Why Did Leonardo, The Madonna Litta, The Cecilia Gallerani?
window structure or indeed of any variation on the plain, smooth surface of the underlying background.17
Some earlier works attributed to Leonardo, the Madonna Litta, the Benois Madonna (both Hermitage, St. Petersburg), and the Madonna with the Carnation (Alte Pinakothek, Munich), all have a window behind the figure; thus the absence of a window in the background of the Cecilia Gallerani raises the question “why?”. The following section will be divided into two parts: why did Leonardo include a window in his other works, and why did he not use a window in the Cecilia Gallerani?
When conducting research on the transformation of symbols over time, I found that there was one special symbol that prevailed from Early Netherlandish painting to Italian painting: the window. Displayed below are portraits from different regions and times that contain a window and natural landscape visible through the window pane. This tradition started with Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait and was inherited and developed until the time of Leonardo. …show more content…
The symbol of a window could be interpreted as purity since a window pane is transparent.18The introduction of a landscape by Jan van Eyck in a distant view through a window could have been adopted by both Fra Filippo Lippi and Petrus Christus as the symbol flourished in both regions.
Several possible reasons accounting for the enduring popularity of the window, are listed below.
A. A window is a component that reveals a distant view of nature and thus provides more elements in an interior portrait than those typically included in one with a neutral background.
17 David Bull, “Two Portraits by Leonardo: ‘Ginevra de’Benci’ and the ‘Lady with an Ermine’”, Artibus et Historiae Vol. 13, No. 25 (1992), pp.
Some earlier works attributed to Leonardo, the Madonna Litta, the Benois Madonna (both Hermitage, St. Petersburg), and the Madonna with the Carnation (Alte Pinakothek, Munich), all have a window behind the figure; thus the absence of a window in the background of the Cecilia Gallerani raises the question “why?”. The following section will be divided into two parts: why did Leonardo include a window in his other works, and why did he not use a window in the Cecilia Gallerani?
When conducting research on the transformation of symbols over time, I found that there was one special symbol that prevailed from Early Netherlandish painting to Italian painting: the window. Displayed below are portraits from different regions and times that contain a window and natural landscape visible through the window pane. This tradition started with Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait and was inherited and developed until the time of Leonardo. …show more content…
The symbol of a window could be interpreted as purity since a window pane is transparent.18The introduction of a landscape by Jan van Eyck in a distant view through a window could have been adopted by both Fra Filippo Lippi and Petrus Christus as the symbol flourished in both regions.
Several possible reasons accounting for the enduring popularity of the window, are listed below.
A. A window is a component that reveals a distant view of nature and thus provides more elements in an interior portrait than those typically included in one with a neutral background.
17 David Bull, “Two Portraits by Leonardo: ‘Ginevra de’Benci’ and the ‘Lady with an Ermine’”, Artibus et Historiae Vol. 13, No. 25 (1992), pp.