made in the right order?

Ara bé, estan fets en l'ordre correcte?

The young man should be made first.

L'home jove hauria de fer-se primer.

And as you see here from the years that they were created,

I com veieu aquí pels anys en què van ser creats,

it is indeed the case.

n'és justament el cas.

They are made in the right order.

Estan fets en l'ordre correcte.

What was the age of Leonardo at the time? Does that fit?

Quina era l'edat de Leonardo en aquell moment? Concorda?

Yes, it does. He was 33, 38 and 63 when these were made.

Sí, concorda. Tenia 33, 38 i 63 anys quan es van fer.

So we have three pictures, potentially of the same person

Així que tenim tres pintures, potencialment de la mateixa persona

of the same age as Leonardo at the time.

de la mateixa edat que tenia Leonardo en aquell moment.

But how do we know it's him, and not someone else?

Però com sabem que és ell, i no algú altre?

Well, we need a reference.

Bé, ens cal una referència.

And here's the only picture of Leonardo that's widely accepted.

I aquí teniu l'únic retrat de Leonardo que és generalment acceptat.

It's a statue made by Verrocchio, of David,

És una estàtua feta per Verrocchio, de David,

for which Leonardo posed as a boy of 15.

per a la qual Leonardo va posar quan tenia 15 anys.

And if we now compare the face of the statue,

I si ara comparem la cara de l'estàtua,

with the face of the musician, you see the very same features again.

amb la cara del músic, veieu exactament els mateixos trets un altre cop.

The statue is the reference, and it connects the identity of Leonardo

L'estàtua és la referència, i connecta la identitat de Leonardo

to those three faces.

amb aquestes tres cares.

Ladies and gentlemen, this story has not yet been published.

Senyores i senyors, aquesta història encara no ha estat publicada.

It's only proper that you here at TED hear and see it first.

És simplement apropiat que ho escolteu i veien aquí a TED en primer lloc.

The icon of icons finally has a face.

L'icona d'icones finalment té una cara.

Here he is: Leonardo da Vinci.

Aquí la teniu -- Leonardo da Vinci.

(Applause)

(Aplaudiments)