The Leonardo code
As printed in The International Herald Tribune May 8, 2006
in the Letters to the Editor
Click here to view the letter as published on the The International Herald Tribune Website.
Alan Riding's article "Fictionalizing the Louvre for 'Da Vinci Code' film" (May 5) was excellent, pointing out the difficulties of filming a novel so rife with inaccuracies. But he missed an opportunity to point out two additional mistakes by the novel's author, Dan Brown.
No specialist in symbolism would call The Victory of Samothrace "The Winged Victory," any more than one would say "a winged eagle." In art, Victory is always winged.
Additionally, the art expert would refer to the artist as Leonardo or Leonardo da Vinci, but never Da Vinci. This was not a last name at that time, but simply meant "from Vinci," referring to his birthplace in order to distinguish him from other Leonardos. Look in any serious art book and you will find his name in the index under L, never D.
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