Leonardo Da Vinci was okay. I mean, he had a genuine creative streak. He reminds me quite a bit of my Uncle Abe Lebobsky who use to sing me songs about pickles and gum wrappers when I was five years old. However, Da Vinci, unlike Uncle Abe, was quite the inventive sort. Plus, he had mastered a few techniques when it came to the execution of various (art) mediums. I mean… he could draw like a son of a gun. Painted like an animal. He spent a lot of his time at “the office” coming up with fantastic concepts. Leonardo was pretty tweaked.
What do you think about when you hear the name Da Vinci. Mona Lisa? The Last Supper? A flying machine and some other inventions that were (apparently) before their time? Sure! Who wouldn’t think these things. Of course now days people would also answer, “The Da Vinci Code.”
Da Vinci was quite the entertainer when it came to producing amazing work and interpretations of his ideas on the life of the times. Lot a religious stuff was going on then. One of his biggest clients was the church – probably “or else!”
Did you ever stop to think about what kind of family man Da Vinci was? Likely not. Well, let me make it clear that I’m not going down that “canvas” in this article – but it does make you wonder why you never see titles like, “Da Vinci Was My Daddy” or “Uncle Da Vinci Taught Me to Cook.”
Let’s talk, not about his paintings, sketches, Codex or inventions. Let’s talk, instead about his carving. Let’s talk about his chalice. I must mention that like most of my blogs talk of the chalice is just a disguise to discuss other matters.
When (young) Leonardo was studying to be an artist while an apprentice of Andrea de Verrachio he (apparently) produced a silver chalice. This chalice was adorned with Da Vinci’s whimsical and philosophical overtones of swirling wind and water. Then there are the angels, playing music. Maybe it was from work like this that Donovan got the idea for “Wear Your Love Like Heaven.” I’m certain that this kind of work influenced Paul McCartney. Just check out his (church) song, “Warm and Beautiful” to see what I mean. I think that his artistic interpretation of these elements married the two together in a similar display of interwinding curves and flowing lines. Yet Da Vinci, the scientist, was determined to break free of the artistic feel and inject into his work a knowledge and understanding of nature and how it plays with us in our lives and in our environment.
Da Vinci was influenced by the religious substrate that provided purpose as well. This was part of his Holy Trinity: Religion, Science and Creativity.
The religious element provided the theme for much of Da Vinci’s work. His earliest known work, the Da Vinci Chalice, exemplifies his Holy Trinity approach which dominated his production schedules.
The scientific element provided the nature which authenticated shape and form making sense for the elements that would be used in his work.
The creativity is his interpretation. His song written and performed by him in a way that, like all “songwriters,” made him unique.
The Da Vinci Chalice is a fine example of all these elements assembled by the hand of Leonardo, then carved and cast into the sea of masterful eternity.
The chalice, made of precious metals, was lost at sea then found only a few years ago. Some would dispute that this incredible work was struck by the hands of Da Vinci himself. Others would argue that every nuance, whether subtle or suggestive, about the chalice mandates that no other person would even be able to produce a work of this grandeur. Da Vinci’s hidden marks are on the work as well.
I’m in route across the United States with time on the plane to write this blog. My destination is the vault of a private collector to photograph the lost treasure of Leonardo Da Vinci – The Da Vinci Chalice. I’ll also be video taping a 360 degree clip of the work. I’m commissioned for this project by an organization that produces religiously oriented art and other products for organizations to use to raise funds.
Finding the chalice, buried at sea off the coast of Florida is a good start for another angle of a Da Vinci Code episode. That the chalice found me to become a modern day instrument to document this great and masterful work is the story I tell herein.
The images on the chalice tell a story. It doesn’t much matter that it is a chalice. The story is what matters. So without discounting anything I’ve written thus far I will begin my story.
It starts a number of years ago when I was in England. I was on the very south tip of the country in Devon. I was left alone in a private loft holding and playing a Fender Stratocaster guitar that was played and signed by George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Frank Zappa, Stephen Stills, Buddy Guy, Steve Miller, Keith Richards, Robin Trower, Jeff Lynne, Roy Rogers, Dweezil Zappa, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Paul Rodgers, Dick Dale, Nils Lofgren, Richie Sambora, Bonnie Raitt, Bill Schults, Alan Rogan, Yngwie Malmsteen and others.
My job was to photograph the guitar as a follow up to the documentary that was produced about The History of Fender Stratocasters on their 40th anniversary.
George Harrison takes time for a snapshot with one of the project producers
Detail (pick guard) with a number of artists signatures.
In the new morning I’ll be holding artwork by Leonardo Da Vinci. Last week I was holding a dessert (gourmet cupcake) produced by my wife (another artistic genius). I played that guitar and reflected in deep thoughts as to the rich history it held by the accomplished artists through whose hands it passed. I’ll be holding the chalice and reflecting on the great master whose hands birthed this silver church vessel about four centuries ago. I ate the cupcake.
Each experience left me with something very rich inside. If you don’t care about art, music or cupcakes there is no rich reward for you to enjoy. If you do, than perhaps you can feel some of what I get to feel when I try to translate the message of the chalice with its flowing lines representing life and nature in the purity and innocence of fine metals.
Our lives are a precious metal that are capable of remaining pure and are often adorned by those with whom we interact – our family, our friends, even our enemies, but most of all our own ability to allow what is around us to carve it’s messages and meanings into our surface that we might reflect and share the swirling lines of the wind and waters of time.
The trip was a success and the images and video clips were ready for me to work with.
When I returned home, my seven year old grand daughter came to spend the night and was hanging out in my office while I was doing some post production work on the images for the Da Vinci project. She’s been by my side through a wide variety of projects during “post.” She’s seen me working on pictures of renowned politicians, musicians, behind the scenes at airports, movie stars at world premieres and has scene cartoons and TV commercials that haven’t even hit the networks yet. She asked my wife, “is Marc famous?” I overheard this and told her, “ya… kind of!”
What she didn’t know when I answered her was that for me to sense how impressed she was with me was so valuable, for that moment, I was (feeling) famous. Another etching onto my life. One of the best to come my way in a long time.
So the lost treasure that I have discovered and the message that I have received from the work on the chalice is about the flowing lines of life that are all around us to interweave their way into our psyche and paint and carve us, much like the work of the great masters, with a series of messages for us to interpret and use to expand our vision and continue to enjoy the journey.
Is the lost treasure, “the Da Vinci Chalice” truly the first masterpiece of Leonardo? Only Da Vinci could tell us. Rest assured that is not going to happen.
Once the piece goes through some metallurgy testing and a little carbon dating one thing that can be certified is the combination (percentages) of gold, silver, copper, nickel and whatever other metals are contained in the casting. This information can be check with a database that provides evidence about what combinations of metals the artists were using in the various cities of Europe during precise dates.
That kind of documentation and evidence will be dependable and extremely indisputable. The forms on the chalice are certainly representative of the early work that Da Vinci himself would have carved. If the metals used and the time stamp for this piece of art align with the work that was being created in Leonardo’s or Verrachio’s studio then there is really no one who has any more authority on the topic to claim otherwise.
