The monument commemorates the Italian painter, sculptor, architect, philosopher, musician, writer, mathematician, and inventor – the great Leonardo da Vinci (April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519), a true renaissance man. This work stands in Piazza della Scala in Milano, Italy. King Victor Emmanuelle II inaugurated this monument by Milano sculptor Pietro Magni in 1872.

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Monument to Leonardo da Vinci

Da Vinci lived in Milano from 1482 to 1499  and from 1508 to 1513. The monument is made of Carrara white marble and depicts Leonardo da Vinci surrounded by his 4 outstanding students, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, Andrea Salaino, Marco d’Oggiono, and Cesare da Sesto.   

I visited this site in November 2019.  It is located within a short walking distance from the Duomo di Milano and directly across from the famed opera house Teatro alla Scala.  From the Duomo, Piazza della Scala is on the opposite side of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.   

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Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Visiting the Da Vinci monument is a great prelude to viewing Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. It is painted on a wall in Santa Maria della Grazie about a 15-minute walk from the monument.  Tickets must be purchased in advance as only 1,300 visitors are admitted each day.    

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* The Last Supper

It is one of the world’s most famous paintings.  I remember it from an Art History course in college and the  controversial role the painting plays in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.  The controversy involves the character sitting on Jesus’ right.  Is the figure one of the 12 disciples or Mary Magdalene, as Brown suggests?

I can’t answer that question although I distinctly remember that the first time I saw the painting I thought the figure was definitely a woman.  That impression was only reinforced seeing the actual painting.  Da Vinci is conveying some message with that painting.  No one knows for sure what the message is.

Thanks for stopping for a look at Sculpture Saturday.  Have you seen the Da Vinci Monument in Milano?   Are my eyes playing tricks with the figure in The Last Supper?

    

Sculpture Saturday is a challenge hosted by No Fixed Plans.

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