Adoration of the Magi by Leonardo da Vinci

“More Than Meets the Eye”

In my examination of “Adoration of the Magi”, I am most struck by the division of Light & Darkness between the two main groups of people. Leonardo's intentions were to show that stark gulf between spiritual light & darkness, while at the same time filling the work with symbols and shapes that supported the overall theme of the Adoration.

Much attention in recent years has been given to that which is “hidden” in the under painting revealed by x-ray or infra-red. Much of this was given attention due to fictional works supposing hidden secrets in Leonard’s works. My contention is that what Leonardo intended for us to see is right there on the surface. It is only a matter of our perception.

All aspects of the work that I will point out support the overall theme of the painting. Obviously there is Spirtual Light & Darkness. The group an the right side are those who are in darkness, who have not seen the Light (i.e. Christ). So this group is engulfed in darkness and therefore the faces depict a cascade of agony, confusion, & despair. The face of the figure at far right is even turned away as if in rejection of Christ or an intentional turning away. In the midst of this group in darkness we can see an old man whose expression bears the face of death (more on this later), there's a young man lost in thought, some apparently in agony & confusion. All of this is readily obvious & supportive of the theme.
Those in the light are obviously mother & child, the magi, numerous others to the left. Mary and others sit upon a rock from which a tree has sprung forth. Again, Christ symbolized by the “Rock of Salvation”, as well as a “tender shoot” coming forth. Christ reaches out to touch the gift of myrrh as if to embrace his coming death. There is turmoil of battle in the back ground which would be consistent with the turmoil of that time.

Now for some things I will point out that you may or may not agree with. Moving back first to the old man in the midst of the darkness, we can see the “face of death” itself here. Look at his left eye & the shadow to the right of it. Look at it as if it we another eye socket & put it together with his real left eye. These look like the eyes of a skull. The shadow below the cheekbone is like the nasal cavity & the line of the jaw as the mouth grimacing in a twisted frown. The "skull" has also been used frequently in painting to represent Golgotha or Calvary, the place of Christ’s death. Also the skull functions as reminder of human finiteness, subject to time and ending in death. And in support of this hidden face of death, look at Holbein’s Skull which is stretched beyond recognition in In The Ambassadors.

The pair of faces to the right of the old man also make a “face of agony” when viewed as one rather than two faces. Both of these expressions fit the theme of being separated in darkness. Da Vinci here shows us the faces of sin, which is death & separation from God. Even the face above these heads is twisted in confusion. If you are doubtful, look at the portraits that Picasso painted and notice the multifaceted expressions he represented in his work. And this would put Da Vinci far ahead of Picasso, but with incredible genius in style.

Also Christ is represented as the seed that would come forth from the woman. If you look at the shapes both the child’s raised left leg with Mary’s left had behind him, the shapes are like an open seed pod. And below it is a shape of cloth that could represent the tender shoot or the umbilical cord from the mother. Bizarre, yes, but again it fits the themes & symbols here.

More to come ..........