Hat-tip to Leonardo

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Here’s another Leonardo da Vinci connection to Botticelli’s Uffizi version of the Adoration of the Magi…

Leonardo had a lifelong passion for creating intricate knot patterns. Some of his most complex mandala designs were later printed from woodcuts produced by the German artist Albrecht Dürer.

In yet another hat-tip to Leonardo, Botticelli has placed a knotted mandala on the head of the priest and assassin, Antonio Maffei.

Prints from Albrecht Dürer’s wood blocks based on designs by Leonardo da Vinci.
Known as the ‘Fifth Knot’ from six surviving blocks, the left version is kept at Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence; the right knot at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.