Left and right in Leonardo

Konsthistorisk Tidskrift

Volumn 66, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 37-50

  Poseq, Avigdor W G ^a  

^a HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM   (Israel)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 24244433566     PISSN: 00233609     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00233609708604419     Document Type: Article

References (106)

1. On 'enantiomorph' images: M. C. Corballis & I. L. Beale, The Psychology of Left and Right (Hillsdale, N. J. , 1976), p. 4 and 43-57.
2. L. B. Alberti, On Painting, trans. J. R. Spencer, (New Haven, 1066), p. 83.
3. G. Cardano, De Su btilitate (Nürnberg, 1550)
4. De la subtilste et subtiles inventions (Paris, 1556), p. 52
5. cf. J. Baltrušaitis, Lo Specchio (Milan, 1981), p. 12.
6. "Quado voi vedere se la tua pittura tutta ïseime à comformità colla cosa rirratta di naturale, abbi vno spechio, e favi dètro specchiare la cosa viua [. . . ] lo spechio si de' pigliare per tuo maestro. . . " (When you want to see if your picture corresponds throughout with the objects you have drawn from nature, take a mirror and look in that at the reflection of the real things [. . . ] You should take the mirror for your guide), The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci, ed. J. P. Richter (Oxford. 1939), repr. New York, 1970), vol. I: p. 320, no. 529.
7. For interpretation of this passage: C. Pedretti, Commentary (Berkeley, 1977), I: p. 183 (208-210);
8. also E. H. Gombrich, Art and Illusion (New York, 1962), p. 83.
9. ". . . tu debi tenere uno spechio piano e spesso ri-guardarvi dětro l'opera tua, la quale ui fia veduta per lo contrario e par-ratti di mano d'altro maestro, e li givdicherai meglio l'errori che altrimê ti". (". . . you should have a flat mirror and often look at your work as reflected in it, when you will see it reversed it will appear like some other painter's work, so you will be better able to judge of its faults than in any other way"), Literary Works, vol. I: p. 321, no. 530.
10. The problem of left and right in a picture has been studied from biological, behavioural and aesthetic approaches. Aspects of pictorial composition first discussed by H. Wölfflin, "Über das Rechts und Links im Bilde", Gedänken cur Kunstgeschichte (Basel, 1941), p. 82-90
11. and J. Schlosser, "Intorno alla letture dei quadri", Critica, 28 (1930), p. 72
12. are elaborated by M. Gaffron, "Right and Left in Pictures", Art Quarterly, 3 (1950), p. 312-331;
13. M. Faistauer, "Links und Rechts in Bilde", Amicis: Jahrbuch der Öesterreichische Gallerien (1926), p. 77;
14. R. Keller, "The Right-Left Problem in Art", Ciba Symposia, 3 (1942), p. 1139;
15. M. Friedman, "More on Right and Left in Painting", Assaph, 1 (1980), p. 123-132;
16. also my Format in Painting (Tel-Aviv, 1978), p 107-110;
17. "Left and Right in Rembrandt's Defeat of Goliath", Studia Rosenthaliana, 23 (1989), p. 8-27;
18. and: "Right and Left in Soutine's Last Landscapes", Word and Image, 11/1 (1995) p. 31-36.
19. For more general discussion see: M. Schapiro, "On Some Problems in Semiotics of the Visual Field: Field and Vehicle in Image Signs", Semiotica, 1 (1969), p. 223-242;
20. B. A. Uspensky, "Right and Left in Painting", Semiotica, 13 (1975), p. 33-39;
21. H. B. J. Maginnis, "The Role of Perceptional Learning in Connoisseurship", Art History 13 (1990), p. 117;
22. U. Eco, O. Calabrese & L. Corrain, Le figure del tempo (Milan, 1987), p. 15, 22-23.
23. For the psychophysiological aspects see: C. G. Gross & M. H. Bornstein, "Left and Right in Science and Art". Leonardo, 10 (Winter, 1978), p. 29-38;
24. also N. Humphrey & C. McManus, "Status and Left Cheek", New Scientist, 59 (1973), p. 437-439.
