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San Marino, Italy - A recent conference at the University of San Marino shed new light on the profound influence of the Gospels on Leonardo da Vinci's early works. The event, which focused on the facsimile reproduction of Leonardo Da Vinci's earliest known work, the terracotta bas-relief of the Archangel Gabriel, brought together scholars and art enthusiasts from around the world.
Through an extensive three-year analysis and the use of sophisticated scientific techniques, such as thermoluminescence and stratigraphic analysis, experts deciphered a hidden rebus in the work "The Archangel Gabriel," attributing it to a very young Leonardo da Vinci. The signature, date of birth and other encrypted details within the painting offer irrefutable evidence of the work's authenticity. Leonardo's 1471 self-portrait as the Archangel Gabriel, verified by graphologist Ivana Rosa Bonfantino, has long been an object of fascination. The discovery of the Artist's signature hidden within the work, along with a detailed analysis of its handwriting, provided irrefutable evidence of its authenticity. Bonfantin claims that, concealed within the jawbone and written from left to right, one can distinctly read the signature "da Vinci lionardo". The analysis also revealed an intricate numerical puzzle: the numbers 52 and 72, superimposed on the signature, would refer to Leonardo's date of birth and the biblical character of Gabriel, respectively. The initials "Ldv", present on the lower edge, completes the circumstantial picture, corroborated by scientific analysis such as thermoluminescence and stratigraphic analysis.
This lecture allowed us to explore the relationship between faith and art, with a focus on Leonardo Da Vinci. Through a careful study of Leonardo's works, and in particular the Archangel Gabriel, we can see how deep his religious beliefs were.
stated Antonio Ferraro, founder of StuporArt
The talk by Prof. Francis Rizzo focused on theMiniature Gospel Book published by Stuporart, and on the artistic question at the head of the science of medieval miniature, "allumare," so dear to Dante in the 11th canto of Purgatory. On Leonardo he proposed a more anthropological reading of his artistic endeavor, tracing a "dantesque perspicacity" "anti-superbia" congenital and constant in the life of genius.
Listening I bowed my face down;
And one of them, not these who spoke,
Twisted himself under the weight that 'mpaccia them, 75
And saw me and knew me and called,
Holding them eyes with fatigue physi
To me that all chin with them went. 78
"Oh!" he said, "aren't you. Oderisi,
the honor of Agobbio and the honor of that art
Who aluminar call Is it in Parisi?" 81
"Friar," he said, "the more they give back the cards.
Brushing Franco Bolognese;
The honor is all now his, and mine in part. 84
Well would I not have been so courteous
While that I lived, for the great desire
Of excellence where my heart intended. 87
Of such pride one pays the price here;
And I still wouldn't be here if it weren't
That, possessing sin, I turned to God. 90
Oh vain glory of the human posse!
Com'little green up the hard top,
If it has not come from l'etati grosse! 93
Credette Cimabue ne painting
keep the field, and now he has Giotto the cry,
So that the fame of him is dark: 96
So he took one away from the other Guido
The glory of the tongue; and perhaps he was born
Who the one and the other will kick out of the nest. 99
Is not the mundane roar but a breath
Of wind, which now cometh quinci and now cometh hence,
And it changes name because it changes side. 102
What voice will you have anymore, if old scindi
From you the flesh, that if you were dead
Rather that you left the 'pappo' and the 'dindi,' 105
Before the thousand years pass? who is shorter
Space to the eternal, that a movement of eyelashes
To the circle that later in heaven is twisted. 108
In fact, in Canto XI, as he listens to Omberto's words, Dante bends his face downward and another penitent bends under the weight of the boulder and looks at him, recognizing him and calling his name, barely keeping his gaze fixed on the poet. Dante recognizes him in turn and asks him if he is #Oderisi, the honor of Gubbio and the master of the art of the #miniature. The penitent replies that the codices illuminated by Franco Bolognese, with whom he must share the glory of that art, are more appreciated; he would not have been so ready to admit his inferiority while he was alive, given the great desire for fame that always animated him. He now serves the penalty for his #superbia and would not still be in purgatory if he had not repented while still far from death. Oderisi criticizes the ephemeral glory of men, which is destined to be short-lived if it is not followed by an age of decadence: he cites the example of Cimabue, surpassed in painting by Giotto, and of Guido Guinizelli, surpassed in poetry by Guido Cavalcanti, while perhaps the one who will win them both has already been born. Worldly fame is only a breath of wind, blowing now one way and now the other, always ready to change its name. If one dies as a child, he will have no wider fame than one who dies old, before a thousand years have passed: this time is very short compared to the #eternity, less than a blink of an eye compared to the movement of the Sky of Fixed Stars (360 centuries). The soul walking slowly before him is an example of this: he was once known throughout Tuscany, now his name is barely whispered in Siena, of which he was also lord at the time of the Battle of Montaperti, when the Florentine rage was destroyed. The fame of men is like the green color of grass, which comes and goes and is erased by the same #sun That made it rise out of the earth.
