The Unsympathetic Critic
You can be sure that Mario Taddei was not a big fan of the Dan Brown novel. But Taddei had an interesting justification for the effeminate look of John. As mentioned before, da Vinci was following the rules and structure of this scene. While he understands why people would become suspicious, John’s figure had been painted this way by previous artists, and da Vinci was just toeing the line. John had been painted in a feminine way.
The Unsympathetic Critic
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