Leonardo’s "Savior of the World" Bulletin art, Sunday, Aug 12
Leonardo da Vinci created his own "Savior of the World" or “Salvator Mundi” around 1500 that was lost after generations and only restored and exhibited for the first time in London in 2011. It was purchased by a consortium in 2005 from a private collection. The painting shows Christ, in Renaissance garb, giving a benediction with his raised right hand and crossed fingers while holding a crystal sphere in his left hand. We will use this on the cover of next week’s bulletin but its rediscovery and the distinctive nature of this work is its own story.
Here is the full image
Some scriptural background. The bread metaphor began at the end of July in the Book of John and continues through Aug 12. Prior to that the focus was on viewing Jesus through healing.
The bread stories extend the relationship to understand the essence of Jesus. Aug 12th reading is clear. “This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
Savior of the world is one way to sum this up. During the Renaissance artists struggled with visually representing this in an era where books were few even a generation after the printing press was invented.
The Savior of the World called “Salvator Mundi” became a pattern among artists typically depicting Christ with his right hand raised in blessing and his right handing holding a globe surmouted by a cross, representing the world.
Leonard da Vinci created his own “Salvator Mundi” around 1500 that was lost after generations and only restored and exhibited for the first time in London in 2011. It was purchased by a consortium in 2005 from a private collection. The painting was in poor shape. The panel on which it is painted had split — badly — and someone, at some point, attempted to spackle it back together with stucco. The panel had also been subjected — unsuccessfully — to a forced flattening, and then glued to another backing. The worst offenses were crude areas of overpainting, in an attempt to hide the botched panel repair. And then there was plain old dirt and grime, centuries of the stuff.
The painting shows Christ, in Renaissance garb, giving a benediction with his raised right hand and crossed fingers while holding a crystal sphere in his left hand.
These symbols are old. The use of hand gestures giving blessing is an ancient motif in art A forward facing depiction of Christ was common in Early Christian art, seen in a range of settings – from Roman catacomb paintings to Coptic frescoes in Egypt. An orb as a symbolic representation of power also has ancient roots, commonly seen in Ancient Egyptian and Pagan motifs representing the sun. It was adopted by the early Christian Church to represent the dominion of the Christian deity over heaven and the earth. Early depictions often show the orb with the Greek letters representing Christ, or capped with a crucifix.
This is only the 16th Leonardo painting still with us and the first rediscovery in a century. It is estimated that 75% of his work has been lost.
There at at least five distinguishing characteristics of Leonardo’s treatment of Salvator:
1. Hair The curls in the hair are reminiscent of St. John the Baptist, and the hands and skin look like the Mona Lisa and other Leonardo paintings.
2. Fingers – Esquisite detail in rendering. As one expert expressed – “ What Leonardo had done, and the copyists and imitators didn’t pick up, was to get just how the knuckle sort of sits underneath the skin."
3. Globe -Observers have linked the appearance of this feature in Salvator Mundi as a demonstration of Leonardo’s fascination with optics, and the depiction of translucent elements in paint. He is the only one that could have rendered a globe like this. Others rendered them in brass or gold.
4. Tunic –The intricacy of work demonstrated on the tunic of Christ are also cited as proof of Leonardo’s authorship with the knotwork.
5. Face of Christ. Leonardo’s people from the Mona Lisa to the Last Supper often provide striking, even haunting faces. They tend to look through you.
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