It was a “eureka” moment when a young family member recently showed me his orangutan toy (pictured above). Its extended arms and appearance triggered a thought and recollection of both ape and long arm features in Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Annunciation.
Leonardo’s ape connected to the monkey featured in one of Ismail al-Jazari’s Candle Clocks which I explained in a post almost a year ago.
Detail from Leonardo da Vinci’s Annunciation, Uffizi, Florence
I sensed the orangutan’s long arm was in some way associated with the Virgin Mary’s unusual extended right arm, but at the time could not come up with a satisfactory explanation until a few days ago when I discovered her long arm, often faulted by art critics and historians, was actually inspired by another feature found in Fra Lippi’s Seven Saints painting, proving that the distortion was indeed intentional and DID refer to the long arm of an ape.
Fra Lippi’s Seven Saints, National Gallery, London
While Vasari refers to several of Lippi’s paintings he makes no mention of the Seven Saints panel. Elsewhere in Lippi’s biography Vasari relates an account of the time the painter and a group friends were captured by Barbary pirates.
“Now, chancing to be in the Marches of Ancona, he was disporting himself one day with some of his friends in a little boat on the sea, when they were all captured together by the Moorish galleys that were scouring those parts, and taken to Barbary, where each of them was put in chains and held as a slave; and thus he remained in great misery for eighteen months. But one day, seeing that he was thrown much into contact with his master, there came to him the opportunity and the whim to make a portrait of him; whereupon, taking a piece of dead coal from the fire, with this he portrayed him at full length on a white wall in his Moorish costume. When this was reported by the other slaves to the master (for it appeared a miracle to them all, since drawing and painting were not known in these parts), it brought about his liberation from the chains in which he had been held for so long. Truly glorious was it for this art to have caused one to whom the power of condemnation and punishment was granted by law, to do the very opposite—nay, in place of inflicting pains and death, to consent to show friendliness and grant liberty! ”
This account is generally dismissed by art historians. Louis Gillet (1876-1943) wrote that Vasari’s account of Lippi being seized by Barbary pirates and held captive “is assuredly nothing but a romance”.
But was it? There is evidence in the Seven Saints painting that points to this account, even if it was a romantic notion on the part of Fra Lippi. Leonardo da Vinci was also aware of the story and adapted Lippi’s reference for his Annunciation painting.
The saintly figures shown above – Anthony Abbot and Peter of Verona – are part of Fra Filippo Lippi’s Seven Saints painting (1450-53) housed at the National Gallery, London.
Lippi also applied two other identities to the men – St Jude Thaddeus and himself (right). Pairing is one of several themes in the painting.
I mentioned in a previous post that the painting, and the artist, were a source of inspiration for Leonardo da Vinci’s Annunciation.
One of several features Leonardo adapted from the Seven Saints forms part of the dual figure of St Peter Martyr and Filippo Lippi – the sword and the nimbus.
Detail of St Peter of Verona from Fra Filippo’s Seven Saints painting
The sword represents the weapon used by an assassin hired by a group of Cathars to murder Peter as he was travelling with a companion to Milan. At the inquest following Peter’s death, his wound was described as “caused by the force of the impact of a falchion, whose blade ends in two horns, like the moon.”
Observe how the sword embedded in Peter’s head also appears to dissect the nimbus, to form a crescent shape of the upper half. The two points of the segment can be considered as “horns of a crescent moon”.
Detail of the crescent and sword from Leonardo’s Annunciation
In an earlier post – “I saw the crescent” – I presented a narrative on a similar feature which appears in Leonardo’s Annunciation but, at the time, without knowing the connection to Lippi’s Seven Saints. I pointed out the green crescent shape of the Angel Gabriel’s purse and his waistband shaped as the sheath of a curved scimitar as references to Al-Jazari’s Candle Clock of the Swordsman.
So now Leonardo’s adaption can also be recognised as referring to “a falchion, whose blade ends in two horns, like the moon” – further evidence that Lippi’s Seven Saints was a source of inspiration.
There is another narrative connecting the sword and the nimbus and relates to the second identity applied to the figure of Peter of Verona, that of the artist Fra Filippo Lippi.
So who was Fra Filippo Lippi? By most accounts the ordained Carmelite priest and painter did not lead an exemplary religious life.
He was born about 1406 and orphaned by the age of two, then sent to live with an aunt who later placed him in the care of a Carmelites when he was eight years old.
Ordained a priest in 1425, Lippi left the Carmelite monastery six years later to start his own painting workshop, but was still held to his vows.
In 1885 the English poet Robert Browning (1812-1889) penned a dramatic monologue about the wayward friar titled Fra Lippo Lippi. I recommend readers check out the audio version voiced by the American actor Paul Giamatti at the Poetry Foundation website where W. S. Di Piero sets the scene:
“It’s past midnight in Florence’s red-light district in the mid-15th century, and a man dressed as a monk has just been strong-armed by the police and questioned about his presence in such a place. Wait, he says, I can explain everything. “That’s where we find ourselves at the beginning of Browning’s “Fra Lippo Lippi.” What follows is a wild improvisation on assorted themes—lust, want, religion, art-making, and the nature of beauty. The good Fra Lippo—Carmelite Friar and in-house painter for Cosimo De’ Medici—does explain his presence, explains in fact pretty much his entire life and art, over the course of nearly 400 lines. He is, like other of Browning’s monologists, a world-class talker.”
My next post will deal with the self portrait of Lippi, in his painting of Seven Saints, and how it reveals some aspects of his colourful life.
“The Rubenshuis has recently lent the painting The Picture Gallery of Cornelis van der Geest by Willen van Haecht (1593–1637) to the Museo del Prado for a period of two years, until march of 2026.
“Painted in 1628, the painting shows the rulers of the Spanish Netherlands, Isabel Clara Eugenia and Albrecht of Austria, visiting the collection of the Antwerp merchant Cornelis van der Geest (1555-1638) in the company of many others, including Rubens.”
In this post I reveal more about Fra Filippo Lippi’s Seven Saints and how some 400 years later it partly inspired Henry Holiday’s painting of Dante and Beatrice.
