I recently pointed out that Leonardo da Vinci is depicted in one of the Sistine Chapel’s frescos – The Trial of Moses by Sando Botticelli. He’s one of the two fighting Hebrews, Domenico Ghirlandaio is the other.

Well, on the same Southern wall of the Chapel is another fresco that features Leonardo. In fact, he shows up in four of the scenes that record the Testament and Death of Moses. The fresco is attributed to Luca Signorelli and Bartolomeo della Gatta. It was the last section of the six-fresco cycle illustrating the life of Moses and probably started sometime in 1483.

This is how Wikipedia descibes the scenes, but there is no mention of Leonardo.

The fresco portrays the last episode in Moses’ life, in two sectors: a foreground one including two scenes, and a background one, with three further scenes and, on the right, a landscape. Moses is always recognizable through his yellow garments and the green cloak, as in the rest of the cycle. The artist made an extensive use of gold painting.

On the background Moses, on the Mount Nebo, receives by an angel the command baton, which gives him the authority to lead the Israelites towards the Promised Land. Below, Moses descends from the mountain with the baton in his hand, similarly to Cosimo Rosselli’s Descent from Mount Sinai nearby. In the foreground, on the right, is a 120-year-old Moses speaking at the crowd while holding the baton and a Holy Book: rays of light stem from his head. At his feet is the Ark of the Covenant, opened to show the Twelve Tables and the vase of the Manna. In the center, the procession includes a woman holding a child on her shoulders, wearing silk, an elegant youth portrayed from behind and a naked man sitting. The latter two characters are attributed to Luca Signorelli, as well as the man with a stick next the throne of Moses.

On the left is the appointment of Joshua as Moses’ successor; the former kneels to receive the command baton, while the prophet has his cloak opened, showing a red-lined interior. Finally, on the left background, is the corpse of Moses on a shroud, surrounded by the dismayed Israelites.

Leonardo is represented as Joshua kneeling at the left side of the fresco. He is also the naked man seated on the tree stump in the centre of the group of figures at ground level; and naked again as one of the two cherubs standing beside the woman sitting on the ground holding her baby. Leonardo is also portrayed as the angel alongside Moses on Mount Nebo.

The scenes at ground level are all connected to the interrogation and testimony of Leonardo after an anonymous report was made to the Florentine authorities in April 1476 accusing the artist and others of sodomy.

More on this in a future post.