Signatures and numbers in Leonardo's work
A few days ago, on Friday, June 22, 2018, a new discovery of Leonardo's lost work came to light. It is a supposed self-portrait of Leonardo, incarnated by the archangel Gabriel, in a tile investigated by the Italian scholar Ernesto Solari. It is an enameled work of 20x20 cm. I encourage the reader to expand the details through the digital press, as I have done (I have consulted lavanguardia.es).
Small self-portrait attributed to Leonardo, dated in the year 1471.
I consider this finding interesting for a very special reason. Fundamentally because it is accompanied by a signature of Leonardo himself, in which we can read (with difficulties) Da Vinci Lionardo. The date is visible (year 1471), and also some numbers (52 and 72) and his initials: LDV ib (article in La Vanguardia, 22-06-2018).
Signature and date in Leonardo's self-portrait.
The Italian researcher Silvano Vinceti was the first to find this type of symbols hidden in the work of Leonardo. Specifically, in his famous Gioconda of El Louvre:
LV in an eye of LA GIOCONDA.
A 72 under the bridge of La Gioconda. Above the letters S A, in allusion to Saint Augustine. See:http://www.joseluisespejo.com/index.php/leonardo-da-vinci/321-non-e-ise-antipodes.
A C (or L) and an S in both eyes of the Mona Lisa of Paris.
Until recently it was considered that Leonardo never signed his paintings. With this clear evidence, this notion has been denied. This is what convinced me that the Magdalena Leggente de Barcelona is a work of the great Florentine, as it has been profusely signed by him:
The Magdalena Leggente of Barcelona. Down, the skull.
LdV and LV in the tiny skull of the Magdalena Leggente of Barcelona.
Leo and Le, both underlined. Note the capital A on the right.
More signatures of Leonardo in the Magdalena Leggente of Barcelona, accompanied by other messages (in Spanish) and numbers (including the 26).
Note that in the Gioconda and in the Magdalena Leggente the signature of Leonardo is also accompanied by numbers, among which we find the 72 (as in the above mentioned tile) and the 26 (half of 52, see above). It is clear that this is a distinctive feature of Leonardo's authorship. In that case, is it not clear that the Magdalena Leggente could be considered the work of Leonardo, or at least of his workshop?
The use of letters and numbers with a hidden language could be a consequence of the influence exerted on Leonardo by contemporary esoterists and Kabbalists of Florence: Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola. The latter wrote in his Conclusiones mágicas y cabalísticas (editorial Obelisco) the following sentence: "Just as the characters [the letters] are specific to the magical work, so the numbers are specific to the work of the Cabala" (page 75). As an example of the above, Pico della Mirandola (Obelisco, page 97) speaks of the "name of the 72 letters" (God). Note the 72 below the bridge of the Mona Lisa, which Leonardo associates with Saint Augustine (hence this 72 is accompanied by the initials S A).
We also find the symbol LdV in a drawing of Santa Cecilia, supposedly copied by a Spaniard (Francisco de Zamora), from a statue of Montserrat, before the destruction of this monastery at the hands of the French. See in this regard my article:http://www.joseluisespejo.com/index.php/leonardo-da-vinci/325-un-espia-en-montserrat-y-un-secreto-ano-1482.
Two LdV signatures (Leonardo da Vinci) superimposed by Francisco de Zamora on a drawing of a statue of Santa Cecilia supposedly made by Leonardo da Vinci in Montserrat.
In short, it is clear that: 1) Leonardo did sign his works; 2) accompanied these signatures of numeric keys in the form of cryptograms; 3) in La Magdalena Leggente of Barcelona both conditions are fulfilled, which makes this last painting likely attributable to Leonardo da Vinci.
Taking into account that this Magdalena Leggente was found in Barcelona, that it is a piece of copper (the first known copper painting), which also had been enameled, that Leonardo was the first painter who spoke of this pictorial method, and that the Magdalena Leggente was held by a famous family of silversmiths, who in the 15th century were the most renowned copper craftsmen in this city (they had made the custodies of Santa Maria del Mar and the one of the Cathedral of Girona), this would mean that Leonardo would have made this piece in Barcelona, in one of his trips to the city. See in this regard:
http://www.lavanguardia.com/cultura/20110505/54149303319/un-leonardo-da-vinci-en-barcelona.html
It is a proven fact that Leonardo had a Spanish disciple, named Fernando (or Hernando) Yáñez de la Almedina (Hernandiyáñez), who presumably would have made the Mona Lisa of Madrid, with has cryptograms in Spanish (one of them represents a Spanish Moor). See in this regard:
His links with Spain may have originated in the three trips that - from my point of view - he would have made to Catalonia, which I summarized briefly in my article La presencia de Leonardo en España, silenciada. This would explain the finding of Magdalena Leggente in the city of Barcelona.
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