Ron's Views

Something has really gotten under my skin! I'll sit quietly aside while people proclaim and believe the most outrageous suggestions or statements conjured by man, as long as it is in some way plausible or is labeled as "fiction". But on one issue I can not swallow and sit quietly about any longer! The "Da Vinci Code".... Again, if it was publicized as what it is... "fiction", then it could be considered mediocre reading material, at best. But to see the world embrace this farce as "fact" is more than I can stand! The Da Vinci Code states that Mary Magdalene became pregnant with Christ's seed and that after Christ's crucifixion, she went away and gave birth to this child (a girl). Brown claims that Leonardo da Vinci was once the head of a secret society, the Priory of Sion, which protects the secret of the royal bloodline of Jesus Christ and where his descendants live today. Brown says that Leonardo painted Mary Magdalene to Christ's right hand, depicting that "SHE" was/is the Holy Grail! -.-.- How ridiculous! Leonardo da Vinci was one of the most brilliant men that ever lived. He is one of, if not 'THE' greatest artist this world has ever produced! If he wanted to paint a woman on that wall, we would, as well as all the generation before us, certainly know it! OK... Then where does this "Da Vinci Code" thing come from and why all the debate? ... Two things: Something a man-hating woman painted - and something a money-loving man wrote. In all fairness, the woman may not be a "man-hater" or even lesbian... but she sure gives one that presumption by looking at the "gender changes" in her work! The woman I am speaking of is Pinin Brambilla, the last person to restore the fresco "The Last Supper". I say she is the "last" to restore it, as it has been cleaned and restored nine times since Leonardo finished the fresco in 1498! The man that I mentioned is the author, Dan Brown, who saw an opportunity to make fame and fortune from Ms Brambilla's fiasco. (I've always felt that Leonardo painted the "fresco", while Ms Brambilla painted the "fiasco" there, 500 years later.) Although I do admit that Mary Magdalene was definitely ^† more than what the bible portrays her to be, she was by no stretch of the imagination, Christ's "wife" or "lover"! How ridiculous! _{{see footnote below}} So getting back to the main issue: Where is all the hoopla coming from? It comes from those that would discredit our Lord and Savior. It comes from those that would profit from lies about Jesus Christ! It started when Pinin Brambilla was commissioned to restore "The Lord's Supper" by Milan's Superintendent for Artistic and Historic Heritage. She is a renowned restoration artist who made use of various new technologies to bring life back into Leonardo's masterpiece. Or at least that is what was 'supposed' to happen. Ms Brambilla's task was first and foremost to stop further deterioration. Chemical analysis suggested that the over-painting which remained, was still eating away at Leonardo's original paint, and areas that were flaking away were taking parts of Leonardo's work with it as well. So, she decided the most pressing project was to remove everything that had been added after Leonardo finished the painting in 1498. ... (Everything! That's eight previous cleanings and restorations, plus 500 years of wear and tear, including getting bombed in WW II ...!) Once referring to Leonardo's Last Supper as a sick patient, Brambilla has proclaimed that she and her colleagues have been able to give back a reading of the dimensions, "of the expressive and chromatic intensity that we thought was lost forever." What Brambilla really gave the art work was a different genre. (if paintings can have genres...) This would be fine if she were a decorator giving your bedroom a make-over, but this is one of the greatest (if not THE GREATEST) works of art of all times! She gave to the painting (in my estimation) her own "feminine" Je-ne-sais-quoi. She gave several of the disciples a "feminine" appearance. Even the face of Christ takes on a feminine appearance after she "maneuvered" it! Section of The Lord's Supper, before restoration. - Section of The Lord's Supper, after restoration. It really doesn't take an art expert to see the difference! I am by no means alone in this way of thinking! Critics call Brambilla's removal of earlier restorations unnecessary and destructive, erasing fragments that might have been faithful to the original. James Beck, Art History Professor at Columbia University in New York, has been a prominent critic of the restoration. He has called it 18 to 20 percent Leonardo, and 80% the work of Brambilla. Beck maintains that the areas that have been painted by Brambilla's watercolor essentially repaints the masterpiece. He asserts that the painting does not represent a conservation of what remains of Da Vinci's original, but represents a repainting of a work that doesn't even have an echo of the past. Jacques Franck, who has devoted his life to studying da Vinci and is consulting expert to the Armand Hammer Center for Leonardo studies at the University of California Los Angeles said: "I was horrified when I saw it. It had lost all its dimension and contrast and there were huge square metres missing including Christ's head. Leonardo would not have approved!" Now, we get to the so called "evidence" of the Da Vinci Code, according to the author of the Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown. The person to the left of Christ (Christ's right hand) is John... it has always been John. But after Ms Brambilla got through with it, he 'appears' to be a woman.... but only AFTER she RE-PAINTED it! - Dan Brown took the "new" look and exaggerated it to say that since Leonardo was (supposedly) once the head of a secret society, the Priory of Sion, he knew more about Christ's private life and painted Mary Magdalene on Christ's right hand as the "Holy *Grail"! (*Grail, or 'cup', as in the 'holder of His seed'...) ludicrous! In truth, the figures are (From our left to right): St. Bartholomew, St. James the Less (Peter's brother), St. Andrew, Judas, St. Peter, St. John, Christ, St. Thomas, St. James the Great, St. Philip, St. Matthew, St. Jude, and St. Simon. These names are all agreed upon by art historians. In the 1800's a manuscript was found with their names; before this only Judas, Peter, John and Christ were positively identified. So in summary, there is no question... there is no doubt; only heresy by those that would discredit Christ. But Christ can not be discredited! Even if Leonardo da Vinci 'had' painted a woman on that wall, it would mean nothing! For Leonardo was, after all, only human and according to Biblical accounts Mary Magdalene WAS present during the Last Supper, but wasn't among the thirteen at the table.. But the fact is, a thousand women on a thousand frescos and a thousand books of lies could not change the Truth! Nothing could take away the facts that were left here by our Lord and Savior 2000 years ago. Nothing could remove the truth from my heart and mind and I'm sure that is true for millions more just like me. However, it does bother me when something so ridiculous gets so much acclaim and attention and is heralded as fact! Ron Ray †* footnote †* I truly consider Mary Magdalene to be as much as the 13th apostle to Christ and believe that she was at the Eucharist (the event Leonardo painted). But at that time, women held absolutely no authority or place in public or political matters. back to footnote link ^