I mentioned in previous posts the Seven Saints library and books narrative and also that Lippi applied double identities to some of the saints in the lineup.
Seven Saints, by Fra Filippo Lippi, National Gallery, London.
The saint on the extreme right is identified as St Peter of Verona, martyred by an assassin’s blade through his head. He can also be recognised as the artist himself, the Carmelite friar Filippo Lippi.
At the opposite end of the line-up is St Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan Order. The figure’s second identity is Francesco Zabarella (pictured), a bishop of Florence and Cardinal Deacon of the basilica in Rome dedicated to Cosmas and Damian, the twin saints seated either side of the central figure of John the Baptist.
Another theme in the painting is severance and separation. Some of the saints were beheaded, others had their heads cleaved (as Peter of Verona). Only St Francis kept his head intact, although the Franciscan Order did become divided after his death.
The tomb of Francesco Zabarella, Padua Cathedral.
Among his many writings, particularly on canon law, Francesco Zabarella produced an ecclesiastic-political treatise titled De Schismatic. Interestingly, sculpted at the feet of his tomb effigy in Padua Cathedral is a set of three books – a reference to the Trinity and unification, but can also be recognised as pointing to a time of the Papal Schism (1378-1417) when there were three claimants to the Papacy. The Papal schism ended at the Council of Constance on November 11, 1417, two months after the death of Zabarella who did much to promote and encourage unification among the fragmented Church.
The feature can also be considered as a “book end”. So here we can understand the St Francis figure at one end of the lineup, and the figure of St Peter Martyr at the other end and supporting a book, as “book ends” buttressing the wall of the Christian Church built on the blood of martyrs.
This also points to the time when St Francis was praying at the church of San Damiano (St Damian) and heard the voice of Jesus speaking to him from a crucifix: “Francis, go rebuild my Church which is falling down.”
References to the Seven Saints book-ends show up in Henry Holiday’s painting of Dante and Beatrice.
Dante and Beatrice, by Henry Holiday, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
Dante, standing at the corner of the Ponte Santa Trinita in Florence, represents the dual figure of Fra Lippi and St Peter Martyr. Lippi’s figure is dressed in garments of two-tone green, as is the figure of Dante whose red cap is shaped as an axe to mirror the head of the martyred Peter. Dante’s brown footwear is also intended to match the colour of the Lippi figure. There is narrative associated with this feature which I will explain at another time. On the bridge corner are rectangular shapes carved into the wall which echo two similar shapes in the corner of the back rest behind Lippi. Another reminder of book-ends.
LeftL Henry Holiday at work. Right: Holiday’s rendition of Dante Alighieri.
Notice also the position and composition of Dante’s left hand and how a similar pose in a photograph of Henry Holiday for which I have no other detail other than his name. The reference to Ponte Santa Trinita is also reflected in the prominent beacon stand and its three-headed dragon feature. A similar feature appears in Botticelli’s Primavera.
Botticelli was an apprentice to Fra Filippo Lippi and it’s likely that the book-ends support feature inspired his famous painting of Venus who is depicted leaning and out of kilter, symbolic of the the Church at that time.
Venus, by Sandro Botticelli, Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
I pointed out in my previous post the barrel connection to Botticelli’s other famous painting, Primavera. But there is more to this section of Dante and Beatrice. The birds are a reference to the sermon St Francis gave to a flock of birds gathered in some trees.
Detail from Henry Holiday’s Dante and Beatrice
“My little sisters the birds, you owe much to God, your Creator, and you ought to sing his praise at all times and in all places, because he has given you liberty to fly about into all places; and though you neither spin nor sew, he has given you a twofold and a threefold clothing for yourselves and for your offspring. Two of all your species he sent into the Ark with Noah that you might not be lost to the world; besides which, he feeds you, though you neither sow nor reap. He has given you fountains and rivers to quench your thirst, mountains and valleys in which to take refuge, and trees in which to build your nests; your Creator loves you much, having favoured you with such bounties. Beware, my little sisters, of the sin of ingratitude, and study always to give praise to God.” Saint Francis of Assisi, 1220
I sense that Holiday was more than aware of these words by St Francis and have emphasised some parts of the passage to explain how Halliday seems to have expressed them in his painting.
“You neither spin nor sew…” and “twofold and threefold clothing” – not only a reference to the birds’ feathers, but emphasised by the silk and two-tone clothes worn by Dante, Beatrice and her friends.
“Two of all your species he sent into the Ark with Noah…” – The Ark is the barrel and its arc shape. Noah’s Ark also refers to the wooden chest known as the Ark of the Covenant, a description of which is written in the Book of Exodus, hence why the barrel, or Ark, is exiting at the left edge of the picture. “He took the covenant and put it into the ark, and put the poles on the ark, and set the mercy seat above the ark” (Exodus 40:20). The handles on the carrier supporting the barrel represent the poles, while the bird sitting on the top of the barrel is a reference to the seat of mercy.
“He feeds you…” – As seen by the birds feeding from the ground.
The two birds perched on the carrier handle may represent the birds, a raven and a dove, that Noah sent out to test if the Great Flood had receded. This is also pointer to the Great Flood of the River Arno in 1333 which devastated Florence when more than 3,000 people were killed. The Santa Trinita bridge collapsed except for one pier and an arch. The carrier section on which the two birds are perched is intended to represent the shape of a Tau Cross, another attribute of St Francis.
A wall plaque records the height of the 1333 flood of the River Arno.
For Henry Holiday, references to the Holy Trinity in the Dante and Beatrice painting are significant in another way.. He began his artistic career as a designer of stained glass, and his work is visible throughout Britain. He also fulfilled commissions for clients in the United States. The 17 stained-glass windows in the Lutheran church of the Holy Trinity in East 88th Street, New York, were all designed by Holiday and the artist’s only complete cycle of windows extant.
The Crucifixion stained-glass window, designed by Henry Holiday, in the Church of the Holy Trinity.
Fra Lippi’s Seven Saints was acquired by London’s National Gallery in 1861, some 20 years before Holiday began to start work on Dante and Beatrice.
