Salvator Mundi: Gender Fluidity & Christ’s Garments In Rena

Zitzlsperger safeguards his theory. “The Salvator’s clothes does not make Christ female, however it does not make him male either. That’s why I discuss androgynous representations of Christ. The rule (2 colours) is validated by the exceptions (one colour). From my experience as a scientist, I know that movie critics are really satisfied to falsify the regulation by emphasising the exemptions.”

Zitzlsperger places Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi within the context of the “appearance of gender fluidity” in Renaissance Italy, mentioning Mario Equicola’s Libro di natura de amore (1525 ). Because book, the Italian Renaissance humanist proclaimed: “The visage of a woman is applauded if it has the functions of a man; the face of a man if it has feminine attributes.”

Renaissance Gender Fluidity Context

In “The Meaning of Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi”, an article in the latest version of Artibus et Historiae, a semi-annual journal released by the Institute for Art Historic Research, Zitzlsperger evaluations the garments in detail. He argues that the “low-cut, rectangular neck line” of Christ’s chiton is unprecedented both for a Renaissance depiction of Christ and for a male sitter “of a raised social condition”. He says that in all various other paintings of Christ of the period, Christ’s tunic has a much greater collar near to the neck, which a low-cut and stitched neck line are common for female portraits of the period such as Leonardo’s La Belle Ferronnière (around 1493-94) in the Musée du Louvre and Raphael’s Picture of Elisabetta Gonzaga, Lady of Urbino (1502) in the Emporium degli Uffizi.

Matthew Landrus, a supernumerary fellow at Wolfson University at the College of Oxford, mentions there is a periodic single-colour red-on-red option for Christ’s garments in 14th- and 15th-century Flemish paint. “One factor for the option of a blue chiton and himation might be that it simply looks far better emerging from a black history,” he says. “It’s stylistically a clever selection. Is there a deeper significance for this option of colour? I have actually not seen sufficient evidence for that insurance claim.”

Christ’s Garments: A Closer Look

The similar blue colour of Christ’s chiton and himation (a type of cloak) additionally points to a female model, the Austrian art chronicler cases. He claims that in nearly all other contemporary representations of Christ of the 16th and 15th century in which the Saviour has a chiton and cape, the chiton is repainted red and the cape blue, and that the blue-on-blue combination is a regular closet selection for pictures of the Virgin Mary “from the 12th century forward”.

The Christ number in the globe’s most pricey painting “is putting on women’s clothes”, according to a new study by Philipp Zitzlsperger, a professor of Middle ages and Modern art history at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, whose specialities consist of the symbolic significance of clothes in Renaissance art.

The Blue Garments and Virgin Mary

Zitzlsperger’s “working theory” is “that the monochrome blue of the Leonardo Salvator’s himation and tunic represents the union of Christ and the Virgin in the person of the Salvator Mundi … the cross-gender aspects prolong even to the colours of the vestments”. There are Byzantine photos of Christ Pancrator in which Christ is dressed entirely in blue– for instance, in the Hagia Sophia mosaics in Istanbul– and Giotto painted a ‘blue Christ’ in his Stefaneschi altarpiece. “The Salvator’s outfit does not make Christ women, but it does not make him male either.

Martin Kemp, an emeritus professor of art history at the College of Oxford and a leading Leonardo scholar, says: “If it were to be real that the ex-Cook variation [Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi] is one-of-a-kind in the colour of Christ’s garments, this would certainly sustain Leonardo’s authorship.”

Zöllner adds: “To repaint a dress that resembles females’s dress does not make Christ lady. In addition, there are Byzantine photos of Christ Pancrator in which Christ is clothed entirely in blue– as an example, in the Hagia Sophia mosaics in Istanbul– and Giotto repainted a ‘blue Christ’ in his Stefaneschi altarpiece. In either case, gown is a vital problem for our understanding of the painting.”

Scholarly Opinions and Controversies

Controversies have swirled around the Salvator Mundi, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, ever since the paint was cost $450.3 m in 2017 to the Saudi royal household. Debates have actually revolved around the photo’s price tag, restoration, attribution and also its current location, now there is a new argument.

Zitzlsperger’s “working hypothesis” is “that the monochrome blue of the Leonardo Salvator’s himation and chiton indicates the union of Christ and the Virgin in the individual of the Salvator Mundi … the cross-gender components prolong even to the colours of the vestments”. He also asserts to observe a “slight elevation [of the tunic] recommending the beginnings of a bust disclosed by the low neckline”.

He argues that the “low-cut, rectangle-shaped neck line” of Christ’s chiton is extraordinary both for a Renaissance representation of Christ and for a male caretaker “of a raised social condition”. He claims that in all other paints of Christ of the period, Christ’s tunic has a much greater collar close to the neck, and that a low-cut and embroidered neck line are typical for female portraits of the duration such as Leonardo’s La Belle Ferronnière (around 1493-94) in the Musée du Louvre and Raphael’s Picture of Elisabetta Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino (1502) in the Emporium degli Uffizi.

Other Leonardo scholars have examined Zitzlsperger’s conclusions. Frank Zöllner, a professor of art history at Leipzig University and the writer of numerous articles on Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi, claims the paper is “an important payment” however “a little too sensationalist”.