Five character studies (‘A man tricked by gypsies’), about 1490–3
This study has been identified as that of a man being distracted and robbed by gypsies.
Leonardo was as fascinated by perfect ugliness as he was by perfect beauty.
His studies of the grotesque fed into his depiction of Judas.
Like his contemporaries,
Leonardo believed that depravity manifested itself in outward deformity.
Now, imagine Leon and his peers got it right.
In that case I would have - seriously - been a perfect example to scare and threaten children to eat their greens. By myself, my halo scarcely hangs by a thread. But Jesus paid with His perfect life for my ugly sins and by His stubborn love and grace, forgave me for everything for ever - I'm free!
The curse of my ugly sins on my Saviour, bearing God's just wrath for me on the cross. And my Substitute's, my Jesus' perfect and beautiful righteousness imputed to me. What a swop!
What a crazy, lethal choice to stay and ultimately die in ugly sin.