This weekend I spent time researching more on Fra Lippi’s Seven Saints, a source used by Leonardo da Vinci for his Annunciation painting, and came across this work by the English artist Henry Holiday (1839-1927) titled Dante and Beatrice. It’s housed at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.
Dante and Beatrice, by Henry Holiday, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
“The painting is based on Dante Alighieri’s 1294 autobiographical workLa Vita Nuova which describes his love for Beatrice Portinari. Dante concealed his love by pretending to be attracted to other women. The painting depicts an incident when Beatrice, having heard gossip relating to this, refuses to speak to him. The event is shown as Beatrice (in a white dress) and two other women walk past Dante standing on the Santa Trinita Bridge in Florence. […] Holiday was anxious that the painting should be historically accurate and in 1881 travelled to Florence to carry out research. […] When Holiday died in 1927, he was described as ‘the last Pre-Raphaelite’. Many of Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s paintings, including Dante’s Dream, had as their subject the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, and this interest is the likely inspiration for Holiday’s painting.” (Wikipedia)
However, another inspiration was the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli. It is said that after Botticelli died in 1510, interest in the artist and his work waned and was virtually forgotten until renewed by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, founded in 1848.
While on his research visit to Florence, Holiday may have had the opportunity to seek out and closely study Botticelli’s paintings housed in the Uffizi Museum. So it should come as no surprise that Botticelli’s influence can be recognised in Holiday’s Dante and Beatrice – none more so than elements of Botticelli’s Primavera, the left half showing the Three Graces and the mythological figure generally identified as Mars. It is Mars who has turned away from the Three Graces, while in Holiday’s painting it is Dante who is ignored by the three women.
Primavera, by Sandro Botticelli, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Compare the detail below of two of the women from both paintings. See how Holiday has matched the tilted head of the woman on the left. Another match is the woman’s hand resting on the shoulder. Then there is the rose paired with the brooch on the woman’s chest.
Matching pairs (above and below) from Primavera and Dante and Beatrice
But the clincher is the barrel placed at the left edge of Holiday’s painting. It’s a shout-out to Botticelli, a nickname given to the artist which means “little barrel”. Holiday adds a final touch by identifying some of the produce in the barrel, spring greens (perhaps lettuces) alongside lemons, and so pointing to the title of Botticelli’s painting, Primavera, translated from Italian as “Spring”. Instead of the oranges depicted in Primavera, Holiday has shown lemons.
Detail of the barrel in Holiday’s Dante and Beatrice painting.
There are other elements of Holiday’s painting which suggest he may also have known of the connection between Botticelli’s Primavera and Fra Filippo Lippi’s Seven Saints.
So if Leonardo da Vinci adapted elements from Fra LIppi’s Seven Saints painting for his own version of the Annunciation, then what source, if any, inspired the composition for Lippi’s saintly lineup?
Seven Saints by Fra Filippo Lippi, National Gallery, London
Mentioned in my previous post, was a comment by Nicholas Flory that the Seven Saints, originally housed in the Palazzo Medici, was possibly a doorway feature of the Medici family library.
A source that confirms the library connection and lends itself as the inspiration for Lippi’s composition is the basilica in Rome’s Forum dedicated to two of the figures featured in Lippi’s painting, saints Cosmas and Damian.
Originally a Roman temple, it was Christianised in 527 by pope Felix IV. The pope was then gifted with an adjacent building, the library of the Forum of Peace (Bibliotheca Pacis), and he amalgamated the two buildings to create a basilica dedicated to saints Cosmas and Damian.
Originally a Roman Temple, now the basilica dedicated to saints Cosimas and Damian.
The dome-shape caps worn by Cosmas and Damian are reminiscent of the dome covering the basilica’s circular vestibule, and the lunette arch of the painting’s frame.
The vault above the basilica’s apse is decorated with a sixth century mosaic depicting three figures either side of the Returning Christ. On the left, pope Felix IV, St Paul and St Damian; on the right, St Peter, St Cosmas and St Theodore – seven figures in total.
The apse of the basilica of Saints Cosimas and Damian
It is this parousia mosaic and the basilica’s library association that was the source of inspiration for Fra Lippi’s Seven Saints composition.
However, Lippi substituted five of the figures to represent saints associated with Florence and branches of the Medici family. The twins Cosmas and Damian were Arab physicians and the Medici name in Italian translates as ‘doctors’.
The seven figures are also a pointer to the seven branches of the Jewish Menorah, looted by the Romans when they destroyed Jerusalem’s Second Temple in AD 70. The Menorah and other Temple treasures were brought back to Rome and displayed in triumph. It is said that the Menorah was exhibited to the public in the Forum of Peace, which later became part of the basilica of Cosmas and Damian.
Rome’s Arch of Titus, constructed in AD 81, was referred to in a medieval guide book to the city as “the arch of the Seven Lamps of Titus and Vespasian”. Titus was the son of Vespasian and the Arch was built to commemorate the victory over the Jewish rebellion in Judaea. At the base of the arch is a relief depicting the Menorah carried in triumph.
Arch of Titus in Rome showing the Menorah
So the seven saints in Fra Lippi’s painting can also be viewed as branches of light that correspond to the learning and light provided by the books in the Medici library, in both a spiritual and secular sense – I.e. the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit*, and the seven Liberal Arts*.
Note the stance and clothing of the central figure of John the Baptist, the patron saint of Florence. John was the precursor of Jesus and so the figure represents both John and Jesus, twinned as the two brothers, Cosmas and Damian. The four other figures are also depicted as pairs and were given second identities by Fra Lippi.
* Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. Seven Liberal Arts: Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Geometry, Arithmetic, Astronomy and Music.
• More on Fra Lippi’s Seven Saints in a future post.
This is yet another work by Fra Filippo Lippi which Leonardo da Vinci sourced for producing his painting of the Annunciation. It’s known as the Seven Saints and housed at the National Gallery, along with its companion painting, Lippi’s ‘London’ version of the Annunciation.
Here’s how the National Gallery identifies the seven saints:
“Lippi has used traditional symbols to identify each figure. The group is framed on either side by two saints dressed in the habits (uniform) of the religious orders to which they belonged. On the far left is Saint Francis, founder of the Franciscans in the thirteenth century. His meditation on the suffering of Christ was so profound that he himself developed the wounds of the Crucifixion; here they emit rays of heavenly light. Mirroring him is Saint Peter Martyr, the knife embedded in his skull a reminder of his death.
