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Are Da Vinci’s Paintings Constructed as We are Constructed — La Scapigliata – Flesh Over Blood and Bone?

We must see how Leonardo teases us, and leaves us clues, in his shapes and colors and geometry and shadows, in his codexes and scribbles, in all that he created….defined so well by the enegmatic smile of the Mona Lisa herself…… Let me introduce a mystery, found only in 1627, years after Da Vinci died, and dating from Leonardo’s later period.  Wiki tells us the following history, with many a page as to provenance and such.

La Scapigliata, which traslates into “the woman of disheveled hair” was discovered in 1627.

The Head of a Woman (also known as La Scapigliata) is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci, dating from perhaps around 1500 and housed in the Galleria Nazionale of Parma, Italy.  The work is an unfinished painting, mentioned for the first time in the House of Gonzaga collection in 1627. It is perhaps the same work that Ippolito Calandra, in 1531, suggested to hang in the bedroom of Margaret Paleologa, wife of Federico II Gonzaga. In 1501, the marquesses wrote to Pietro Novellara asking if Leonardo could paint a Madonna for her private studiolo.

The painting, part of the Parmesan collection since 1839, has been dated to Leonardo’s mature period, near to the Virgin of the Rocks or The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist. — Wikipedia

But merely turn the image sideways and you can see what a magician Leonardo truly is. At the neck of the image, a calm, serene, and perfectly coiffed figure appears ethereally..as if in contrast to the disorder of the main figure…..It’s very faint and hard to see, but to me, it’s there, and fits perfectly with the dichotomy Leonardo so enjoyed. This is also the period of his masterpieces Virgin of the Rocks, and of course John the Baptist.

I wonder if the faint second face has escaped the eye of the art historians in Italy, and for that matter abroad. I see nothing in the historical record to make me think anyone knows anything about this.If we are to view Leonardo’s art as we do his codexes and studies, then it makes sense that a man who would be driven to perform autopsies so he could understand muscle and flesh and sinew, and then portray his fellow man in such divine colors and beauty,would also hide messages underneath his work, as flesh hides blood and muscle and sinew…..If a man who viewed water as the “lifeblood” of cities, and used flowing ringlets of hair to depict water is telling us something, perhaps we should listen,.Look at Da Vinci’s paintings in a new light….and things leap out at you that remained motionless for centuries……Da Vinci codes?

Thomas Schoenberger

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Middle Eastern Travels and a Planned Musical Journey

So in a couple of weeks, I trek the middle east. It’s an Arab winter, filled with the wanderlust for new music that seems to punctuate my life.  My plan to to use infusion to mix my western ears with the sounds of the holy land and see what comes out — to speak/write  in new musical tongues.  I am considering naming this or another new musical composition  “My Other Life”  — dedicated to someone I knew who was really a writer but decided to keep her day job…
Here is some interesting background on the region and its music from Wikipedia.

The music of Western Asia and North Africa spans across a vast region, from Egypt to Iran, and its influences can be felt even further afield. Middle Eastern musicinfluenced (and has been influenced by) the music of Greece and India, as well as Central Asia, Spain, Southern Italy, the Caucasus and the Balkans, as in Byzantine music and Chalga. The various nations of the region include the Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East and North Africa, the Iraqi traditions of Mesopotamia, Iranian traditions of Persia, the varied traditions of Cypriot music, the music of Turkey, traditional Assyrian music, various Jewish traditions, Kurdish music, Berbers of North Africa, and Coptic Christians in Egypt all maintain their own traditions.

Throughout the region, religion has been a common factor in uniting peoples of different languages, cultures and nations. The predominance of Islam allowed a great deal of Arabic and Byzantine influence to spread through the region rapidly from the 7th century onward. The Arabic scale is strongly melodic, based around various maqamat(sing. maqam) or modes (also known as makam in Turkish music). Arabs translated and developed Greek texts and works of music and mastered the musical theory of the music of ancient Greece (i.e. Systema ametabolon, enharmonium, chromatikon, diatonon).[1] This is similar to the dastgah of Persian music. While this originates with classical music, the modal system has filtered down into folk, liturgical and even popular music, with influence from the West. Unlike much western music, Arabic music includes quarter tones halfway between notes, often through the use of stringed instruments (like the oud) or the human voice. Further distinguishing characteristics of Middle Eastern and North African music include very complex rhythmic structures, generally tense vocal tone, and a homophonic texture.

Traditional Egyptian Mizmar Photo by Karim Rezik

 

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Medici Family and Music Patronage

Lorenzo Il Magnifico

So much has been written on the famous art patronage of the Medici’s. But this revolutionary family was equally at home in playing the role of  music patrons. The rulers of Florence for most of the period 1434-1737, they were renowned for their patronage of learning, literature, the arts and science. Musical chapels were maintained at the city’s cathedral and baptistry from 1438; especially influential were Lorenzo the Magnificent (ruled 1449-92) and his son Giovanni, who ruled as Pope Leo X from 1513 and patronized many famous musicians. Duke Cosimo I (ruled 1537-74) reorganized and enlarged the chapels and began the practice of retaining musicians and dancers at court. He was also the first to commission musical festivities for family and state occasions. Intermedi were staged between the acts of plays, and in 1600 the first operas were given: Caccini’s Il rapimento di Cefalo and Peri’s Euridice (the earliest complete extant opera). A later Medici heir apparent, Prince Ferdinando (1663-1713), patronized Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, Handel and others. Art and Music always walk hand in hand as history points out.

Salvbator Mundi

 

Signing off – T. Andrew Schoenberger

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More Music and Pets

The Grasshopper –
“A Tragic Cantata”….. Published in 1878. This is a multi-part song, with engraved graphics all through the sheet music showing insects in human costumes and doing human things. The composer describes it on page 2 as “an ancient tragic theme with modern perversions.” You can’t make this stuff up…….

 

Signing off – Thomas Schoenberger

 

 

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