Martin Kemp (art historian)

Martin Kemp
Kemp in 2011 at Oxford University
Born	(1942-03-05) 5 March 1942 (age 79)
Known for	Leonardo da Vinci scholarship; Attribution of Salvator Mundi and La Bella Principessa to Leonardo
Academic background
Alma mater	Downing College Courtauld Institute of Art
Academic work
Discipline	Art history
Institutions	Department of History of Art, University of Oxford
Website	www.martinjkemp.com

Martin John Kemp FBA (born 5 March 1942) is a British art historian and exhibition curator who is one of the world's leading authorities on the life and works of Leonardo da Vinci.^[1][2] The author of many books on Leonardo, Kemp has also written about visualisation in art and science, particularly anatomy, natural sciences and optics. Instrumental in the controversial authentication of Salvator Mundi to Leonardo, Kemp has been vocal on attributions to Leonardo, including support of La Bella Principessa and opposition of the Isleworth Mona Lisa.

Since 2008, he has been emeritus professor of art history at the University of Oxford, prior to which he was a professor of Art History there (1995–2008) and held posts at University of St Andrews (1981–1995) and University of Glasgow (1966–1981). He is a fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, an honorary Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge and a fellow of the British Academy.

Early life[]

In his youth, Kemp attended Windsor Grammar School.^[3][a] From 1960 to 1963, Kemp studied natural sciences and art history at Downing College, Cambridge^[b] and the history of Western Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London from 1963 to 1965.^[4][5][6]

Career[]

For more than 25 years he was based in Scotland where from 1966 to 1981 he was a lecturer at University of Glasgow and Professor of Fine Arts from 1981 to 1990 and Professor of the History and Theory of Art from 1990 to 1995 at University of St Andrews.^[7][8] Kemp was Professor of Art History at the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008, during which he helped create the Centre for Visual Studies, which opened in 1999.^[9] Notably, Edgar Wind had held this post from 1955 to 1967 and subsequently Francis Haskell from 1967 to 1995.^[5] Since 2008 he has been emeritus professor of the art history there.^[7] He has held various visiting professorship posts at institutions such as Princeton University, University of Cambridge, University of Chicago and Harvard University.^[7][5] Kemp received the prestigious British Academy Wolfson Research Professorship—An award offered by the Wolfson Foundation.^[10]—and from 1993 to 1998 and was elected a fellow of the British Academy in 1991.^[8] With art historian Marina Wallace, Kemp launched the "Universal Leonardo" website.^[5]

Books[]

Kemp has written many books about Leonardo da Vinci, his first of which, Leonardo da Vinci. The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man in 1981, won the Mitchell Prize in art history for best first book.^[11] He has published on imagery in the sciences of anatomy, natural history and optics, including The Science of Art: Optical Themes in Western Art from Brunelleschi to Seurat (Yale University Press). He has written a regular column called Science in Culture in Nature (an early selection published as Visualisations, OUP, 2000). The Nature essays are developed in Seen and Unseen (OUP, 2006), in which his concept of "structural intuitions" is explored. In 2011 he published his book Christ to Coke: How Image becomes Icon (OUP, 2011).^[12][13]

Salvator Mundi[]

Kemp was a leading authority in authenticating Salvator Mundi to Leonardo da Vinci.^[14]

La Bella Principessa[]

La Bella Principessa

In 2010 he published a monograph together with French engineer Pascal Cotte, recounting the story of how a team of experts – under his guidance – pieced together the evidence for the extraordinary discovery of a major artwork by Leonardo, now named La Bella Principessa. The book, entitled La Bella Principessa (2010), narrates the steps Kemp and Cotte took in authenticating the painting, including the use of forensic methods usually reserved for criminal investigation, matching a fingerprint found on La Bella Principessa to the Renaissance master. The 2012 Italian edition, La bella principessa di Leonardo da Vinci^[15] produces evidence about its origins.^[6]

Exhibitions[]

• Guest curator for Circa 1492 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington in 1992.^{[citation needed]}
• Spectacular Bodies at the Hayward Gallery, London (2001)^[16]
• Leonardo da Vinci: Experience, Experiment, Design at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2006)^[17][18]
• Seduced: Sex and Art from Antiquity to Now at the Barbican Art Gallery, London (2007)^[19]

Selected bibliography[]

• Leonardo. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. 2004. ISBN 9780192805461. OCLC 55682608.

• Leonardo (Revised ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. 2011 [2004]. ISBN 978-0199583355. OCLC 0199583358.

• Leonardo Da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. 2006. ISBN 978-0-19-920778-7.
• Leonardo da Vinci: The 100 Milestones. New York City, New York: Sterling. 2019. ISBN 978-1-4549-304-26. OCLC 1099590992.^[20]
• Leonardo by Leonardo. New York City, New York: Callaway Arts & Entertainment. 2019. ISBN 9780935112825. OCLC 1083154267.^[20]

Notes[]

References[]

Further reading[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Martin Kemp at IMDb
• Martin Kemp's articles on The Guardian
• Mona Lisa and the Body of the Earth: A Lecture by Martin Kemp at The Laguna Art Museum (11.15.16) – Vimeo