Symbolism beyond Leonardo da Vinci's art

Symbolism Beyond Most Mysterious Artist of Italian Renaissance : Leonardo Exploration of Leonardo’s conveyed themes in his art, through the in-deep analysis of ‘The Lady with the Ermine’ and a brief stopover on the ‘Virgin of the Rocks’. ‘ A picture or representation of human figures, ought to be done in such a way as that the spectator may easily recognize, by means of their attitudes, the purpose in their minds.’ 1 This is what Leonardo da Vinci wrote in one of his treaty about pictures. He has been one of the greatest painters of Art History, maybe the most famous and he certainly changed the way of painting of his time. The fact that Leonardo has been an important element for Italian art panorama, is not questionable, but why he’s more famous than many other painters whose production is ten times larger than his? In those last decades people’s attention has been attracted by him, probably because new possibilities of approach to his artifacts have been discovered, so that many paintings have been studied in a more deep and scientific way: Leonardo’s works still conserve many mysteries that we’re not able to dissolve. Maybe all this interest for Leonardo has been born from the study of his life, his notes and drawings, which let people know many things about him, but the more he is studied, the more interesting things are found out, so that’s probably the reason why he’s so famous, because he still surprises us with innovations even after 5 centuries he was in life. Leonardo da Vinci was born in Anchiano di Vinci in 1452, his principal activity was painting and worked in Florence, Milan and eventually also in France. He’s such a complicated personality, he had been not only painter but also sculptor, architect, goldsmith, musician, scientist and inventor. To understand him and his art it’s necessary to point out the fact that he lives in a very particular period of cultural innovation in which being able to reinvent oneself was not only useful but also fundamental. In fact during Renaissance the way of conceiving life and world changes and people believed that one could really understand reality only by knowing all aspects of it. The importance of Leonardo’s studies doesn’t dwell in the vastness of them but in the reversal of the method, in fact his particularity was that he submitted everything to verification. He started the experimental method of research which will be the basis of following centuries science studies. But what interests us is his way of painting, which was a mental painting because according to him, one acquires, possesses and understands knowledge by studying the reality. Painting must then represent reality in the best possible way, when it deals with landscapes and nature, it must be the more realistic possible and subject painted must not be manipulated in order to render it more attractive to human eye. Portraits paintings of Leonardo instead are even more interesting, as a painting must show the reality of the person which is not only resumed to the appearance but it concerns also the interior aspect of the subject, so it’s his personality, his history that renders him who he is. It is then interesting to have a look to some of Leonardo’s portraits to see how he manages to convey all those things we’ve just talked about. 1 From ‘The Practice of Painting’ by Leonardo. Translated from Italian by jean Paul Richter in ‘The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci’ (1888). In early years he had already a very personal way of depicting people as it is visible in the La Belle Ferronnière, in which the psychological penetration is already taken in account, but later he will artistically mature and this aspect will just be a starting point to develop a perfect portrait of the person. Interesting painting is the one of the Lady with an Ermine, painted around 1483, period during which Leonardo went to Milan at the court of Ludovico Sforza, who had been duke of Milan in the 15th Century and employed the Florentine painter to project buildings, urban arrangements, war machines and also artworks like statues or portraits in the aim of celebrating the glory of the sovereign. The attribution of this portrait has been discussed for a long time, we don’t have any documentation for the Milan artworks of Leonardo so it has been difficult to define all details about this work. It has been attributed to Leonardo since 1800s, thanks also to the fact that Leonardo worked in a workshop in Milan with other artists that copied his way of representing people so that many artworks by Leo painted in this period could have been recognized and attributed to the right artist. We know than that the portrait has been painted during the period in which Leonardo stayed at Sforza court. It represents a young woman, she seems a teenager, she’s very elegantly dressed, with a particularly detailed hairstyle and brings an uncommon animal in her arms. For a long time it has been believed that the subject of the painting was the lover of Francis 1st of France, La Belle Ferronnière, but it wasn’t her. This mistake has been produced by the fact that there’s a painting called La Belle Ferronnière representing this young French woman, and she’s dressed in the same way as the girl from the Lady with the Ermine. The two girls of the paintings look similar and are both dressed in a very uncommon and elegant way, this is what leads to the mistake of identifying both with the same person . Recent researches found out that the woman painted in the Leonardo painting is Cecilia Gallerani, the lover of duke Ludovico of Milan. The