(44) Veni, vidi ... da Vinci?
On the afternoon of May 24th 1989 I was reading from a biography of Leonardo da Vinci by Ludwig Goldschneider published by Phaidon in 1959.
It is a commentary upon a biography of Leonardo by Giorgio Vasari from 1568, which is included in Goldschneider's book.
On page 23 there was a note in reference to a play on words:
Here follows in the original text an epigram by Messer Giovan Battista Strozzi in praise of Leonardo: Vince costui pur solo Tutti altri, e vince Fidia e vince Apelle E tutto il lor vittorioso stuolo.
This play upon words — ́vincere ́, to vanquish, and Vinci — cannot be translated into English.
The meaning of the epigram is roughly:
"Single-handed he vanquished all the others, Phidias, Apelles, and their whole victorious troop."
I wondered whether the verb for to conquer was precisely the same in mediaeval Italian as in the Latin from which that language had developed.
The only usage in Latin that came to mind was Caesar's famous comment, "Veni, vidi, vici."
I found myself playing around with that and Strozzi's epigram to produce "Veni, vidi, Vinci."
(For further speculations about Italian developing from Latin, see one of my comments on the thread recorded here - (211) Is the largest tiger the Siberian... or the Liger?)
The following evening I was watching Channel 4 News. The presenter announced that their next item would be about the restoration of a Leonardo cartoon of The virgin of the rocks Virgin of the Rocks - Wikipedia which had been blasted in the National Gallery twenty-three months earlier by someone with a shotgun, and was now being put back on display for the first time.
They then went into a commercial break with the introductory caption showing across the screen of
Veni, vidi,.. da Vinci?
(btw, in The Sunday Times of August 19th 2001 there was the headline Veni, Vidi, Vinci apropos some takeovers initiated by a firm called Vinci. And I am pretty sure that I have since come across it on at least one other occasion too.
For further coincidences involving that painting, the very same play on Leonardo's name (even perhaps unintentional!?) and the search into the origins of Christ and Christmas, see
It is a commentary upon a biography of Leonardo by Giorgio Vasari from 1568, which is included in Goldschneider's book.
On page 23 there was a note in reference to a play on words:
Here follows in the original text an epigram by Messer Giovan Battista Strozzi in praise of Leonardo: Vince costui pur solo Tutti altri, e vince Fidia e vince Apelle E tutto il lor vittorioso stuolo.
This play upon words — ́vincere ́, to vanquish, and Vinci — cannot be translated into English.
The meaning of the epigram is roughly:
"Single-handed he vanquished all the others, Phidias, Apelles, and their whole victorious troop."
I wondered whether the verb for to conquer was precisely the same in mediaeval Italian as in the Latin from which that language had developed.
The only usage in Latin that came to mind was Caesar's famous comment, "Veni, vidi, vici."
I found myself playing around with that and Strozzi's epigram to produce "Veni, vidi, Vinci."
(For further speculations about Italian developing from Latin, see one of my comments on the thread recorded here - (211) Is the largest tiger the Siberian... or the Liger?)
The following evening I was watching Channel 4 News. The presenter announced that their next item would be about the restoration of a Leonardo cartoon of The virgin of the rocks Virgin of the Rocks - Wikipedia which had been blasted in the National Gallery twenty-three months earlier by someone with a shotgun, and was now being put back on display for the first time.
They then went into a commercial break with the introductory caption showing across the screen of
Veni, vidi,.. da Vinci?
(btw, in The Sunday Times of August 19th 2001 there was the headline Veni, Vidi, Vinci apropos some takeovers initiated by a firm called Vinci. And I am pretty sure that I have since come across it on at least one other occasion too.
However, in The Sunday Times piece there is a logical reason fer the pun in the name of a company. And I am confident there was was also such a clear reason to be located in my other, sadly unspecified, example.
Yet there is nothing at all like that discernible in the caption Channel 4 News chose for their item. Is there?)
And here, in the film of Dan Brown's novel, da Vinci ́s most celebrated work contains a clue pointing to his other The virgin of the rocks, the version which hangs in the Louvre - The Da Vinci Code: A clue on Da Vinci's Mona Lisa (HD CLIP) (youtube.com)
For further coincidences involving that painting, the very same play on Leonardo's name (even perhaps unintentional!?) and the search into the origins of Christ and Christmas, see
Comments
Your blog is light years ahead of the dross that freefalls through my newsfeed.
I'm a keen historian; and the subject of coincidence, together with all associated experiences, theories, and opinions I find irresistible,
Anthea
Blow that sax for me any time, lady!