Leo Stevenson

Artist & Broadcaster

WARNING: The copyright on all the work shown on this website is owned by Leo Stevenson. It must not be reproduced by any means without permission

Painter, Art Historian, Broadcaster

Current and recent work

• I’ve been in various locations in Italy filming a programme on Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa painting in the National Geographic series ‘Ancient X-Files’. In this programme I'll be revealing various interesting recent discoveries about the painting, and the extraordinary conclusions that some historians have drawn from these discoveries. I'll also be seen demonstrating how Leonardo used his famous ‘sfumato’ technique to paint the Mona Lisa. Here are a few photos of this shoot, including me signing autographs in Rome; I mustn’t let this go to my head!
  Please don’t ask me when or where this programme (or any other I'm) in will be broadcast; I very rarely know much in advance, it’s in the hands of the TV schedulers.
• NEW! You are now able to buy prints - Click here
• NEW! ‘Aviation Art’ page

• The premiere of the ‘NOVA’ documentary called ‘Mystery of a Masterpiece’ will be broadcast on the Public Broadcasting service in the USA on Wednesday the 25th of January 2012. In this programme I create a fake work of art – a ‘Monet’, and discuss the ethics and philosophy of art forgery as well as show how it’s done, but the main part of the programme concentrates on the controversial discovery of a work by ‘Leonardo’ and whether this is a newly discovered masterpiece or a fake. After the broadcast it will stream online for free on the NOVA website (but this may just be within the USA). Outside of the USA the latest information I have is that it will be that it will be shown on ARTE in the spring, perhaps May. Link
  STOP PRESS – I’ve just been told that National Geographic Magazine will be running an article on the story covered in this programme, and I think it’s on newsstands now – or will be shortly.
  
  

• I am currently working on a re-creation of a lost ancient Roman painting for a BBC series that will probably be called ‘Treasures of Rome’ that will be presented by Alastair Sooke. This will be a stunning series that will, for the first time on UK TV, examine the extraordinary contribution that the Romans made to art. In this series ground-breaking demonstrations of the techniques used to make Roman art will include the making of bronze and marble sculptures, jewellery and silver smithing, and fresco, encaustic and tempera painting techniques; I am doing the latter. Having spent a short time in Pompeii and Naples recently for this programme I am now painting a panel painting showing a lavish Roman villa based on a shadowy and much-damaged image seen as a part of a fresco painting on a wall in Pompeii. My painting is being done using egg-tempera technique with authentic pigments. The historical sources say that such panel paintings were much prized and valued back then, but only one original tempera panel painting survives to this day, and that’s a bad one! My painting will therefore be a tantalising and hopefully very informative glimpse into the past.

• In contrast to my highly detailed show-piece paintings like ‘Blickling Hall’ and ‘Canary Wharf seen from Hilly Fields, Brockley’ (and ‘Jubilee’ mentioned above), I have started work on some far simpler reflective paintings like my ‘The Other Side’ series, many of which have been inspired by the music of Brian Eno. I paint these in between other work including long and intensive sessions of work on ‘Jubilee’ as a kind of relief from the technical tensions that those highly detailed paintings commit me to. These quieter paintings will feature in the next Open Studio day in Brockley.

• Discussions have started with a major independent television production company about a TV series of my own about art – but with a special twist, though I can’t describe what it’s about for obvious reasons. So far a ‘taster tape’ of me presenting the proposed programme has been made and the reaction has been very good. A major UK broadcaster has been very enthusiastic about the idea - and me, however, I’ve been down this road many times before, and because it is so very hard to get anything past all the final hurdles in the world of television I’m not ‘counting any chickens’ yet.

• Work continues towards producing paintings for another formal exhibition (the date and venue for which still have to be fixed). The likely title and theme for the exhibition will be ‘Full Circle’ a semi-autobiographical display of paintings of various stone circles around the British Isles.