“The barefoot saint in the centre is Saint John the Baptist. He holds a slender cross, a reference to his prophecies about Christ and his ministries. He sits between Saints Cosmas and Damian; the little golden boxes on the ledge behind them are their medicine boxes, a reminder that they were doctors. Cosmas appears to be having a divine vision and raises his hands towards heaven, while Damian presses his palms together in prayer. Next to them are Saint Lawrence, on the left, and Saint Anthony Abbot, on the right. Saint Lawrence was burnt to death on a grill, which became his symbol – it rests against the bench by his side. Saint Anthony Abbot is shown as an old man with a wooden crook, because he lived as a hermit in the wilderness.”
What the Gallery’s notes do not reveal is that Lippi applied more than one identity to the saints identified as St Anthony Abbot and St Peter Martyr. Anthony is also depicted as St Jude (Thaddeus), while St Peter Martyr is a portrait of the artist himself, Fra Filippo Lippi.
In a Youtube video discussing the Lippi’s London Annunciation painting, Dr Nicholas Flory explains that both lunettes were originally housed in the Palazzo Medici, Florence, but as to exactly where there is no definite answer. He explains:
“The paintings were not included in the extensive inventory taken there in 1492. Since they were likely in the palace, however they simply have been in a room which was not included in the list of goods. Only one room omitted from the document seems suitable for such beautiful and impressive paintings: the family library. Perhaps Lippi’s ‘overdoors’ then were installed here as part of the room’s furnishings, possibly either side of a doorway but where they could have been seen by members of the family and their close associates.”
The suggestion that one or both lunettes were possibly housed in a Medici family library makes sense. The seven saints all feature in the Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea), a collection of the lives of saints compiled by Jacobus de Voraigne (c.1230 – 1298), an Italian chronicler and archbishop of Genoa. Notice the book under Lippi’s right arm. Could this refer to the Golden Legend and the source of reference for Lippi, and a book that was part of the Medici library? Observe also the seven saints are placed as a line of books sitting on a shelf. Another library reference is St Laurence (second from the left) a patron saint of librarians.
It is said that you cannot judge a book by its cover, but the clothing worn by the seven saints all reveal aspects of their lives, including Lippi himself.
Earlier this month, at this link, I pointed out that Leonardo da Vinci had sourced two of Fra Filippo Lippi’s paintings of the Annunciation for his own version. Leonardo also referenced another work by Fra Lippi, The Vision of St Augustine.
Today I discovered another work Leonardo sourced: Tobias and the Angel, attributed to Andrea del Verrocchio and his workshop. It’s a painting that art historians believe Leonardo also had a hand in producing, notably the images of the dog and the fish. Leonardo confirms his contribution by adapting and reinterpreting some of its features for his version of the Annunciation.
Verrocchio’s Tobias and the Angel is housed at the National Gallery, London. The painting is dated between 1470-1475.
Detail from the Annunciation, Leonardo da Vinci, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
One of the tell-tale features in Tobias and the Angel that can be matched in Leonardo’s Annunciation is the right arm and hand of Tobias compared with the right arm and hand of the Virgin. Three colours are applied to the arm: blue on the upper arm; gold (at the elbow joint; and red/orange on the forearm. And then there is the hand formation, the crooked little finger, the extended thumb, and the three other fingers pressed down.
Detail from Tobias and the Angel, Andrea del Verrocchio, National Gallery, London
Other areas of Raphael’s clothing are echoed in the Annunciation. So, too, is Tobias’ doublet and decorative belt, adapted to reference Botticelli and Ghirlandaio. All very cryptic, I know, but embedded sub-narratives are all part of Leonardo’s version of the Annunciation, not just the biblical account at surface level recording the Angel Gabriel appearing before the Virgin Mary.
In a post I made on Tuesday of this week I mentioned the Waterboys, and then yesterday pointed to the five consecutive letters of the alphabet written in the Holy Book featured in Leonardo’s Annunciation painting.
Detail from The Annunciation, Leonardo da Vinci, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Without realising at the time, the two posts link to today’s input featuring Fra Lippi’s painting of Augustine of Hippo and the child by the river, generally titled The Vision of St Augustine.
The Vision of Augustine (1465), Far Lippi, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
The child can be recognised as a “waterboy’; the letter ‘O’ in the string of five letters as the hole in which the boy is attempting to fill with water. This in turn links to the veil pouch (representing water) beneath the Holy Book supported on a barrel-shape pedestal that rests on the sarcophagus or small altar.
Detail from The Annunciation, Leonardo da Vinci, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
The shape of the pedestal is meant to represent Sandro Botticelli. Botticelli is a nickname, meaning ‘little barrel’, and it is a young Botticelli that Fra Lippi has used as his model for the boy attempting the impossible in his painting. Botticelli was first apprenticed to Fra Lippi sometime around 1462.
Some observers wonder if Lippi’s boy is an angel or not. But he is winged, the shape of which blend into the rock outcrop behind him. His left arm points up to the top right corner of the painting to the group of three heads representing the Holy Trinity, and so a link to Leonardo’s pointer to the mystery of the Holy Trinity in his painting of the Annunciation.
Above and below, detail from Fra Lippi’s The Vision of Augustine, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Far Lippi’s painting records the story of Augustine of Hippo who, while writing his Latin book On the Trinity, took a break to meditate and went walking near the sea shore. He came across a young boy scooping water from the sea with a shell and then emptying it into a small hole in the sand. The bishop watched the event for a while and then asked the child what he was attempting to achieve. He answered, “I am pouring all the water of the sea into this hole.” Augustine replied, “but that’s impossible, the sea is large and the hole small.” And then the boy amazed Augustine with his response: “I will sooner pour all the water from the sea into this hole than you will be able to understand and penetrate in your lifetime the mystery of the Trinity.” Augustine continued his stroll and when he turned his head to look back, the child had disappeared.
