Research 3

Comparison of "Leonardo da Vinci" bust created by Leonardo da Vinci and icon № 1 with Jesus Christ's image

Research № 3. Comparison of "Leonardo da Vinci" bust created by Leonardo da Vinci and icon № 1 with Jesus Christ's image. 

   The image of a bust is specific and notable for its incompleteness and less accurate portrayal of appearance than the face in the icon. Nevertheless, the faces are in the same plane with an identical turn of the head and a small difference in head tilt (on the bust the head is tilted back for 3-5º). A comparison of the appearances in the presented works can be made by visually contrasting those signs which are suitable for comparison. 

   For visual comparison, these images, as it was noted above, were brought to the same size with a 19 mm distance between the pupils and bleached. Below, the matching signs of appearances are marked in red, whereas the differences in appearances of the given images are marked in blue:

Mark 1 – shape of the lower edge of the beard,

Mark 2 – line between the upper and lower lips (wavy),

Mark 3 – presence and prominence of nasolabial folds (medium),

Mark 4 – nose length, width of the nasal bridge,

Mark 5 – shape of the inner corners of the eyes,

Mark 6 – contour and length of the eyebrow,

Mark 7 – overhanging upper lids (absence).

Distinctive signs of appearance:

Mark 8 – hair type (curly, wavy), hair style,

Mark 9 – vermilion border of the lower lip, lip size,

Mark 10 – width, shape of the nose tip (oval/angular),

Mark 11 – shape, size of the eyes (length),

Mark 12 – presence of a glabellar line on the bust,

Mark 13 – frontal hairline.

   The revealed distinctions are essential, partially explainable by the subjective portrayal of the people in the painting and their age difference (the bust is purportedly older). However, these distinctions do allow us to draw a definite conclusion that in this case the same person is represented. The people in question also differ by their head size and face width. Similarities in signs of appearance define typical similarity of these faces, and allow us to suggest that perhaps the same person is presented in the pictures, considering the specifics of these people's portrayal.