Once again, Leonardo da Vinci has been in the news. Firstly, a local journalist found a fragment of Leonardo’s writing in Nantes library, which had received it in 1872 along with 5,000 other documents (including an unknown Mozart score) from “wealthy collector Pierre-Antoine Labouchère“. It hasn’t yet been transcribed or translated, so I couldn’t possibly comment on whether it describes a cleverly enciphered herbal manuscript (à la Edith Sherwood). Still, there must be at least 10,000 people in the world [including me, *sigh*] who can decipher his (actually fairly clear) handwriting / shorthand, so we shouldn’t have too long to wait, should we?
Somewhat more extraordinary is enthusiastic TV historian Silvano Vincenti’s claims that Leonardo da Vinci hid a secret (if somewhat short) message in Mona Lisa’s eyes, which he’ll be revealing fully next month (Jan 2011). He says:
“Invisible to the naked eye and painted in black on green-brown are the letters LV in her right pupil, obviously Leonardo’s initials, but it is what is in her left pupil that is far more interesting. […] It is very difficult to make them out clearly, but they appear to be the letters CE, or it could be the letter B.”
What’s more…
“Under the right-hand arch of the bridge seen in the background, Leonardo also painted 72 or L2, another possible clue. Two expert painters we consulted on this tell us that all these marks, painted using a tiny brush and a magnifying glass, cannot be an error.”
OK, let’s have a look for ourselves:-
What should quickly be apparent is that the craquelure on the Mona Lisa’s eyes differs significantly from the paint surrounding it. Specifically, if you also notice that the long crack that runs either side of her right pupil (i.e. the above-left eye) seems to have been painted over, all of this would seem to be a bit of an art history giveaway that both eyes underwent ‘restoration’ (which is always an interpretative and, sadly, often damaging process) at a much later date – in fact, probably 50+ years later, wouldn’t you say? Which, given that Leonardo was commissioned in 1503 and died in 1519, would seem to rule him out.
Hence, I sincerely hope that Silvano Vincenti has engaged not just “expert painters” but also expert art historians to test out his intriguing ideas. Or else he may well make himself look a bit of a fool. Oh well! 🙁
Ahoj Nick,
Přeji ti pěkné vánoční svátky a štastný Nový rok.2011.
Mona Lisa = numbers (čísla)
LV CE = chyba
LU CE = správně
LUCE = italsky = Světlo
Leonardo říká :
Oči jsou oknem do duše.
(Oči,energie, duše)
Ahoj Josef.
( gematrie 6 = U.V.W.X)
Josef: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you too! “LUCE” does indeed mean “light” in Italian (even if LU and CE are the wrong way round): the problem is that because the eyes have been so heavily restored, it would need compelling art history evidence to back the idea that these are in any way deliberate.
Incidentally, I can easily imagine scenarios where Leonardo did indeed hide a secret message in the eyes (that’s the easy part), but it’s the issue of how the message survived such a heavy restoration at least 50 years later (if not multiple restorations) that I’m stuck on.
Hi Nick,
(Maybe), In my last letter is A.
In this case LVCA means 3631 ( 1363).
This figure is included in all cryptogram, which left the Knights of the Temple.
( The eyes are the Window to the soul) = LUCE.
Josef: well… maybe. I’m just waiting to see a very high resolution (and hopefully multispectral) scan of the Mona Lisa’s two pupils to see what the guy is talking about.