So why does Botticelli feature in Leonardo’s Annunciation? The polymath punning on the word Annunciation and the time when Botticelli, along with Domenico Ghirlandaio, were the two men responsible for the denunciation of Leonardo, accusing him and four other men of sodomy in an anonymous letter to the Florentine authorities. Ghirlandaio is also featured in the Annunciation.
Botticelli continued the conversation in his famous Primavera painting, by depicting himself as the blindfolded, winged cupid firing a flame arrow in the direction of the Three Graces (portrayed as flowing water), and in particular the Grace portrayed as Simonetta Vespucci for whom he had an unrequited love, and which could never be returned as Simonetta was a married woman – an impossible achievement on Botticelli’s part which he likened to his portrait as a boy attempting to empty a river into a hole he had dug for himself.
Notice the outstretched left arm of the Cupid figure pointing down in the direction of Simonetta, and the outstretched arm of the boy pointing up in the direction of the Trinity, three representations of Grace.
Botticelli also picked up on other features in Leonardo’s Annunciation which he transformed and embedded in Primavera, some of which I have mentioned in earlier posts – for instance, the likeness of Zephyrus, god of the west wind, is based on Fra Lippi. Others I will explain in a future post.
Detail of the Holy Book from Leonardo da Vinci’s Annunciation. source Haltadefinizione
In Leonardo’s Annunciation painting, the Virgin Mary has her right arm outstretched and hand placed on an open holy book.
Closeup, the black and red writing on the open page appears to be an indistinguishable script, although some individual letters are recognisable but not any words.
Detail of the Holy Book from Leonardo da Vinci’s Annunciation. Uffizi Gallery
However, there is a string of five consecutive letters from the latin alphabet – m n o p q – that suggests the sequence is there for a reason – a code of some kind
Although the answer can stand alone, it also connects to other features in this section of the painting and particularly Dante Alighieri and his famous poem, Divine Comedy.
The string of alphabet letters “m n o p q”
In number terms, “m n o p q” represent “13, 14, 15, 16 and 17” out of the 26 letters of the alphabet, so absent from the string are the first 12 and the last 9 letters of the alphabet.
Together, both numbers, 12 and 9, are only divisible by 3 and 1. And here Leonardo is referring to the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as three persons in one – a hidden and incomprehensible mystery of life.The Divine Comedy concludes with Dante’s vision of the Trinity.
Three is the most important symbol in Dante’s Inferno in which there are nine circles of Hell and 33 cantos.
Note the number 33 shaped from the extended quoins behind the Virgin’s right shoulder. When the two numbers are multiplied, the result is 9.
Detail from the Annunciation showing the quoins and the Virgin Mary, Uffizi Gallery.
• Dante is referenced in other areas of this section of the painting which I will explain in a future post.
My attention was caught recently by news of the death of Karl Wallinger, a former member of Mike Scott’s band The Waterboys. This prompted me to listen once more to one of the band’s big hits, The Whole of the Moon, hence the the headline for this post and part of the song’s lyric. A video and remastered version of the song is published at the end of the post.
Detail from the Codex Leicester and earthshine notes recorded by Leonardo da Vinci
The lyric also reminded me of a sketch and notes by Leonardo da Vinci explaining a phenomenon known as “earth shine” or “moon glow” where the dark side of the moon is bathed in a faint light when the lunar phase is crescent or nearly new. The sketch is part of a collection of Leonardo’s notes and studies that form the Codex Leicester, now owned by Bill Gates which he bought at auction in 1994, and paid almost 31 million dollars for the privilege.
There is a ‘crescent’ feature in Leonardo’s painting of the Annunciation. It’s the green bag or purse around the angel Gabriel’s waist, although in this scenario the Angel is represented as the Islamic angel Jibril (see my recent post: Rejoice, so highly favoured.
Detail of the angel Jibril in Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Annunciation, Uffizi Gallery.
The feature also connects to the Muslim polymath Ismael al-Jazari and another of his candle clock inventions, one of which I posted details some months ago at this link: Solving the Monkey Puzzle.
The purse feature forms part of al-Jazari’s Candle Clock of the Swordsman, and is one of many elements Leonardo adapted from al-Jazari’s illustration and incorporated in the Annunciation painting to form the angel figure.
The Candle Clock of the Swordsman, a manuscript from 1315, Syria.
Al-Jazari’s “pouch” is crescent shaped and made of copper. It’s connected by a cord to a pulley on the swordsman’s arm. Notice his armbands. The swordsman stands on a green indented base. The candle is encased by a metal sheath.
Leonardo’s crescent-shape purse is coloured green (a colour copper turns to when it oxidises). Its indented feature echoes the indented base on which the swordsman stands. Above the purse is the angel’s waistband shaped as the sheath of a curved scimitar. The cord attached to the arm and pulley in al-Jazari’s illustration is represented as the frayed ‘favour’ banded around the angel’s right arm in the Annunciation, while the pulley is the collar at the angel’s elbow.
The balls stacked alongside the sleeve of the candle drop one by one at intervals into the copper purse, and are then carried by a sloping gulley into the falcon’s head and collected and stacked again to repeat the process. As each ball is dropped at hourly intervals the swordsman strikes the candle wick to trim the burnt section.
In Leonardo’s painting the gulley is his right forearm and the balls are represented on the cuff above the wrist. As the angel Gabriel, his right arm is extended as a greeting he makes to the Virgin – “Hail Mary”. But as the angel Jibril, his extended right arm represents a throwing action and refers to the Muslim Hadj to Mecca and the practice of “stoning the devil”, hence the stones feature on the cuff.
There is another section of the angel which Leonardo utilised to represent the balls, the gulley, the candle wick and the falcon’s head, and that is Jibril’s head of hair. The candle light is the golden crown of light rays; the rolling balls into the gulley and then the falcon’s head, are the rolled curls descending from the top of the angel’s head onto the the scapular of the right wing shaped as a falcon’s head.
A full description of the workings of Ishmael al-Jazari’s Candle Clock of the Swordsman is published at this link.
Detail from the Annunciation showing the quoins and the Virgin Mary, Uffizi Gallery.
