Rebus and drawings: recognizing Leonardo da Vinci in the Uffizi Annunciation

Key facts

• The attribution of the Annunciation to Leonardo was disputed in the late 19th century between supporters (Karl Eduard von Liphart, Wilhelm von Bode) and opponents (Giovanni Morelli, Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle).
• Sidney Colvin found a drawing reproducing the sleeve of the Archangel Gabriel, which he took as proof of Leonardo's authorship.
• Gerolamo Calvi initially accepted the drawing as evidence but later retracted with irrefutable arguments.
• Calvi argued the obsessive study of the detail does not belong to Leonardo's art and that the drawing is a study of an already advanced painting.
• Giontella claims the drawing proves Leonardo's presence as co-author in the final part of the work.
• A drawing of a mantle at the Louvre, attributed to Leonardo, shows his direct intervention on Mary in the Annunciation.
• The yellow silk mantle fold on Mary's abdomen resembles that in the Madonna of the Carnation and the Virgin of the Rocks.
• Stylistic analysis supports Leonardo's authorship of the final pictorial execution of the Archangel Gabriel.
• Leonardo's drawing "Il Lupo e l'Aquila" (Windsor) is interpreted as an allegory of the Christian destinies entrusted to a commander to expel the Turkish invader.
• The drawing was initially dated 1516 (conflict between Leo X and Francis I), later 1495 (conflict between Alexander VI and Charles VIII).
• Giontella argues the eagle is an imperial emblem referring to Emperor or his vassal Federico da Montefeltro, who in 1481 was to save Italy.
• The drawing shows a boat with an oak tree mast, a wolf at the helm heading toward an eagle, following a compass line.
• The oak tree matches the heraldic stem of Pope Sixtus IV (Francesco della Rovere).
• In the painting, the Pope is the altar and Federico its base.
• The wolf at the helm is Francesco della Rovere, a Franciscan affiliated with St. Francis who tamed a wolf.
• The crowned eagle of Federico da Montefeltro dominates the terrestrial globe.
• Geographic images in the drawing show Greece and Turkey (Ottoman Empire) as four fingers ready to grab the thumb (Italy).
• Background mountains in the drawing match those in the Annunciation: the mountains of Valona where the Turkish fleet of Mehmed II was stationed.
• Leonardo created rebuses to immortalize his artistic debt to Antonio del Pollaiolo.
• First rebus: a chicken posteriorly shaped like an eye with the word 'Polochio' (Pollaiolo's eye for your works).
• Second rebus: 'E (due) rape tua' meaning 'Era pé tua. Polochio'.
• Third rebus: 'Idel (due) fichi' meaning 'i fichi di el' (his art).
• Fourth rebus: a lion among flames and two desks: 'Lionardeschi'.
• A house, two pears, and a pentagram with notes Sol, Fa, Re: 'c'a sapere sol fare'.
• Leonardo says his art descends from Pollaiolo's teachings.
• Giontella is a physician and physiatrist who has studied Antonio del Pollaiolo for fifteen years with Riccardo Fubini.