THE VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS — THE FIRST READINGS
I carefully searched among the different expressive forms for the particular detail that would indicate the starting point for a correct reading. Leonardo often used the playful forms of the rebus; he read and wrote even from right to left, the same method as hieroglyphic writing. This visual language always begins the word from the right, with the person or animal that points to the phrase. In this painting it is the winged Angel: his gaze is turned toward the viewer, and his hand indicates a trajectory pointing to GIOVANNI (John) — from this I deduce the beginning of the word.
The second movement starts from the left, from John's head, traced by the extraordinarily straight drapery, reaching a stone placed at the point where the two sides of the mantle are held together — from this I deduce PIERO (from the Latin petrum medicem).
The third element is Mary's hand, placed directly toward Jesus in a complex gesture — "motion from a place" — which in Latin is written DE; the hand recalls a chord position on a musical instrument, that is, it involves multiple "elements," and here the names of the anatomical parts come into play. Drawing a line between the two fingers — "the Medici" (i Medi) — of Mary and Jesus, it intersects the Angel's index finger: DICI.
My reading key is therefore the following: "GIOVANNI PIERO-DE-ME-DI-CI"
Rebus in images: the force lines indicate the words — structure and decoding.This second reading key resolves the rebus in a definite way: Leonardo not only states his first given name, but also by whom it was revealed to him. The name PIERO can be translated into Latin as Petrum Medicem ("stone that heals"); the one placed on Mary's mantle could represent a Bezoar (a medicinal stone) — a precious mineral formation of organic origin, found in the stomachs of animals and even humans, which could be worked and polished. The word, from Persian, means "protection from poisons," and it was used in the Renaissance for its beneficial healing properties.If we add that the name PIETRO, in the sacred texts of the New Testament, was given by Jesus to SIMON, we can anagram this second result and read the following sentence: SI DE NOME PIERO ME DICE GIOVANNI DE MEDICI
(Note: the rebus and anagram work as wordplay in Italian and cannot be fully preserved in translation — the Italian original is given here as the key finding.)
The purpose of this study is to verify the solutions addressed so far, paying attention to semantic readings of various kinds: body language, constructive and symbolic elements, geometry, and the literature of sacred texts and anecdotes.
Here I transcribe the translations from Latin and the anagram which, in my view, Leonardo intended to convey. We know that complete phrases in Latin take on different meanings depending on the position of individual words, so each interpretation must be identified within the content of the work itself. Uriel states:
ENUNC EST SALVUS IN MATREM PETRAM
(Latin, translated: "Now you are safe for the mother stone")
Anagram:
TACENT SINE VULNUS PATREM MATREM
(Latin, translated: "Silent wound, without father, mother")
Synthesis and simplicity are the most important aspects of every form of communication — images, sounds, words — they can reach our consciousness directly, without filters.
There is a clear and evident intention on the part of the genius Leonardo da Vinci to construct complex representations drawing on varied musical, figurative, literary, historical, and humanistic knowledge. I chose to interpret the work's translation into words by following a precise rule: through the semantics of body language, actions in movement, and through overlapping layers of linguistic codes — for example, following what I believe was Leonardo's deliberate use of two communicative forms across space and time. The Archangel Uriel represents past, present, and future; he has communicated and will communicate to us — he is the figure who takes part in the action while, at the same time, belonging to a reality external to that action itself. I believe the Latin language, suited to synthesis, was the intended form, guided by intuition and logic.
Returning to the first analyses made of the painting, this proposed reading reinforces the thesis of a revelation concerning the mystery of Leonardo's birth:
DICIS QUI EST MATREM PETRAM DICIS QUI EST MATREM PATREM
(Latin, translated: "You who are the mother stone say, you who are the mother say the father")
Anagram, changing a single letter:
DICE LA MADRE ROCCIA LA MADRE E IL PADRE DICONO
(Italian, translated: "The mother stone speaks — the mother and the father say")
Questa mia interpretazione sembra fantasiosa, ma l'insieme degli elementi hanno un significato preponderante . Leonardo ha voluto affermare la conoscenza della sua appartenenza genetica? Nello stesso dipinto vi è una seconda chiave di lettura . Guardando attentamente la parte superiore delle rocce, si può intravedere una traccia formata dal fitto fogliame dove appare una sagoma di una testa di leone. ll Leone Rampante è la rappresentazione dello stemma araldico della famiglia Tornabuoni, una possibile discendenza di Leonardo ?