The mention of stones is a counter balance to the quoins featured in the wall behind the Virgin Mary. I explained in an earlier post – When Stones Speak – that the quoins refer to a passage from Exodus33:2 and the words the Lord said to Moses: “I will send an angel in front of you” – the angel being Gabriel.
On the angel’s side, Leonardo has balanced this by suggesting a second biblical passage can be “mined” from the number 33 and 2, two being the reference to a second meaning, and the figure 33 being the letter ‘E’ and the third chapter from the book of Ecclesiastes, which begins, “There is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under the sun.” One of the sayings expressed in the passage is: “A time for throwing stones away, and a time for gathering them up”.
The green crescent shape of the angel Jibril’s purse can also be understood as the shape of a cam, for influencing rotational motion. For the cam to function it requires what is known as a “follower” to continue the process of influence or movement. On its own a cam does nothing. So here we have Leonardo making reference to Mohammad (mentioned in this post) and his followers spreading his sayings known as “Hadiths”. In a similar way the wisdom sayings of the speaker in Ecclesiastes are recorded and perpetuated.
.The “Mohammad” ribbon or favour attached to the angel’s upper arm is the force that drives the action of the stone-throwing.
The passage of time is also a major theme in Leonardo’s Annunciation, hence the many clock references in the painting, and this brings us back to Leonardo’s crescent moon and earth shine, and how the light of the moon is influenced by two sources, the sun and the reflection of the sun’s light on the earth.
I saw the crescent; you, Leonardo, saw the whole of the moon.
The Florentine Carmelite friar and artist, Filippo Lippi (c. 1406–1469), produced several paintings of the Annunciation, two of which Leonardo da Vinci sourced for his version of the angel Gabriel appearing before the Virgin Mary with news she was to bear a son to be named Jesus.
The two Annunciation paintings by Fra Lippi which Leonardo adapted features from are: the version (c.1449–1459) housed at the National Gallery, London (above); and an earlier portrayal (c. 1435–1440 kept at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC (below).Common to the three paintings is a reference to the image known as the Holy Face of Jesus.
The Annunciation, Fra Filippo Lippi, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.
This pen and ink drawing is attributed to Leonardo da Vinci and is housed at Oxford University’s Christchurch Gallery. It is said to be a preparation sketch for the sleeve of the Angel Gabriel, one of the two figures featured in Leonardo’s Annunciation painting, the other being the Virgin Mary.
Sleeve study for the Annunciation, Leonardo da Vinci, Christchurch Picture Gallery
The knotted ribbon tied to Gabriel’s upper arm represents God’s favour bestowed on the Virgin Mary – a son to be named Jesus. To the left of the knot is a representation of the Holy Spirit – a dove’s head and feathered wing – by which Mary will conceive.
Art historians date the drawing between 1470 and 1473. The Annunciation painting itself is dated to c. 1472-1476. However, there are narratives embedded in the painting two suggest it was not started before the latter part of 1476.
The Annunciation, Leonardo da Vinci, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
When Leonardo put paint to board he made a change to the drawing of the favour. Gone is the Holy Spirit reference, the knot is shown with a loop, and the ribbon is extended. But this does not detract from its representation as a “favour’. Now it is not only directed to a young Jewish woman but also to another Abrahamic faith, that of Islam and the prophet Muhammad.
Sleeve detail of the Angel Gabriel. Image, Haltadefinizione
The angel Gabriel can now be understood as the Angel Jibril (Gabriel) who made himself known to Muhammad on a mountain near Mecca when the Prophet was meditating in a cave known as Hira.
Ribbon detail of the Angel Gabriel. Image, Haltadefinizione
The loop and extended section of the ribbon represents the name Muhammed, and incorporates the head of a man covering his face with his two hands, presumably the Prophet in prayer.
Seal of Muhammad Wikipedia
Shown alongside is an image that formed a ring seal of the Prophet Muhammad, which he used to sign letters. It translates as “Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah”. It is an annunciation. The top line reads “Allah”; the next line reads ‘messenger” and the third line reads “Muhammad”.
Compare the similarity of the last line with the ribbon and knot, the exception being the direction of the loop. When the Prophet Muhammad was asked by his wife Ayesha “How is your love for me?” he would reply, “Like the rope’s knot” (meaning strong and secure).
The name of the Prophet Muhammad as it appeared on his signature seal.
A major thread woven in Leonardo’s painting is that of writing and announcing, or proclamation. There are other examples apart from those issued by Gabriel, aka Jibril. Another narrative is the knot and its variations. So, also, are more references to Islam, notably Mecca, the Kaaba and its Black Stone.
Islamic folio of the Annunciation from Abu Rayan al-Biruni’s The Remaining Signs of the Past Centuries (Wikimedia Commons)
This morning I came across this remarkable photograph of a bird showing light refracting through its wings in a rainbow effect.
It was taken by wildlife photographer Andrew Fuesk Peters and reminded me very much of the angel’s spectrum colour wings from Jan van Eyck’s painting of the Annunciation.
An article where Andrew describes how he achieved this effect can be accessed at this link on the BBC website.
Almost a year ago (March 27) I posted an item about Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Annunciation – titled “When Stones Speak”. It explained the significance of the group of quoins or cornerstones placed behind the Virgin Mary.
Detail from the Annunciation, by Leonardo da Vinci, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
One narrative associated with cornerstones is that they point to a passage from the Old Testament. Those on the left column above Mary’s right hand are shaped and mirrored to represent the letter E and the numeral 33. Those on the right represent the numeral 2. Together they point to Exodus 33:2 and the words the Lord said to Moses: “I will send an angel in front of you” – the angel in the painting, Gabriel.
A variant of this motif is repeated by Perugino in the Delivery of the Keys fresco; by Ghirlandaio in his fresco of the Birth of Mary; and by Michelangelo in the Creation of Adam.
Handing of the Keys, by Pietro Perugino, Sistine Chapel
Perugino puns on the word quoin, sounding like coin, and there are three scenes in his fresco that reference passages in the New Testament about coins.