25. A. L. Yarbus, Eye Movements and Vision (New York, 1967), p. 171-196.
26. Corballis & Beale, The Psychology of Left and Right, p. 190-193;
27. C. Porac & S. Coren, Lateral Preferences and Human Behaviour (New York, 1977).
28. For the symbolism of the right-left polarity: R. Hertz, "La pré-eminence de la main droit", Melanges de sociologie religieuse et folklore (Paris, 1928), p. 99-129.
29. On the Jewish origins of the Western symbolism of right and left see: A. Löwinger, "Rechts und Links in Bibel und Tradition der Juden", Mitteilungen zur jüdische Volkskunde. 1-2 (1916), p. 1-70.
30. L. D. Ettlinger, Antonio and Piero Pallaituolo Complete Edition with a Critical Catalogue (Oxford, 1978), no. 8, p. 141; plates 13-14.
31. The motif of curtainraising angels was common in funerary sculpture, but it occurs also in Piero della Francesca's Madonna dell Parto, where the twin angels were derived from a single cartoon, cf. E. Battisti, Piero delta Francesca (1971, repr. Milan, 1992), I: p. 316-325;
32. also C. Bertelli, Piero delta Francesca (n. p. , 1991), p. 206.
33. On the special significance of such symmetrical configurations: E. H. Gombrich, "Norm and Form: The Stylistic Categories of Art History and Their Origins in Renaissance Ideas", Norm and Form (London, 1966), p. 81-99, especially p. 95.
34. For a general discussion of symmetry in Renaissance art: D. Summers, "Figure come fratelli: A Transformation of Symmetry in Renaissance Painting", Art Quarterly, 1/1 (1977), p. 60-66;
35. on symmetry: H. Weyl, Symmetry (Princeton, 1952).
36. Ettlinger, Pollaiuolo, no. 6, p. 139: plates 83-89.
37. The figurai arrangement is anticipated in Benozzo Gozzoli's Martyrdom of St. Sebastian in S. Giminiano Collegiata, cf. Gombrich, Norm and Form, p. 95, fig. 142.
38. The device occurs also in a Flagellation from the Castagno workshop: M. Salmi, Andrea del Castagno (Florence, 1961), pl. 80b.
39. Ettlinger, Pollaiuolo, no. 15, p. 146: plates 72-73.
40. On Raphael's cartoons see: H-Wölfflin, "Das problem der Umkehrung in Raphaels Teppichkartons", Gedanken zur Kunstgeschichte, p. 90ff. ;
41. also: A. P. Oppé, "Right and Left in Raphael's Cartoons", Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes. 7 (1944). p. 82-94;
42. also: Gaffron, "Right and Left", p. 315.
43. The content of this picture is reported in a letter written on April 14th 1501 to Isabella d'Este by Fra Pietro Novellara, cf. L. Beltrami, Documenti e memorie riguardanti la vita e le opere di Leonardo da Vinci (Milan, 1919), no. 108;
44. for a transcription see: A. Vezzosi, in: Cat. Leonardo dopo Milano: La Madonna dei Fusi 1501) (Città di Vinci, Castello dei Conti Guidi, 1982), n. 44. I am much obliged to Dr. Vezzosi for this catalogue.
45. Cat. Leonardo dopo Milano, fig. 11;
46. also M. Kemp & J. Roberts, Cat. Leonardo da Vinci (London, Hayward and Regional Centre, 1989), p. 34, fig. 30;
47. M. Kemp, in: Cat. Leonardo da Vinci: The Mystery of a Madonna (Edinburgh National Gallery of Scotland, 15 May-12July, 1992)
48. and C. Pedretti, "The Mysteries of a Leonardo Madonna, Mostly Unsolved", Achademia Leonardi Vinci, 5 (1992), p. 169-175.
