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Leonardo’s Missing Sketch for the Adoration of the Magi

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A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 06 April 2020

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Abstract

I begin with a question: in Leonardo’s famous Adoration of the Magi at what distance is the observer from the temple in ruins? The main clue we have to find the answer is the preliminary sketch of the temple, but it is not the one he transferred to the painting. I believe that Leonardo most likely drew another sketch; a sketch that somehow has been lost without leaving a trace. Based on the painting, I have deconstructed the perspective of the temple to see what Leonardo’s missing sketch might have looked like. Recently, multispectral imaging studies have made visible many of the underlying lines of the sketch and painting. However, here we discuss some aspects of the preparatory sketch that have not been yet thoroughly analyzed. The knowledge of perspective was in the making at the time Leonardo drew the sketch, so the way I see the sketch’s flaws shows the way new rules of perspective were found in practice. We are also able to tell here at which distance and height one has to stand to best view the painting correctly.

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Fig. 1

Photo credit: © Gabinetto Fotografico delle Gallerie degli Uffizi

Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Facsimile, drawing by author

Fig. 4

Author’s drawing (silver point)

Fig. 5

Drawing by author and Zaira López

Fig. 6

Drawing by author and Zaira López

Fig. 7

Drawing by Zaira López

Fig. 8

Drawing by author and Zaira López

Fig. 9

Drawing by author and Zaira López

Fig. 10

Drawing by author and Zaira López

Fig. 11

Drawing by author

Fig. 12

Drawing by author and Zaira López

Fig. 13

Photo credit: © Gabinetto Fotografico delle Gallerie degli Uffizi. Lines in white are superimposed from Fig. 11 (before it was finished)

Fig. 14

Drawing by author and Zaira López

Fig. 15

Drawing by Zaira López

Fig. 16

Drawing by author and Zaira López

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Change history

  • 06 April 2020

    During production the italics that distinguish <Emphasis Type="Italic">m</Emphasis> for modules from m for meters were inadvertently suppressed.

Notes

  1. Work commissioned of Leonardo by the Augustinian monks of San Donato a Scopeto, near Florence (1481 ca.).

  2. With respect to the symbolic composition of the scene, the characters and their stances, the workers on the stairs, the animals and trees: none of these important aspects is discussed here because our objective is to analyze the perspective construction of the sketch.

  3. Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi, 436 E, Firenze. Size: 16 × 29 cm (1481 ca.).

  4. Assuming that Alberti had known the distance point method, in De pictura it would have been difficult to follow the description of not one but two methods, especially without the help of any illustrations.

  5. Although the date of the sketch is after that of the painting, its precepts could have been put in use years before.

  6. There is no evidence of the side view having been used to deduce the decrease of the first 12 transversal lines. No trace of any line carried from the baseline that intersects with the side plane was found.

  7. The visual field as depicted in a painting does not necessarily define the actual visual angle of the observer.

  8. Notice that the diagonal of a square grid floor runs at 45° from the observer up to the picture plane.

  9. There is no evidence that Leonardo had used the floor plan of the temple to deduce its perspective.

  10. A practical aspect we should not overlook is the weight of the wooden panel. Most likely Leonardo placed the panel in such a way that he could easily paint everywhere on its surface without moving it; to prevent it from bending or twisting.

  11. The use of a method other than pouncing, such as quadrature, was unlikely because of the changes he made.

  12. Presumably on a sheet prepared with an undercoat of primer for silver point drawing.

  13. That is: width of two stairs = 8 m, span of three arches = 12 m, and section of four columns = 4 m. In total = 24 m.

  14. The first transversal line extends farther than ten modules when the sketch is superimposed on the painting.

  15. To get the distance of the observer at the painting’s scale we do the following: d = (18.56 × 2.44)/6.55 = 6.91 m. Instead, the width of the painting is 2.44 m.

  16. The standard P-scales are 45°, 60°, 75°, and 90°.

  17. The Y-scale (as well as the X-scale) are used to measure either modular coordinates or projective values of P.

References

  • Bellucci, Roberto, Ciro Castelli, Marco Ciatti, Cecilia Frosinini, Antonio Natali, Patrizia Riitano and Andrea Santacesaria. 2012. Un Nuovo Avvicinamento sistematico al restauro dell’Adorazione dei Magi di Leonardo da Vinci. OPD Restauro 24: 45–56.

  • Bellucci, Roberto. 2017. L’Adorazione dei Magi e i tempi di Leonardo. In Il restauro dell’Adorazione dei Magi di Leonardo…, ed. M. Ciatti and C. Frosinini, pp. 63–108. Florence: Edizione Edifir.

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  • Fiorani, Francesca. 2016. Why Did Leonardo Not Finish the Adoration of the Magi? In Illuminating Leonardo, ed. Constance Moffatt and Sara Taglialagamba, pp. 137–150. Leiden-Boston: Brill.

  • García Salgado, Tomás. 2019. Have You Ever Used Two Picture Planes to Draw a Single Perspective View? Leonardo Journal 52(2): 117–122.

  • García Salgado, Tomás. 2018. Perspectiva Modular, Método para Arquitectos y Disciplinas Afines. México: FA, UNAM.

  • García-Saldado, Tomás. 1998. Geometric Interpretation of the Albertian Model. Leonardo Journal31(2): 123–128.

  • García Salgado, Tomás. 1981. Perspectiva Modular Aplicada al Diseño Arquitectónico. México: UNAM.

  • Richter, Jean Paul. 1970. The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. USA: Dover Publications.

  • Seracini, Maurizio. 2006. Beyond the Visible. Scientific Studies on the Uffizi drawing. In Leonardo da Vinci, Studio per L’Adorazione dei Magi, ed. Filippo Camerota. Roma, Argos.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Autonomous University of México (UNAM), Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, C.P. 04510, Mexico City, Mexico

    Tomás García-Salgado

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  1. Tomás García-Salgado
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Correspondence to Tomás García-Salgado.

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The original version of this article was revised: During production the italics that distinguish m for modules from m for meters were inadvertently suppressed.

In honor of the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death.

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García-Salgado, T. Leonardo’s Missing Sketch for the Adoration of the Magi. Nexus Netw J 22, 521–545 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00004-019-00467-y

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