Rizzo through a reading of the Gospels and all currently available vincian codesi, highlighted how religious themes were deeply rooted in Leonardo's imagination, influencing not only his iconographic choices but also his conception of man and the world. The genius' profound belief that It is impossible for the hand to add anything to the thought. Indeed, art could not, according to Leonardo, like language in fact, create anything original and independently sensible without the help of the creator, God. Art, like language, does nothing more than translate icastically the splendor of nature and the superabundance of supersensible grace into inferior, and certainly not absolutely determinative, works. "Chronic unfinished business." more than an effect of his thinking is the very cause of his entire artistic-spiritual journey. In fact, in his view, a work cannot be concluded because on closer inspection it cannot be begun. We are all of us, including artists, continuers of eternal work. And certainly we are anything but eternal. How can one man's work be eternal? This dilemma tormented the mind of Vinci's genius. How can one in a limited time create something unlimited and out of time?
The lecture aroused great interest among the audience in attendance, composed of international scholars, institutions, art lovers and the merely curious. The rigorous yet passionate approach of our research allowed us to shed new light on a little-explored aspect of Leonardo's figure, revealing an artist deeply connected to the Christian tradition of his time. The discovery of Leonardo's first religious works, Leonardo's 1471 self-portrait as Archangel Gabriel reproduced by the company LiberArtis founded by Leonardo Pistillo, and the insights derived from this lecture offer a new perspective on one of history's greatest artists. It suggests that Leonardo's genius was not only the product of his extraordinary intelligence, but also the result of a deep spiritual quest.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- LUCA BELTRAMI, Leonardo da Vinci's "RIGHT HAND" and the gaps in the edition of the Codex Atlanticus, Editori Alfieri e Lacroix. Milan-Rome.
- GEROLAMO CALVI, I manoscritti di Leonardo da Vinci dal punto di vista cronologico storico e biografico, Zanichelli, Bologna 1925.
- GEROLAMO CALVI, AUGUSTO MARINONI, The manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci - From a chronological historical and biographical point of view, Bramante Editrice, Milan 1982. -
- FABIO FROSINI, CARLO VECCE, Leonardo da Vinci, in Enciclopedia Italiana di Lettere, Scienze ed Arti, Il Contributo italiano alla storia del Pensiero. Philosophy, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2012.
- PAOLO GALLUZZI, Leonardo's mind in the workshop of universal genius, Giunti, Florence 2006.
- PAOLO PAGLIUGHI, The Left-handed Writing of Leonardo da Vinci - Graphoanalytic Profile of Leonardo da Vinci's Personality by Evi Crotti, City of Milan, 1984. Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci and his circle. In the cabinet of drawings and prints of the Uffizi Gallery. Ordered and preserved by Carlo Pedretti, Catalogue by Gigetta Dalli Regoli, Giunti Barbera, Florence 1985. -
- IVANA R BONFANTINO, AUGUST STONE, Leonardo da Vinci, The Art of Signing, The Signatures of Genius, Giuseppe De Nicola Editore, Naples 2023.