49. Cat. Leonardo dopo Milano, fig. 49-52.
50. Cat. Leonardo dopo Milano, fig. 48.
51. On the convention see: Uspensky, "Right and Left in Painting";
52. H. Ledercq, s. v. "Droit", in F. Cabrol & H. Leclerq, Dictionnaire d'archeologie chrétienne et de liturgie (Paris, 1924), IV/2: p. 1547-1549.
53. M. Wallis, "Medieval Art as Language" (Actes du V Congres International d'Esthetique, Amsterdam, 1964), p. 429;
54. also Hertz, "La pré-eminence de la main droite".
55. The narrative convention is especially evident in illustrated rolls, e. g. , the Joshua Roll, cf. K. Weitzmann, The Joshua Roll (Princeton, 1948), passim;
56. also idem. Illustrations in Roll and Codex (Princeton, 1970), passim.
57. For the Renaissance practice: M. Schapiro, Words and Picture (The Hague, 1973);
58. M. A. Lavin, The Place of Narrative: Mural Decoration in Italian Churches 431-1600 (Chicago, 1990);
59. L. Andrews, "Ordering Space in Renaissance Times: Position and Meaning in Continuous Narration", Word and Image, 10 (1994), p. 84-94.
60. In mural painting the narrative convention was sometimes subjected to topographical conditions. In some cases the series start from the altar; where the walls are high and narrow they are arranged in "anagogical" order (from the lowest upwards); see my: The Lunette: A Study in the Role of the Arch-Outlined Format in the Design and Content of Italian Murals of the Renaissance (Diss. , The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1974), p. 280-312;
61. also my Format in Painting, p. 107-110 and passim.
62. Destroyed, formerly in Berlin, Kaiser Friedrich Museum, cf. S. J. Freedberg, Painting of the High Renaissance in Rome and Florence (New York, 1972), p. 43, fig. 23;
63. also Cat. Leonardo dopo Milano, fig. 29.
64. The problem of Brescianino's reversal of the Leonardesque composition was first raised by L. Heydenreich, "La Sainte Anne de Léonard da Vinci", Gazette des Beaux Arts, ser. 6/10 (1933), p. 205-219.
65. Basel, Offentliche Kunstammlung, in: Heydenreich, Leonardo da Vinci (New York, 1954), p. vii, fig. 72.
66. Windsor, No. 12328, recto;
67. A. E. Popham, The Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci (New York, 1945), no. 202 (later: Popham).
68. Windsor, No. 12555, cf. E. Möller, Das Abendmahl des Leonardo da Vinci (Baden Baden, 1952), fig. 29.
69. A similar method of drawing an inverted image on the back of a drawing may also be seen in the two horses on the recto and verso of Windsor, No. 12344, cf. Popham, nos. 98 and 99.
70. British Museum, 1860-6-16-98, Popham, nos. 9Aand 9B.
71. New YorkMetropolitan Museum of Art, no. 3713g, Popham, no. 159. The painting for which these sketches were made was not delivered and it is known only from workshop copies, but the pose of the Madonna is similar to that of the Madonna of the Rocks.
72. British Museum, 1895-9-15-482, and Venice, Galleria dell'Accademia, no. 233. Popham, nos. 103 and 126.
73. Venice, Accademia no. 230;
74. Popham, no. 174A.
75. Cat. Leonardo dopo Milano, no. 21.
76. The London cartoon is now dated to 1508-1510, see: C. Pedretti, Leonardo: A Study in Chronology and Style (Berkeley, 1972), p. 105-110.
77. For earlier attempts to date the cartoon see: P. C. Marani, Leonardo: Catalogo completo dei dipinti (Florence, 1989), p. 103.
