The Real Leonardo Continued

Brown begins his discussion of the Virgin of the Rocks with the erroneous claim that it was commissioned by nuns. It was, in fact, the Franciscan brotherhood of the Immaculate Conception that requested the work for the church of San Francesco Grande in 1480.

Brown then proceeds to confuse John the Baptist with Jesus in the painting, claiming that John is “blessing Jesus…and Jesus is submitting to his authority.” As any beginning student of Christian art knows, John the Baptist’s little robe prefigures his camel skin tunic and he kneels in adoration of his Savior. The description of Mary’s hand as “threatening” and her fingers like “eagle’s talons” demonstrates the lack of appreciation of the complicated foreshortening so admired by contemporaries. The only way a viewer could reach this conclusion is by applying the preconceived notion that Leonardo tends to subvert authority.

Brown’s appetite for desecration reaches its pinnacle when he comes to Leonardo’s finest masterpiece, The Last Supper. His ignorance of the most basic terms manifests itself here with the definition of the work as a “fresco.” Three times in a single paragraph Brown misnames the technique used by Leonardo. A bit of research would have told him that it was Leonardo’s use of oil paint on primed wall that caused the rapid deterioration of the painting.

His preposterous theory that the figure of the Apostle John is really Mary Magdalene also founders in the face of the facts. It overlooks the placement of the painting, blithely stating that it is on the “wall of Santa Marie delle Grazie in Milan.” The painting happens to be on the wall in the refectory of the Dominican convent annexed to the church, where the monks ate all their meals. Not only would such a place be ill-suited for subversive art, given that it was never viewed by the public, the Dominican order had the responsibility of seeking out heresy before it spread. Only a colossal fool would paint a heresy where the monks could study it day after day. While no evidence suggest that Leonardo held the church in contempt, proof abounds that he was no fool.

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