Leonardo’s Figure of the Thoughtful Commentator in the Adoration of the Magi: Origin and Interpretation

The last decade has seen some new approaches to Leonardo’s highly complex composition of the Adoration of the Magi, aspects of which are not yet fully explored. This paper investigates the sources of two figures flanking the principal scene –the youth at the far right and the middle-aged man at the left– as well as Leonardo’s method of rendering them. Scholarship has offered thought-provoking interpretations of the elder character, who, standing in deep contemplation, observes –with his hand on his chin– the scene in front of him. However, the origins of this figure’s pose have not been examined. It is argued here that the origins of the pensive man in the Adoration of the Magi may be traced back to Roman sarcophagi that were known to Leonardo and other Renaissance artists. It is further suggested that the elderly man in the Uffizi panel is related iconographically to figures in works by 15th- and 16th-century artists, namely Donatello, Raphael, Gian Francesco Rustici, and Giorgio Vasari.