woman is represented only for the upper part of her body, she is in a twisted position as her body is turned on her right and she looks at the left. She’s immobile, very elegantly posed, and she looks far, with a calm expression, she looks absolutely serene . All of these elements are in contraposition with the Ermine, it looks nervous, ready to move, and the girl’s hand is nervous too in the act of keeping the animal calm next to her. Talking about the style, we see that the sfumato of Leonardo has been damaged by a Milanese painter who painted over it too dark and the detachment of the figure from the background is too marked and sudden. But Leonardo’s style is highly recognizable in the way she’s represented, her expression is absolutely unique, her eyes are penetrating and her contraposition with the animal is very interesting. Talking about her face, she’s extremely gentle and delicate, the plasticity of her face is given by the gentle light defining the shapes, then illuminating also her shoulder and the Ermine’s muzzle . But most impressive thing is maybe the attention brought to the realization of the dress and the hairstyle: hair is combed straight to underline the fine shape of her face, it’s tied in a long braid hidden in a cowling which is supported by a ribbon on the forehead, everything is covered by a transparent veil which has a golden border that runs right up the eyebrows . Leonardo represented this hairstyle in such a perfect way to show how elegant it is, because not every woman has this kind of hairstyle and only an elegant and stylish woman had it. Talking about the clothes: it is a typical Spanish way of dressing, that became a trend in Milan after the marriage between Ludovico and his Spanish wife. The cloak on her shoulder takes inspiration from the Spanish Bernia an element that the law was imposing to be put on by noble women. The neckline is underlined by golden motifs probably coming from the Leonard drawings of famous Vicians knots. The only jewel she brings is a long necklace made of big round elements , maybe in black amber or in another strong stone like agate or onyx; recently on the pearls have been found Leonardo’s footprints, this means that he had a more close contact with the paint that it was believed before. What is very astonishing by her way of dressing then is her sobriety, far from the ostentation of other women in Sforza court: this can be a reference to the young age of the woman, to the link between social provenience and dressing (Cecilia wasn’t noble so couldn’t wear expensive dresses) or it can be a way to show how the young girl was not so interested in showing her wealthy but gave more importance to other aspects, her intelligence and to that little animal she’s bringing and that we’re going now to analyze. The animal in her arms was mistaken for long time because it was very rare: it is an Ermine . This was rarely represented in portraits, but it was present on some renaissance medals as a reference to noble and chivalry environment. Leonardo has probably studied in depth the anatomy of this animal, he has also drawn an Allegory of Ermine in which a man is hunting the animal . In a bestiary of that period 2 the animal was defined as having such a noble nature that when it is hunted by someone it will prefer being captured and killed instead of hiding itself in a muddy place and stain its immaculate fur. In this way the animal should embody three qualities: modesty, gentleness and honesty which may refer to the character of the young lady. We also know that the name of the animal in Greek is Galere which can be a reference to Gallerani (this can be an option as Leonardo loved those hidden intellectual connections). But it is also known that Ludovico Sforza in 1488 received the title of knight of the Order of the Ermine by the king of Naples, so that Ludovico decided to use that animal as his personal emblem. This animal so could also symbolize the lover of the young girl, that she’s caressing with gentleness and passion at the same time as her hand seems very nervous. The girl is looking at something, she seems to look at someone coming towards her, and her calm expression adumbrate a smile (as Leonardo didn’t like to represent clear emotions) may let intend that she’s looking at Ludovico. Last but not least, the nervousness of the animal is giving an air of disquiet to this scene , that somebody interpret as the will of Leonard to point out the unstable position of a courtly lover as Cecilia was. It is compelling to mention an interpretation of this painting which is completely different from what it has been said until now, but it is not an interpretation accepted by many specialists and it doesn’t seem to be very accredited. It is possible that this young lady is actually Caterina Sforza, daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, who had been killed in 1476, this hypothesis is confirmed by the fact that the young lady necklace is black as a symbol of mourning and the Ermine would be a symbol of his killer which is Giovanni Andrea da Lampugnano whose coat of arms represents a she wolf on the right and an Alpine Mustela on the left (an Ermine). This idea should be underlined by the black necklace, by the scrawny hand which is touching the animal without love but neither with fear and by the exaggerated dimensions of the Ermine, a mistake which can’t be accepted by the hand of such a scientific scholar. But this hypothesis seems a little bit too forced that’s why it is not accepted by most of the art historians. This painting is then hiding many symbolic elements but even without analyzing it