Leonardo in Florence
Posted by Avital Pinnick on December 16, 2012
What a magnificent costume!
Valter Conti is a street busker who plays Leonardo da Vinci in Florence. (I only know this because I gave him a euro and he gave me his card. I once photographed a street performer in Tel Aviv, didn’t think to give her a few shekels, and she became one of my most popular early images. I’ve felt guilty ever since, so now I try to give something to street performers whom I photograph.)
I noticed that he seems to have modeled his costume after the Leonardo statue in Milan, not the one outside the Uffizi in Florence. Maybe he didn’t fancy the leg exposure….
Statue of Leonardo da Vinci outside the Uffizi:
Statue of Leonardo da Vinci, Piazza della Scala, Milan:
This and That 
pam said
You got me! First quick scan through on my reader and I was thinking – oh my goodness – the statue is the same everywhere!
How amazing is this? All I can think of is the hours it takes to prepare oneself to look like this in the first place! He looks so amazingly like a statue.
Of course on the other hand, the statues themselves are so amazingly lifelike – it is not really that much of a stretch I guess. Did he share any secrets – like what in the world he applied to look like he was made of plaster?
Thank you for sharing.
Avital Pinnick said
Hi, Pam, Sorry, I don’t know any more than you do! I didn’t get a chance to talk to him, just to get his card and a few photos. These “living statue” performers are, I hear, fairly common in Europe, so you could probably find out how they do the make-up. He does do an amazing job!