Adoration of the Magi, 1481, never completed, Age 27
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Copyright: Michael W. Domoretsky / www.lionardofromvinci.com ~2005~2008
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Leonardo represents himself in
allegorical pictorial form, an innocent
bystander, painting himself in the lower
left corner of the Battle of Anghiari. He is
dressed in civilian clothing wearing no
armor or helmet caught in the brutal
battle, shielding himself with a heavy
metal shield. His profile is very similar to
the portrait he painted of himself in the
Adoration of the Magi.
His pictorial presence in the Adoration
of the Magi looks away from the center
of the picture, he is dressed in his
apprentice clothing.
Though Leonardo lived and worked
throughout Italy, traveled Europe and
likely further during the turbulent
historical times of rulers overthrowing
rulers and broken alliances in Italian
history, he was commissioned to invent
war machines and design military
devices for his powerful patrons, there
is evidence from his writings, and his
depictions of himself that he was a
pacifist. In the Battle of Anghiari he can
be seen in the lower left hand corner
shielding himself from the battle, the
sword case attached to his waist
containing no sword, apart and trying to
distance himself from the battle. He is
simply a bystander observing the battle
of titans trying to avoid becoming a
casualty.
The positioning of this figure is
significant at a number of levels. It is
both allegorical and it is self portrait of
Leonardo at that time in his life.
