While resting (Sjogren's down time), I learnt about something new today from a documentary that made me smile, despite not being unusual for the mastermind involved. For it is a known fact that Leonardo da Vinci did not sign any of his paintings, however in some ways you could say that he did by incorporating less obvious Easter eggs in his art. During his life as an artist, Da Vinci invented Vinci knots, which later became a symbol of his academy in Florence, Italy. Inspired by the purple willow branches that were woven into baskets in his city. When drawn these knots were made of a continuous line, forming circular loops, then various plaits that he would sometimes make into symbolic shapes. In his notebooks there have been some found in the shape of a St. Andrew's cross, as this was the patron Saint of his hometown that gave him his name, Vinci. He also often drew them in patterns that resembled the infinity symbol, maybe because he knew his work would somehow immortalise him one day.
Getting back on point though, these knots would also be added to his paintings in the form of textured embroidery on the clothing or drapery of his subjects. With that he would also use a specific shade of oil paint in his works known during the Renaissance as "Leonato yellow" which translates as "lion fur yellow" the root (etymologically speaking) of Da Vinci's first name Leonardo meaning lion-hearted. So, when you put these puzzle pieces together you cannot help but admire his sheer genius in finding a way to identify his work without words, and instead opting for a visual calling card, that I cannot unsee now.
