works . Historical oil painting portraits sit grandly alongside remarkable rare books and manuscripts .
At just 48 , he is probably the youngest collector of Judaica at this level in the world , and is passionately committed to drawing wider audiences into this fascinating and important historical genre of art .
Neumark ’ s long-term vision is to eventually open his own museum in Tel-Aviv , so that this important collection can be presented and experienced by much wider audiences .
His curiosity and keen eye recently saw him acquire another version of the Mona Lisa , arguably the most famous artwork in the world . He saw the painting was available via Christie ’ s Old Master in New York and was intrigued to know more about its provenance .
The received wisdom is that around five original versions of the Mona Lisa were painted by Leonardo Da Vinci and his students . Neumark was keen to investigate - could this be one of them ?
Christie ’ s credited the painting in its catalogue as by a ‘ Follower of Leonardo Da Vinci ’.
The painting owned by a private collector in Japan , where acquired by the next one circa 1990 , lacked any further information about its historical source , age , chain of ownership , restoration campaigns , etc .
Neumark sensed the work needed further scrutiny and decided to bid on it at the auction . Successfully acquiring the painting , now elegantly resides in his private residence in London .
Once acquiring the painting , Neumark embarked on a journey to establish whether this mysterious work could be a legitimate 16thcentury artwork by an immediate follower of the master himself . He employed a team of leading forensic scientists who painstakingly analysed the colour palette , pigment samples , layer structure , and ageing process to authenticate and date the composition used in the piece . After much examination , they confirmed the piece could plausibly have been painted in the 16th century .
Neumark then sought the advice and treatment of leading art conservationist and restorer Simon Gillespie and his team . Simon is known for his regular BBC appearances on programmes such as Britain ’ s Lost Masterpieces and Fake or Fortune , revealing hidden art history with his world-class restoration . Simon has treated artworks by Picasso , Banksy , Hockney , Brueghel , Lowry , Kaws and more . His restoration has led to the discovery of lost masterpieces by Titian , Rubens , Botticelli , and Rembrandt . Now it was time for Simon and his team to turn their hands to this mysterious Mona Lisa .
The conservation team discovered that the painting was made by copying the Leonardo ’ s original , or the Prado version , at an early stage when the original was not dirty and obscured as it is known and seen today . They examined the overall pattern of cracking across the whole paint surface , which was typical of the painting ’ s presumed age . Tests have also suggested that the colour palette of the Neumark Mona Lisa is comparable to the Prado version , executed by one of Leonardo ’ s close pupils .
After a very delicate campaign of surface treatment and cleaning , both Neumark and the Simon Gillespie team decided to avoid a full varnish removal , to keep the painting identical in its appearance to the one hanging in the Louvre .
Neumark comments , “ Ms . Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo , ‘ Mona Lisa ’, is an eternal and incomparable icon , and from now on , another Jewel in the Crown of The Neumark Family Collection .”
ISSUE 65 2024 THE ART OF LUXURY