Cold Christ child

                                                                          Leonardo da Vinci

 Dear Reader,

 

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor and architect.

Although he was known for his dramatic and expressive art work, Leonardo also conducted dozens of carefully thought out experiments and created futuristic inventions that were groundbreaking for the time.  His keen eye and quick mind led him to make important scientific discoveries, yet he never published his ideas.

He never married, and it cannot be stated with certainty that he had a sexually intimate relationship with any person, male or female, nonetheless art historian Raymond Stites suggested that Leonardo was romantically involved with Cecilia Gallerani who was the subject of his painting Lady with an Ermine.

He was most likely to have been a vegetarian and historians have claimed that minestrone was his favourite dish.

The Last Supper is one of the most famous paintings in the world.  It represents the last 'dinner' between Jesus and his disciples.

 

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I have always wondered why The Christ Child was painted with no clothes on. Very strange when you consider how cold it must have been at night.

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From Dorothy Wordsworth   February 21st  1802 in Cumberland

'A very wet morning....Snowdrops quite out, but cold and winterly; yet, for all this, a thrush that lives in our orchard has shouted and sung its merriest all day long.

 From Richard Hayes  February 22nd 1773 in Kent

'I observe now Spring begins by my Crocusses and Crown Pearls under hall window, with yellow rose budding for leaf.

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Cold Christ Child

 

Why did Murillo, Fra Filippo Lippi,

Leonardo da Vinci paint

the Christ Child nude?

Did they not know of night-time cold?

 

Was the hot Levantine wind

blowing in the midday sun,

enough to stay the chill of evening

and warm this precious child?

 

They painted the Madonna in a dress,

the soldiers fully clad

in jerkins, armour, helmets,

the angels in sumptuous robes,

but the Christ Child is left on marble floors,

or dandled in laps,

with nothing to swaddle and secure him.

 

Could it be that this cold start

was not enough 

to set alight the love

needed to save us all?

 

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With best wishes, Patricia