Se confrontiamo lo stemma di questa famiglia con le tracce del dipinto, si può notare la perfetta trasposizione (sub liminare) celata del leone rampante, centrato nel perimetro e alle diagonali . In questa opera Leonardo ha voluto lasciare la traccia significativa della sua appartenenza alla nobile famiglia, ciò che non poteva dire in vita .
LEONARDO DA VINCI GIOVANNI PIERO DE MEDICI TORNABUONI -
Questa mia interpretazione sembra fantasiosa, ma l'insieme degli elementi hanno un significato preponderante . Leonardo ha voluto affermare la conoscenza della sua appartenenza genetica? Nello stesso dipinto vi è una seconda chiave di lettura . Guardando attentamente la parte superiore delle rocce, si può intravedere una traccia formata dal fitto fogliame dove appare una sagoma di una testa di leone. ll Leone Rampante è la rappresentazione dello stemma araldico della famiglia Tornabuoni, una possibile discendenza di Leonardo ?
Se confrontiamo lo stemma di questa famiglia con le tracce del dipinto, si può notare la perfetta trasposizione (sub liminare) celata del leone rampante, centrato nel perimetro e alle diagonali . In questa opera Leonardo ha voluto lasciare la traccia significativa della sua appartenenza alla nobile famiglia, ciò che non poteva dire in vita .
LEONARDO DA VINCI GIOVANNI PIERO DE MEDICI TORNABUONI -
This interpretation of mine may seem fanciful, but taken together these elements carry an overwhelming significance. Was Leonardo asserting his awareness of his genetic belonging? In the same painting there is a second reading key. Looking carefully at the upper part of the rocks, one can make out a trace formed by the dense foliage where the silhouette of a lion's head appears. The Rampant Lion is the heraldic emblem of the Tornabuoni family — a possible line of descent for Leonardo?
If we compare this family's coat of arms with the traces in the painting, we can see the perfect (subliminal) transposition of the rampant lion, centered within the perimeter and along the diagonals. In this work, Leonardo wanted to leave a meaningful trace of his belonging to this noble family — something he could not say in life.
LEONARDO DA VINCI GIOVANNI PIERO DE MEDICI TORNABUONI
https://samorini.it/archeologia/americhe/polveri-da-fiuto-taino-antille/
The document linked above allowed me to identify a missing piece and the full meaning of the yellow drape placed over the Virgin's belly. Its content deals with anthropological subjects concerning the Caribbean peoples — the Taíno and Arawak — their customs and spirituality. One paragraph discusses their mythology, among the most important of which is that of "origins": a TURTLE woman, generator of all men, and a shelled deity called DEMINÁN CARACARACOL.
. The association of the drape with a TURTLE FLIPPER was immediate; I made an overlay to confirm it, and here is the result: a perfect match. What meaning could a flipper carry, what formal development might follow? A new vision follows from this: starting from the position of the flipper, imagine the natural continuation of a turtle's body, and its complete shape emerges. This deliberate construction, intended by Leonardo, reveals a reality never recorded in any writing — not even his own — whether concerning knowledge of the new continents before that date, or narratives traceable to pre-Columbian cultures. We may hypothesize that one reason for this was compliance with the rules of silence required by the families who took part in the first voyages, as I mentioned in the section on the Adoration of the Magi.
For now I leave any interpretation open to his creative intent, which could be celebratory, divinatory, or testamentary in nature. One thing is certain: in this painting — which I would call a "monument" — Leonardo expresses an extraordinary poetics made of projections and parallels, bound by invisible threads. The reading is unmistakable: multiple signals intersect and point to a celebratory dimension, a story of origins secretly built into the sacred image of the Virgin of the Rocks, which leads us back to the figure of Caterina.
Proiezione della grande tartaruga , simbolo Taino della grande Madre generatrice degli uomini
Not all the readings of this painting are presented on this page; the work is built from dozens of signs, symbols, and subliminal traces, which I have catalogued and decoded. I refer readers to the published books for a fuller exploration of this material.