The Temple tax paid by Jesus and Peter (Matthew 17:24-27)
The tribute to Caesar (Matthew 22:15-22)
Judas betrays Jesus (Matthew 26:14-16)
The Temple tax detail from Perugino’s fresco
The Temple tax passage is referenced at the door of the temple. After Peter was asked if his master had to pay the half-shekel, Jesus said to his disciple: “Go to the lake and cast a hook; take the first fish that bites, open his mouth and there you will find a shekel; take it and give it to them for you and me.”
Notice Peter’s left arm and side shaped as the fish-head with its mouth open, and his right arm shaped as a hook and tail end.
Observe also the silver face feature on the front of tax collector’s tunic – and the lion-head shape on his left arm, perhaps a link to the next illustration in the fresco and the question about paying tribute to Caesar.
The group of figures on the left side of the fresco’s middle ground represents the time when Jesus was asked if it was permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not. Jesus recognised it was a trick question designed to trap him. He asked to see the money used to pay taxes and was handed a denarius. He then asked whose head and whose name was on the coin. “Caesar” was the reply. So Jesus then gave his answer to the question: “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.”
From this it can be understood that the silver face on the tax collector’s front represents Caesar, while the lion-head shape on his shoulder represents Jesus as the Lion of Judah.
The scene also illustrates another passage from Matthew’s gospel when armed men arrested Jesus at Gethsemane after he was betrayed by Judas for thirty pieces of silver. This links to the figure of Judas in the lineup beneath the group of soldiers, shown with his hand in the common purse.
It is not by coincidence that Perugino sourced Matthew’s gospel for the three narratives. Matthew was a former tax collector.
Domenico Ghirlandaio also referenced Leonardo’s quoins when he frescoed the Birth of Mary in the Tornabuoni Chapel. At this stage I shall simply point out where he placed the three-by-two combination without an explanation as I intend to reveal more about this fresco at another time.
Detail from the Birth of Mary, by Domenico Ghirlandaio, Tornabuoni Chapel, Florence
Three facing wall panels, and the two narrow side panels behind the group of figures are Ghirlandaio’s take on Leonardo’s composition. Michelangelo drew his inspiration for his version from the eight partying putti featured above the three facing panels.
Count the figures behind the Creator’s right arm and notice they are shown as two groups of triplets (as in the musical term). The female figure of Simonetta Vespucci and Botticelli at her feet represent the two figures to complete the set of eight.
Detail from the Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel
Botticelli is placed in a support role for the figure of Simonetta who, in this instance is meant to represent a “lira da braccio” – an arm lyre which Leonardo da Vinci was a noted player and maker. In fact, he was known to have produced a silver version representing a horse head for Ludovico Sforza when he left Florence to work for the Duke of Milan.
The horse head reference forms the upper part and shoulder of the Creator’s left arm.
The head is elongated as the arm of the Virgin and Gabriel’s wax wing in Leonardo’s Annunciation. Ghirlandaio also embedded a double horse-head reference in the Birth of Mary fresco.
Michelangelo reversed this feature. Botticelli and the Creator are seen with arms wrapped around Simonetta, the “lira da brachia”. A similar motif was included by Botticelli in his Uffizi version of the Adoration of the Magi.
The lyre’s droning sound can be related to the name Vespucci, meaning wasps, as portrayed on the family’s coat of arms. This connection was also made by Botticelli in his painting of Venus and Mars.
So which biblical passage does Michelangelo’s three-three-two formation allude to? It can only be the Hebrew Psalm 33, verse 2: “Give thanks to the Lord upon the harp, with a ten-stringed lute sing him songs.”
Finally, back to the fish and the shekel taken from its mouth. In Leonardo’s Annunciation there is a disguised reference to Jonah, the prophet who was swallowed by a large fish – some say a whale or a dolphin – and then three days later was vomited onto the shoreline. This event is said to represent the Resurrection of Jesus.
In a descending line from the Temple tax depiction Jesus is shown handing the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to Peter. When Jesus spoke to the distressed Martha after her brother’s death, he said: “I am the Resurrection…” (John 11:25)
When the figure of Jesus is rotated 90 degrees clockwise, he is now shown rising from the mouth of a large fish. The three-day reference and clockwise rotation is a pointer to the clock references in Leonardo’s Annunciation and which Ghirlandaio embedded in the Birth of Mary fresco.
• Much more to come on Perugino’s Delivery of the Keys fresco.
Following on from my previous post and the mention how Pietro Perugino paired one of the figures in the lineup of apostles with Leonardo’s archangel Gabriel from his painting of the Annunciation, there are several other pairing or twinning narratives in the Delivery of Keys fresco. This type of methodology was used by Leonardo in the Annunciation.
Delivery of the Keys, by Pietro Perugino, Sistine Chapel
Some of the visual pairings used by Perugino are obvious: the two the triumphal arches; the mirrored construction of the temple; the two groups of figures in the centre ground representing passages from the gospels; the two groups of apostles either side of the central figure of Jesus handing over the pair of keys.
There are more pairings, but not so obvious. Some of the figures are presented as having two identities, while some pairings are matched or echoed with other groupings.
For instance, the man placed on the extreme left of the lineup in the foreground is said to be Alfonso II, Duke of Calabria. He is also presented as Leonardo da Vinci. This pair are mirrored by the figure on the right edge of the fresco who has two identities: Giuliano di Piero de Medici, and the painter Domenico Ghirlandaio.
Left: Alfonso II of Calabria, doubling up as Leonardo da Vinci. Right: Giuliano de’ Medici, doubling up as Domenico Ghirlandaio
Giuliano was assassinated in Florence Cathedral on April 26, 1478, in what became known as the Pazzi Conspiracy. The assassination was supported by Pope Sixtus IV, whom the Sistine Chapel is named after. The outcome was that for the next two years, the Medici family and Florence were at war with Sixtus and supporting states, one of which was Naples whose army was led by the condottiere Alfonso II, the son of Ferdinand I, king of Naples.
Medals depicting Alfonso II of Calabria, and Giuliano de’ Medici of Florence
Eventually the warring parties came to terms and as a result, Lorenzo de’ Medici commissioned painters to assist frescoing the walls of the Sistine Chapel. Perugino was already at the Vatican having been commissioned earlier by Sixtus IV.
