TITLE:
Hidden Butterfly and Its Complete Metamorphosis in the “Portrait of a Lady” by Leonardo Da Vinci
AUTHORS:
Grigol Keshelava
KEYWORDS:
Portrait of a Lady, Leonardo Da Vinci, Butterfly, Metamorphosis
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Historical Studies,
Vol.9 No.4,
November
30,
2020
ABSTRACT: One of Leonardo da Vinci’s areas of interest was the
microcosm of insects. His sketches show that he studied in detail and observed
their structure and peculiarities. The object of the research is the painting
“Portrait of a Lady”. Upon closer examination of the painting, we discovered
one detail that having the shape of a butterfly wing. Through the program Paint
X, we moved the details to the amulet and we got an image of butterfly.
Subsequent analysis of the painting showed that Leonardo described in this work
a complete life cycle of butterfly consisting of four stages: the egg, the
feeding stage, the transition stage, and the reproductive stage. Our research
shows that Leonardo described the butterfly and its stages metamorphosis in
“Portrait of a Lady”. Art and scientific knowledge are harmoniously combined in
this work.