78. Paris, Louvre. Popham, no. 175;
79. Cat. Leonardo dopo Milano, no. 32.
80. Richter, in: Literary Works, p. 6.
81. Leonardo's left handedness has been discussed by A. Venturi, "L'uso della mano sinistra nella scrittura e nei disegni di Leonardo da Vinci", L'Arte, 16 (1939), p. 167;
82. G. C. Bescapè, La scrittura di Leonardo: notterelle paleografiche (Milano, 1942);
83. see also: A. P. McMahon, ed. , Leonardo Treatise on Painting (Codex Urbinos Latinus, 1270) (Princeton, 1956), XII; XXI;
84. and A. M. Holly, "Writing Leonardo Backwards", New Literary History, 23 (1992), p. 173-211, especially p. 175.
85. Heydenreich, Leonardo da Vinci, p. 95 and 193.
86. Porac & Coren, Lateral Preferences and Human Behaviour, p. 220-231. It has been suggested that in childhood Leonardo was taught to write with the right hand, and later developed an ability to write in both directions.
87. Gross & Bornstein, "Left and Right", p. 38, n. 35.
88. Corballis & Beale, Psychology of Left and Right, p. 179.
89. also: Porac & Coren, Lateral Preferences, p. 245.
90. Popham, p. 10.
91. The effect can be observed in the drawings of left-handed artists such as Hans Holbein the Younger, Henry Fussli, and Adolph Menzel who was ambidextrous, R. Keller, "Zwei berühmte links Hande", Ciba Zeitschrift, 6/62 (1938), p. 2153-2155;
92. cited by P. Reuterswärd, "Left-Handedness in Master Drawings", Donum-amicorum: Essays in Honour of Per Bjurström (Stockholm National Museum, 1993), p. 1-10. Reuterswärd notes that because of the hatching a well known drawing of a tree at Windsor, was reclassified as by Cesare da Sesto. I would like to thank Professor Reuterswärd for the offprint of his study.
93. Windsor, No. 12326, recto;
94. Popham, no. 85.
95. McManus & Humphrey, "Turning the Left Cheek", Nature, 243/27 (1973);
96. also Humphrey & McManus, "Status and Left Cheek", "New Scientist, 59 (1973), p. 437-439.
97. Windsor 12496;
98. Popham, 125, for an interpretation: Heydenreich, p. VIII, pl. 79.
99. The iconography is based on Luke, 1:26-38. Tuscan Annunciations reflect the dramatic representation of the scene, see: M. Baxandall, Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy (Oxford, 1972), p. 34ff. An early iconographic tradition showing a different formula was apparently meant to convey a different meaning.
100. On this tradition see: D. Denny, The Annunciation from the Right from Early Christian Times to the Sixteenth Century (Diss. N. Y. U. . 1965, repr. New York, 1977).
101. On the symbolism of the yarn winder, cf. Vezzosi, Leonardo dopo Milano.
102. For my observations on this painting see: "The Case of a Two-Headed Figure and an Elusive Lamb", Achademia Leonards Vinci, VII (1994), pp. 81-95.
103. The meaning of the lamb is explained in Fra Novellara's report on Leonardo's work in Florence, cf. n. 1.
104. On Leonardo's sketching methods see: Gombrich, "Leonardo's Method of Working His Compositions", passim;
105. also: idem, "Watching Artists at Work: Commitment and Improvisation in the History of Drawing", Topics of Our Time (London, 1991),p. -92-130.
106. "[A] attenderai prima col disegno a dare con dimostrativa forma al ochio la intentione è la inuentione farra in prima nella tua imaginativa, di poi levando e ponendo tanto che tu ti satisfacia [. . . ] nel modo che [. . . ] non passi niente del'opera che bene non sia considerata dalla ragione e dalli effetti naturali" ([Attend first to drawing the intention and invention first created in ypur imagination in form clear to the eye. Then go on subtracting or adding enough to satisfy you [. . . ] and see to it that [. . . ] nothing occurs in the work which is not considered resonable and in a accordance with nature), E. P. McMahon, ed. , Treatise on Painting, Codex Urbinas 1270: II. Facsimile (Princeton, 1956). fol. 38v. , trans. vol. I: po. 106-107, 256.