PICTURE PUZZLE
From image to word
In Leonardo's paintings, certain iconographic compositions or individual anatomical details emerge that draw attention: body language, gestures, and positions take on meaning much like the codes of dance, where each movement, in relation to the body's position, carries a precise significance.
From my analyses, I list the following examples:
The "hand" — a symbol that recurs across different paintings. We see it in the Virgin of the Rocks and in the Last Supper: exactly the same figure, mirrored, and positioned at Christ's right hand. It repeats in its perspectival form and the articulated movement of the fingers (as in a chord position), which, as I described earlier, translates the gesture or movement of the limb into a meaning expressed in Italian grammar as "motion from a place." In Italian, this is written: "DE"
Identifying overlay of the Virgin of the Rocks with the figure to the right of Christ
Overlay and identification of the hand from the Virgin of the Rocks — Leonardo mirrors it and reuses it as the hand to Christ's right.
From the very beginning, I perceived this hand as a self-standing symbolic element — as if it had a life of its own within the overall composition of the painting. In the constellation rebuses, the function of the term DE remains the one that gave rise to the anagram solutions. In this second reading of the hand, I considered the words that make up the Virgin's hand: (rebus) MANO, POLLICE, INDICE, MEDIO, ANULARE, MIGNOLO (hand, thumb, index finger, middle finger, ring finger, little finger).The solution:(anagram) L'ANGELO DICE IL MIO NOME, COLPE NUMI DIANORA(Note: this rebus and anagram work only in Italian.) The meaning of the phrase, "COLPE NUMI" ("the gods' faults"), is as if to say: everything happened through no fault of the mother Dianora, but by the will of other powers or divinities.Dianora Tornabuoni, as I have described in the decoded readings, was the one who secretly gave birth to Leonardo. After his birth, he was entrusted to the young and wealthy Ser Piero da Vinci. Leonardo's first baptismal name was Giovanni (John).<div>
The Virgin of the Rocks — the Rebus of the Hand
Bacchus (Leonardo and pupils, 1510–1515), oil on panel — rebus and anagram
Corroborating the result of the analysis just described is this further reading of the painting known as Bacchus. This depiction is a constant invitation to us, the viewers, to pay attention: Bacchus watches us and points, with both hands, in different directions. Here too, I proceed with a reading based on an image rebus and anagram. The verification yielded the following result
Image Rebuses
The first rebus:
"QUI SEGGO TRA TERRA E CIELO CINTO DI VELLO CON L'AUREA E BASTONE"
("Here I sit between earth and sky, girded with fleece, with the golden [wreath] and staff")
Anagram:
"QUELLA VERITÀ CELATA DI ESSERE FIGLIO TORNABUONI ECCO SOGNO"
("That hidden truth of being a Tornabuoni son — behold, a dream")
(Note: this rebus and anagram work only in the Italian original.)
Second anagram: between light and shadow, between earth and sky, the message's double meaning unfolds — a celebration of his origins. Not only is his belonging to the Tornabuoni family declared, but the name of his mother is also revealed: Dianora.
Second rebus:
"LAURES CERVO DI DIANA"
("Laurels, deer of Diana")
Anagram:
"SCRIVE LAUDE DIANORA"
("Dianora writes praise")
(Note: this rebus and anagram work only in the Italian original.)
Beyond these examples, I refer readers to the first image-rebus decoded in the chapter on The Virgin of the Rocks — the First Readings.