LEONARDO DA SQUINTY
Explains brilliance as a painter
HIS exploits as a painter and inventor secured his place in history as one of the leading Renaissance men.
Now doctors believe a squint could partly explain Leonardo da Vinci’s brilliance on canvas.
Experts from the Optometry and Vision Sciences School at City University of London made the diagnosis after analysing eye alignment on works thought to have been partial portraits of da Vinci. Strabismus is the medical term for a squint, a common condition where the eyes point in different directions.
The perfect alignment of the eyes, called stereoscopic vision, allows people to see in three dimensions. But this can inhibit artists, making it difficult to depict a three-dimensional image on a flat canvas, leading many to close an eye when painting.
While previous research has used self-portraits to diagnose the likes of Rembrandt and Picasso with the condition, there are few validated images of da Vinci.
Neuroscientist Professor Christopher Tyler, who conducted the research, chose two sculptures and two oil paintings, either by da Vinci or reputed to be portraits of him.
He then studied the eyes’ alignment and found a measurable misalignment, which would cause the eye to look outwards. Salvator Mundi, or Saviour of the World, right, is a depiction of Christ that sold for €392million last year after being rediscovered as a da Vinci work. Some scholars suggest the artist used his own face as a model for the Christ depicted