LEONARDO'S LOST PRINCESS

In 1998, when art collector Peter Silverman first laid eyes on the portrait of a young woman in a Christie's catalog, he felt a deep twinge of love and longing. Listed as "German, early 19th Century," the 9-by-13 inch drawing in chalk, pen and ink on vellum, mounted on an oak board, was undeniably lovely. But Silverman was also fairly certain it was not nineteenth century at all, but rather fifteenth century. Beyond that he was afraid to contemplate and didn't dare tell anyone his suspicions that it might be a da Vinci. It didn't matter in any case, because this one got away. Silverman was the under bidder. Nine years later he was browsing in the art gallery owned by Kate Ganz, the woman who had won that auction, and there it was the drawing which would later be titled La Bella Principessa on sale with a price tag very close to the original 1998 auction price. LEONARDO'S LOST PRINCESS, written with Catherine Whitney, is the story of how Peter Silverman acquired his princess and then went on to prove without a shadow of a doubt through forensic technology that it was a lost drawing by Leonardo da Vinci. La Bella Principessa is one of only six portraits by da Vinci (whose legacy is far greater than one might guess from the number of his paintings currently known: 15) and the only one not housed in a museum, so it's of tremendous interest throughout the world. Peter Silverman's book is a firsthand account of the most important art-historical discovery in generations. La Bella Principessa is currently on show in Gothenburg, Sweden, in an expo called "And There Was Light" through August 2010 which is expected to attract over 250,000 visitors. The piece will likely be shown in Shanghai and at least one other Chinese city in late 2010 or early 2011 and will be touring 3 venues in Japan in the fall of 2011 for a total of six months (expected to attract over 500 thousand viewers). Negotiations for shows in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Poland are currently ongoing. Peter Silverman lives in Paris and has previously lived and worked in Italy, Austria, and Germany (and speaks the languages), so he would be available for promotion and media in person within Europe. He has media connections in the UK at the Times; Scandinavia (including having made an appearance on the second most popular talk show in Europe which has more than four million viewers); French magazine Paris Match and French newspaper Liberation; German newspaper Der Spiegel; and many others. Among his significant discoveries are three miscataloged works by Van Dyck and a wooden cross attributed to Michelangelo.