The Pointing Finger

  The pointing finger is seen in many of Leonardo's paintings.  We have already seen it in the Angel in the Flesh.  We also see it in John the Baptist, The Virgin of the Rocks, and in The Last Supper.  Strangely, the finger also makes a less obvious appearance in the Adoration of the Magi where it sprouts from behind a carob tree.

The question is - what does it mean?  The usual explanation is that the finger is pointing upwards to God/heaven/transendence.  In fact, the pointing finger was a gesture used in many other art works of the time.  In John the Baptist the way in which he indicates himself with one hand and points upwards with the other is said to mean "I fortell the coming of the one from above."

  There is an alternative view that Leonardo was a Johannite and a believer in the Great Heresy.

The Johannites

  In the Bible we are told that when St Paul visited Ephesus and Corinth as the first missionary in the area he found already in existence a flourishing Church of John - John the Baptist - but the followers of John had not even heard of Jesus.  Today the Mandaeans of modern Iran and Iraq have held John in special reverence for 2000 years calling him the "High King of Light." Jesus is referred to as a "usurper" who "perverted all the cults and turned light into darkness."

  In Luke 7:18 - 23 John (who, we are told, has earlier met Jesus and fallen at his feet) sends a message to Jesus saying "Art thou he that should come or do we wait for another?" Shortly after this John is killed apparently to appease the whim of Salome.

  Johannites believe that Christ and/or his followers killed John and took over the church that he had created.  This belief is called the Great Heresy and some say that Leonardo held this belief.

Leonardo and the Great Heresy

  The idea that Leonardo was a Johannite can be taken from certain apparent anomalies in some of his paintings:

  The Last Supper
- Pointing to the belly of the third man from the left is a dagger held in a hand which cannot belong to anyone in the picture.
- "St John" - arching away to the left of Jesus has small hands, a gold necklace and a cleavage.

- Leonardo is in the picture as "St Jude" -second from the right and turned away from Jesus.
- To the right of Jesus a man sticks his finger in the air almost in His face. This pointing finger has been called the "John Gesture."

  The Virgin of the Rocks
  Some of the rock formations can be seen as highly phallic.  The Christ Child is making the John Gesture.

  The Adoration of the Magi
  In this unfinished work the John Gesture appears disembodied from behind a carob - which tree is a symbol for John the Baptist.

Other Signs of Heresy

  There are a few other scraps of evidence that point to Leonardo holding unconventional religious beliefs.  In the Codex Atlanticus he recals an unpleasant incident in connection with a representation of the Infant Christ: "When I made a Christ Child you put me in prison.  Now if I represent him grown up you will treat me worse."  Also some of his jokes seem to at the expense of the priesthood.  There is also one of his "prophesies" (not predictions of future events but a series of enigmatic or riddle-like pronouncements) entitled "Of Christians" which reads "Many who hold the faith of the son only build temples in the name of the mother."