Leonardo, that old trickster!
First he's got John the Baptist relaxing amidst the roots of a tree in a perfect imitation of the Roman god of pleasure and excess, Bacchus. Next he's got him as an infant actually blessing Jesus Christ whilst Mary and and the archangel Uriel use a little hand-signalling to seemingly foretell his doom (beheading).
Always obsessed with The Baptist, that guy, and paganism, and... well, most things that were contrary to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Always exploring alchemy and Hermeticism, taking money to paint commissions for the true believers in the religion he despised and giving them back heretical pieces they never seem to realize were such.
Clever, gay, Leonardo.
2 comments:
Actually, the first thought that hit me, before I scrolled down and read what you'd written, was that in the first picture he's striking a classic male-model-from-a clothing-catalogue pose.
A shame they didn't ask him to do the Sistene Chapel instead of Michelangelo. Now that would've really been something to see.
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