10 Secrets Leonardo Da Vinci Hid From Everyone In His Paintings

Scientists at the University of California, Irvine, created a 3D model to understand why in the Salvator Mundi, by Leonardo Da Vinci, the image of the hand through the sphere did not appear distorted. This refers once again to the painter’s talent, who, even without advanced technologies, managed to create secular masterpieces full of hidden meanings and enigmas, which are still studied by many researchers today.

Here in the awesome.club we have already written about the secrets and particularities of Leonardo’s works, but a single post could not mention them all. So here’s the second part. Follow up!

Leonardo Da Vinci has few works in which the image of a person is seated facing forward or in profile. His depictions are usually in a leaning position, both early-career and later frames. Leonardo did this intentionally. With this specific pose, he sought to bring the figures to life, in an attempt to add movement. From this feature, researchers are able to determine whether or not a painting had the touch of the artist’s brush.

The Madonna is in front of two arched windows, through which you can see a landscape: mountains and a blue sky. The same view is observed through the rectangular windows in front of which Leonardo placed the characters of another painting, the famous The last supper🇧🇷 This may indicate some connection between the two works.

In Madonna’s dress there are two incisions for breastfeeding. The one on the left is sewn. But the one on the right seems to have been ripped. Apparently, she tried to wean the baby, so she sewed up the incisions on both sides. However, the tear on the right side (which still has thread remnants) would indicate that she could not have tolerated the child’s crying and simply opened the seam to breastfeed.

The fact is that since 1300, the women of the European elite stopped breastfeeding their children on their own and started to hire nursing mothers. Apparently, Leonardo’s mother must have breastfed him personally, since she was part of the peasant class. At age 5, however, he was separated from his mother. The noble father wished to have the illegitimate son by his side. Maybe that’s why Leonardo represents the image of a mother in this way, merciful and loving.

Virgin of the Rocks It was one of da Vinci’s first paintings. And also one of the most controversial. The painting was commissioned by Franciscan monks, but the artist did not stick to the expected religious components: the figures look more like ordinary people than sacred. Nor are they in a temple, as usual, but in a cave. What happens is that there is a representation of a scene that did not exist in the canons of the Gospel, but that was known in the apocryphal books. According to the Protoevangelium of James, the infant Jesus met John the Baptist during a flight to Egypt (Herod ordered the extermination of all male babies) while Mary, Joseph, and little Jesus, as well as John and his mother Elizabeth , hid in the desert.

This is probably one of the most striking features of the painter: almost none of his works were finished.

All because Leonardo had a different perception of time, in general. Among his contemporaries, he was the first to claim that the Earth was older than believed and that mountainous places had been ocean beds in the past. Therefore, a distinctive feature of his works was to work on the same painting for years and years. What would that be compared to Earth time, right?

The process of creating Mona Lisa lasted almost the entire life of Da Vinci, who always added some extra detail to the work. In total, the project took 16 years.

In fact, images similar to many works by the genius are found in biblical frescoes in the catacombs of Rome. Before Christianity gained official recognition, religious were forced to hide their faith. Later, however, the caves were reopened (already during Leonardo Da Vinci’s lifetime) and this may have inspired the artist to create his works.

On one of the walls of the catacombs, the Virgin Mary looks a lot like the figure in Madonna Litta🇧🇷 To the side we see João Batista, making a gesture that is very similar to the gesture of the famous painting by Leonardo john Baptist🇧🇷 When placing the works side by side, it is almost impossible not to notice the similarity.

Rarely does anyone look at this picture from the best perspective. But Leonardo created him to be observed in the room pictured above, specifically. He sought to harmoniously incorporate the external environment into the painting: the real space merges with the reality of the environment. The shadow of the plates and bread would indicate that there was lighting on the left. And, in the room, you can see windows drawn on the wall to the left of those looking at the work. The cutlery and tablecloths were represented in the same way as they existed at the time. The painting was made in this environment precisely because it is a cafeteria. In this way, the monks could eat and at the same time enjoy the extraordinary work🇧🇷

One more interesting detail. To reinforce the illusion, the painter had to block the door in the wall so that the painting could be done from above. But it was through this same door that the cooks carried the dishes from the kitchen. Therefore, due to the inconvenience generated, the door was later used again and, thus, the image of Jesus’ feet was damaged.

