Christian Kleinbub - MAP FORUM

MAP FORUM - 12 November 2024
Leonardo and Religion
Although it is often assumed that Leonardo da Vinci was, at best, uninterested in religion, it cannot be denied that he also produced some of the most important and original sacred images of his time. Revisiting Leonardo’s works and writings, my talk will attempt to understand how what we think we know about this most famous of empirical polymaths can be reconciled with his innovations in religious art and experience. I hope to show that Leonardo was deeply concerned with reinvigorating religious art and experience, seeking to effect something like a reform of both in accord with his own idiosyncratic thinking.
Formerly professor of the history of art at Ohio State University, Christian Kleinbub is now Co-Director of the New Foundation for Art History (NFAH). He has published two books, Vision and the Visionary in Raphael (Penn State, 2011) and Michelangelo’s Inner Anatomies (Penn State, 2020). His present research concerns the religious ideas and work of Leonardo da Vinci.