with this deepness it is clear that it is a very expressing portrait of a young woman which expresses intelligence and calm spirit at the same time just by the means of her eyes. 2 Bestiary : a book of beasts , in which animals were described and morally framed having a didactic and moral goal.The one read by Leonardo must have been ‘Fiore di Virtù’ written by Fra Tommaso in 14th Century. Let’s have now a quick look to the most mysterious work of Leonardo: the Virgin of the Rocks. Actually with this name are designated two painting representing the same subject but very different one from the other, one is housed in London and the second is in Paris and is the one which is going to be analyzed. This painting had been highly documented, so we’re sure that Leonardo did it by himself in the Milanese period (1483-1486) for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception, and was supposed to be set in the chapel of the Immaculate Conception in the church of S. Francesco Grande in Milan. The painting represents the Virgin in the middle of the painting at the top of the pyramidal group of people. Then two babies and a young man: the baby on her right is supposed to be St John the Baptist, the other one is the Christ while the boy is an angel. They are set in a naturalistic place, very dark with a small lake on the foreground and a rocky landscape on the background. The painting is divided in two parts, the left one seems to be the terrestrial one, in fact Mary is touching the small John, in a physical gesture they’re both showing the human side. The right part of the painting is the supernatural one, the one of the faith, where there’s a God (Christ) that is manifesting himself as a human body and shows his double nature: he is linked to nature, touching the ground and he is also linked to the supernatural world, by his sitting position and by being in contact with a heavenly figure which is the angel. All the figures of the painting are relied together by some particular gestures and the sights of the characters. Mary here acts as a testimony of the holy communication between other characters, she’s making a gesture of protection on the figure of the Christ and is holding St John as to push him towards the other baby. The little Jesus is making the blessing gesture towards St John which is praying the Christ and the angel is just pointing at this saint. But all those gestures are much more complicated than it seems: the Christ is making also a gesture recalling the future role of baptizer of St John but also showing the number three (as the trinity) . The angel is also showing the number one by his finger, and his figure is in line with a rock right above him, that looks like a column, an object that in the Christianity can also symbolize the unique and indivisible. So the gestures are ambiguous and at first glance the observer would think that the Christ is the baby on the left as he is protected by the Virgin and pointed out by the angel, but actually Virgin is protecting from her height the Christ which is blessing the little John who is praying to the Christ. The Virgin is then pushing John towards her baby and the angel is pointing out John because he’s behaving as a Christian should do. The Gesture of the Christ has a deep significance as actually he’s touching the earth as acceptance of his sacrifice and the other hand is also pointing to the sky, symbolizing his divine nature. Last important thing of the painting is obviously the setting, with many plants on the floor , each one has a particular significance and very interesting is the rocky setting, it is distressing and disturbing with very pointy rocky formations. The cave should represent here the uterus , since the main theme of this painting should be the immaculate conception. We can see here that this painting has many symbols hidden in it and they’re for sure not made for chance. It is evident that Leonardo’s aim wasn’t just to depict the subject of the painting in the most realistic way possible, but he wanted to give a higher level of interpretation to his artworks, as in the religious themes he was always hiding some symbols that should refer to faith or to the questioning of it and in the portraits he was always able to make reference to some psychological aspects of the person represented. The most interesting aspect is that the understanding of this second will of the painter can be divided in two ways : The first one is the deep analyze of the painting and of its elements, the second one is the immediate feeling that one proves when he looks at Leonardo’s artwork. Symbolism then is very important in Leonardo’s art but he’s maybe the only artist that could manage to convey the feeling or the themes hidden behind the symbols only thanks to the general environment that is reigning over his works. La Belle Ferronnière, 1490-1495,oil on canvas, Paris,Musée du Louvre. Detail of Lady with an Ermine: Vician knots. Lady with an Ermine, 1483, oil on canvas, Wawel Castle, Czartoryski musuem. Allegory of the Ermine,1494 ca., ink and chalk on paper, Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum. Virgin of the Rocks, 1483-86, oil on canvas, Paris, Musée du Louvre. Robert Wallace, Leonard de Vinci et son Temps, Time-Life International ( Netherland) B.V., 1968. Adorno , Mastrangelo, Segni d’Arte 2 , il Rinascimento, G.D’Anna Editrice, Firenze,2006. Gerard Legrand, l’art de la Renaissance , dns Histoire de l’Art, Larousse, Paris, 2004. G. Dalli Regoli, Il gesto e la mano, Firenze, Olschki, 2000, p. 11. Angela Ottino Della Chiesa, L'opera completa di Leonardo pittore, Rizzoli, Milano 1967.