Incidentally, regarding food, at the table, the apostles do not have only bread and wine. Leonardo was a vegetarian, so he removed the sacred meat, always present at such feasts, from the menu and added other ingredients he liked. Closer observers will notice that what you see on the plates are eels, probably grilled — a dish that is evidently not vegetarian, but one that the Italian genius decided to include.

There is one more important point to be mentioned. Restorers found that Da Vinci used neither gray nor black to draw, but dark blue. This was unthinkable until the mid-19th century, when colored inks had just begun to be used by the Impressionists. In reproduction this is not so clearly visible, but the ink composition speaks for itself (blue copper acetate crystals).

You may even find it strange, but one of the most accepted theories today gives rise to this interpretation that there would be more than one “true” picture. It is based on the description by Giorgio Vasari, a contemporary of Da Vinci:

“Eyes have the sparkle and moisture always present in living creatures. The eyebrows couldn’t be more natural: the hair grows thicker in some places and thinner in others… The opening of the mouth and the meeting of the edges of the lips reddened in comparison to the coloring of the face. The Mona Lisa was very beautiful and had such a pleasant smile that it would be as if we were contemplating a divine being, not a human…”

At the time the portrait was made, Lisa Gherardini (the woman who would have served as the inspiration for the work) was no more than 25 years old. The “Mona Lisa” in the painting in the Louvre (by far the most famous) is certainly the oldest. Vasari also commented on the eyebrows, which are not seen in the “classic” version displayed at the French museum. However, this could have just been a poor quality restoration or, according to this version, a poor cleaning of the work. Pink lips and half-open mouth are also missing from the Louvre version.

Mona Lisa do Prado. This alternative version, exhibited at the Prado Museum (Spain), fits Giorgio’s description. Few people cared about it until the year 2012. After the restorers removed the black background, however, there was exactly the same landscape design, which is present in the Louvre painting.

Hermitage Flora. Yet another claimant to the title of “true Mona Lisa”. And it fits the description even better. The author of the work, Francesco Melzi, a “disciple” of Da Vinci, called her Gioconda. There is, however, an argument against this hypothesis: it is highly unlikely that a husband would have allowed his wife to pose with her bust uncovered in this way.

Mona Lisa from Isleworth. final candidate. This work was released to the general public about 100 years ago. There was a theory that it was the real “Mona Lisa”. What’s more, the painting isn’t finished and the background looks unfinished. If this is true, the origin of the Louvre version could be explained by the fact that Leonardo painted it later and for himself, based on the image of Gioconda. The fact is that the image appears to be of the same woman, as if she had been portrayed 10 or 15 years apart.

Around 7,000 pages of Leonardo Da Vinci’s diaries have been found in various collections. Until the 19th century, the artist’s diaries did not cause much interest and Leonardo “inventor” was not yet known. Much was due to the fact that even if researchers identified his handwriting, they would not understand the purpose of those inventions. Da Vinci made purposeful mistakes in his drafts to prevent potential “spies” from stealing ideas from him. For this reason, many of the genius’s secrets remain hidden from humanity.

Leonardo’s paintings depicted hundreds of species of plants and trees. In his notebooks, he described truffles, mulberries, common walnuts, and other species. Having grown up in the countryside, Da Vinci did not miss the opportunity to incorporate elements of plant life into his works. Even the typical craftsmanship of her homeland — the weaving of baskets from willows (Salix viminalis) — is reflected in the intricate braids in Leda’s hair (pictured below).

Leonardo used plants again in his portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci. The image sought to represent the feelings of the client who commissioned the painting, the Venetian diplomat Bernardo Bembo. And a message has been incorporated into the plant coat of arms, which is located on the back of the work. The juniper branches, which symbolize the diplomat (there is a play on words, as the term ginepro is the Italian word for “juniper”), are surrounded by a laurel wreath and palm, symbols that are present in the Bembo family coat of arms. .