DAVINCI,LEONARDO - BEAUTY OR HUMAN SUFFERING IN THE WORLD - NOTES ON PATHOLOGICAL CUTANEOUS ALTERATIONS IN THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI

The authors have individuated and evidenced in this study some of a se ries of very suggestive minute figures and signs of pathological condi tions, including common cutaneous lesions, portrayed by Leonardo da Vi nci in his famous painting 'The Adoration of the Magi' ('L' Adorazione dei Magi') which is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. These figures and lesions are mostly 'hidden' and become visible only by close, atte ntive observation of specific points extrapolated from the vision of t his magnificent picture as a whole. Possible clinical interpretations are attributed to the 'lesions' evidenced, with the conviction that th ey were portrayed consciously by Leonardo and that they represent a co nfirmation of his extraordinary capacity for observation and ability t o reproduce faithfully that which he saw, including the obvious signs of diseases which it is known he had ample occasion to observe. In thi s painting, as in others, Leonardo presents the horrors of life and si ckness manifestly and skillfully disguised behind the mantle of beauty . We wonder if the monks who had commissioned the painting and then re fused to take it did not recognize the ugly truth under the beautiful surface representation. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.