Originally published at: Unfinished master paintings | Boing Boing
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And then some portraites would have been better for never having started.
The Pliny quote really reveals how fundamentally unchanged art appreciation appears to be.
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We just got a book of Renaissance artists for my 6yo budding artist. Leonoardo Da Vinci’s timeline is littered with unfinished works, and honestly even the Last Supper looks like a 2nd draft. The constant inventing and sketching makes it feel like “Undiagnosed ADD” had more to do with it than anything more dramatic…
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I’ve always liked this portrait of FDR and never knew that it was unfinished - or why.
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Bob Belcher, plus Beard, in Brass?
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It is, apparently, supposed to resemble the infamous racist, Nathan Bedford Forrest. The “artist”, infamous racist, Jack Kershaw, has been quoted as saying, “Somebody needs to say a good word for slavery.” 
I dunno; I think I’m getting a sort of racist vibe from the piece.
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The more famous Leonardo became the more in demand he became, when a powerful patron demanded his services, the junior patron would be forced to release him, which left behind him a string of incomplete projects. Some projects, like equestrian sculptures, were beyond his technical abilities (or too expensive). He was also forced to move by the wars fought throughout his lifetime.
And he also moved to court patrons with larger budgets for projects which excited him.
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I like a lot of the unfinished ones, the FDR in particular. It makes some of them a lot more like modern art.
There is a photo of Matisse working on one of his sculptures called The Serf, and in the early version it has arms, for the finished version he chopped off the arms, and it works as well if not better.
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That makes sense, considering how many commissioned works were on walls.
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It is easy to overlook that the Italian Renaissance ran concurrently with a series of bloody wars.
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Okay, what is this Air.tv thing? This is the first I’ve ever heard of it.
A lot of unfinished art really an attempt to
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Im all in favor of all works by Jeff Koons remaining unfinished and never having started.
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One short video I watched said that it was actually a style of his time to leave works incomplete. He wasn’t alone in this choice. I don’t have a clue how to research such an idea. According to another biopic I watched he did have a lot of problems with fickle patrons impatient with his perfectionism and competitive backstabbing from his contemporaries such as Michelangelo who, apparently, considered him a doddering old fool. (or maybe that was all invented for the movie?)
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Good grief, who is that?! 
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I was fascinated by the tales of how, during the siege of Florence in 1530, the church of San Miniato al Monte was used as an artillery post by the defenders and Michelangelo had it wrapped in mattresses to protect it from enemy fire.
Also, that the statue of David had to, likewise, be padded, to protect it on its journey from the studio where it was finished, to the plaza outside the town hall where it was to be displayed. This was to protect the statue from missiles, including roof tiles, being hurled at it by townsfolk antagonistic to the city’s rulers.
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Ronaldo, if you could believe that
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I often hear, “Art is never finished, only taken away.” (the only source I can find is George Lucas saying, “I like to say films are never finished, they’re only abandoned.” That’s bound to start some fights). I think it takes discipline or some external pressures, like deadlines or running out of money, to finish a lot of art. Undiagnosed ADD seems like it only works if you already have an audience for your work.
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