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Demystifying the great Leonardo da Vinci

ON A MISSION: M.K. Shakeel with his paintings. - Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

The paintings of Leonardo da Vinci have of late been the focus of debate based on some form of code the great painter had used in his famous work, `Last Supper'. "It might have given an impression that da Vinci's paintings can be understood only if the code is deduced. But I wanted to show that his paintings can be easily understood by conducting an exhibition of copies of his paintings along with my own," claims M.K. Shakeel, an advocate in Kozhikode, whose exhibition began at the Lalithakala Akademi Art Gallery here on Sunday. The artist says that he had drawn a lot of inspiration from da Vinci.

Mr. Shakeel has displayed a few copies of paintings of da Vinci, downloaded from the Internet. They include a painting of da Vinci's teacher, Andrea del Verrocchio, Mona Lisa, Virgin of the Rocks, Madonna and Saint Anne, Portrait of a Musician, Benois Madonna, St. John, the Baptist, Cecilla Gellarni, Anunciation and the Last Supper. The purpose is to demonstrate, according to him, how easy it is to understand da Vinci's paintings without even knowing anything about the code.

Mr. Shakeel has also put up charts to explain how the `codes' in da Vinci's paintings as argued by some do not stick. He also wants children to know more about da Vinci. In fact, children inaugurated the exhibition by simply watching the paintings.

"My aim was to show to the public that the Dan Brown's book, `Da Vinci Code' that also quotes from other earlier books, including Templar Revelation, that Magdalene was the wife of Jesus Christ. After the crucifixion of the Christ, Magdalene fled to France, gave birth to Sara, Christ's daughter. It is the race of Sara that gave rise to Merovingian Dynasty. A secret organisation `Priory of Sion' was formed in 1099 AD for handing over the secret of Mary Magdalene to future generations. Many famous personalities, including Issac Newton, Da Vinci and Victor Hugo, were members of this secret organisation. But a BBC programme and other researches showed that Priory of Sion was formed in 1956 by Pierre Plantard along with others. This proves the `code' story wrong. This is what I want to drive home through my exhibition," says Mr. Shakeel.

Mr. Shakeel, who has never learned painting, has exhibited five of his paintings along with 21 copies of paintings of da Vinci at the exhibition.

One of the paintings in which a woman is depicted in a background of a host of colours, according to Mr. Shakeel, was an experiment in colour combination. Another shows a butterfly, which also explores the colour combination. He had earlier conducted two exhibition, the latter one being held in association with Public Works Minister M.K. Muneer, who was the artist's classmate. The exhibition will conclude on Tuesday.

J.S. BABLU

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