As for the conflict between Leonardo and Ghirlandaio, this could only relate to the time when Leonardo was anonymously reported to the police for a sexual encounter with a male prostitute. Leonardo discloses and denounces both Ghirlandaio and Botticelli in his painting of the Annunciation as the men responsible for his character “assassination”.
More about pairings in Perugino’s fresco in my next post.
I had intended to explain in this post more about the angels placed at the left side of the Creator in Michelangelo’s Creation of Man (Adam). The original source or inspiration for this feature is Leonardo’s Annunciation painting.
The Annunciation, by Leonardo da Vinci, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
However, I’ve since discovered that Michelangelo was also inspired by another source, Domenico Ghirlandaio’s fresco of the Birth of Mary in the Tornabuoni Chapel, Florence. This painting not only took its lead from Leonardo’s Annunciation but also an earlier fresco in the Sistine Chapel, The Delivery of the Keys, attributed to Pietro Perugino,
The timeline is: 1476-77 – The Annunciation, by Leonardo da Vinci (Uffizi Gallery, Florence) 1481-82 – Delivery of the Keys to St Peter, by Pietro Perugino (North Wall, Sistine Chapel) 1485-90 – The Nativity of Mary, by Domenico Ghirlandaio (Tornabuoni Chapel, Florence) 1508-12 – The Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo (Sistine Chapel)
Delivery of the Keys, by Pietro Perugino, Sistine Chapel
More information about Perugino’s Christ Handing the Keys to St Peter is here and here.
I shall start posting details about the fresco which will explain its connection to Leonardo’s painting of The Annunciation.
Seemingly there is no sight of any angel in Perugino’s fresco, but there is. So too are references to the extended arm and wing features that appear in Leonardo’s painting. What is an interesting discovery is that Perugino also embedded a reference to Fioretta Gorini, wrongly identified by art historians in her portrait by Leonardo as Ginevra de Benci. As confirmation, Ghirlandaio picks up on this connection in the Birth of Mary.
The Birth of Mary, by Domenico Ghirlandaio, Tornabuoni Chapel, Florence
As for Michelangelo’s group of angels, they are partly connected to the putti figures in Ghirlandaio’s fresco.
In Perugino’s fresco, the fifth figure from the left is based on the greeting stance of the angel (Gabriel) in Leonardo’s Annunciation. However, the tuft of hair seen on the forehead of Leonardo’s angel appears on the figure behind Perugino’s angel – Judas.
He is positioned as a wing on the shoulder. His extended beard is a reference to Gabriel’s extended wax wing in the Annunciation which referred to the fall of Icarus who flew too close to the sun and fell to earth. Judas also fell to earth after he hung himself in remorse for his betrayal of Jesus.
Perugino’s ‘angel’ is based on the likeness of Leonardo.
The Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
In June last year I made three posts highlighting the unusual winged scapulas attached to the angel Gabriel in Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Annunciation – the heads of a monkey and a bird.
I also pointed to a fresco by Domenico Ghirlandaio, the Preaching of John the Baptist (Tornabuoni Chapel, Florence) where the artist embedded the monkey under the chin of one of the Pharisees (Leonardo) being chastised by the Baptist (Ghirlandaio) when he referred to them as being a “brood of vipers” (Matthew 3 : 8).
As mentioned in a recent post, heads or other entities on shoulders is a signature feature in Leonardo’s paintings, and Michelangelo made ample use of this characteristic in his Creation of Man fresco.
Leonardo’s monkey and bird feature is part of the Annunciation narrative referring to the Muslim polymath Ismael al-Jazari, and his candle clock invention that featured a monkey and a falcon.
Ismail al_Jazari and a drawing of his Candle Clock
Michelangelo’s interpretation of this narrative is depicted in the section below the Creator’s right arm which shows the severed head of John the Baptist leaning on his right shoulder, and which also supports the head of the dark-skinned angel whose right arm covers part of his face.
Gabriel’s wax wing extension
This muscular arm is shaped as a wing tapering towards the hand disappearing into a dark recess. It represents the extended wax wing of Leonardo’s angel Gabriel, the wax associated with al-Jazari’s candle clock.
Notice that the red wrap is formed into a similar shape as the falcon head in Leonardo’s painting. It continues over the angel’s shoulder and under his extended arm to form a turban covering the head of a bearded man in profile (al-Jazari) – a reference not only to Ghirlandaio’s depiction of the Pharisee, but also to Leonardo’s embodiment of the Muslim’s candle clock invention.
The “brood” reference also echo’s another passage from Matthew’s gospel (23:37) – “How often have I longed to gather your children as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you have refused.” It serves as a mirror and connection to the left hand of Simonetta Vespucci covered under the arm of the Creator.
Left: Domenico Ghirlandaio as John the Baptist in the Baptism of Christ. Right: Leonardo as a Pharisee in the Preaching of John the Baptist.
Back to Ghirlandaio and his portrayal in the Baptism of Christ painting, attributed to both Andrea del Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci. Observe the visual pun on the word hair and the long ears of a hare featured on the Baptist’s chin, which could be another reason why Ghirlandaio later placed the monkey head on the chin of Leonardo in his fresco of the Preaching of John the Baptist. Leonardo is portrayed as a Pharisee, hence his turban shaped as a coiled viper. The winding turban feature and short beard doubles up as a reference to Ismael al-Jazari and the similar profile referenced in Michelango’s version.
There are two other parts in this section that are also adapted from Leonardo’s Annunciation: the dark angel’s extended knee and the dark red area beneath the angel’s elbow. Both connect to the several Islamic references Leonardo made in his early painting. I shall explain more about this in a future post.
My next post will explain how the group of six angels behind the Creator’s left arm relates to another section of Leonardo’s Annunciation.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised to discover today that Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel panel of the Creation of Man references the Muslim inventor Ismail al-Jazari (1136-1206). After all, the fresco contains several pointers to Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Annunciation, and this early work of Leonardo also references al-Jazari – known as the “Father of Robotics”.
Detail from Michelangelo’s Creation of Man, Sistine Chapel
More to come on this, and an explanation for the two groups of angel triplets tucked behind the Creator’s right arm.
The Annunciation, Leonardo da Vinci, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
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