Thread by @vandroidhelsing

It's time to willfully misunderstand Leonardo da Vinci! (Named after Saint Leonardo, patron of lion genitals; "da Vinci" just means he's from the town of Vinci.)
Here's his Annunciation, displaying his masterful use of Verocchio to do all the hard stuff for him.

Not many know this, but Leonardo's Madonna of the Carnation contains the direct inspiration for David Lynch's Baron Harkonnen.

The Madonna herself wears blue, symbolizing her role as the queen of heaven, & red, symbolizing her role as queen of hell. The Bible is…complicated.

Here we see Ginevra de' Benci. Leonardo is well known for putting little puns into his work, and he masterfully captures the look of someone who has just been told one.

In the Benois Madonna, Leonardo beautifully portrays the moment in the Gospel of Matthew where the Christ Child learns his mother is filled with the black oil.

The Madonna Litta may not be an actual Leonardo—its provenance is uncertain—but I for one believe it to be his work based on his artist statement, as written in the Codex Atlanticus:
"no ereh morf tihs ssa-driew ylno"
A true genius.

Ah, the Virgin of the Rocks. As you may know, Leonardo was fascinated by anatomy and biology, and he puts that to good use here, portraying the tension-filled moment in the life cycle of a madonna as she decides which of her two children to devour.

According to most historians, Portrait of a Musician may contain the key to the true ancestry of Prince Harry.

Lady With An Ermine, despite its technical and compositional perfection, is one of Leonardo's more controversial depictions of the "madonna and child" theme.

La belle ferronnière, another painting uncertainly attributed to Leonardo, is probably not his simply because there's nothing weird about it.

Salvator Mundi is probably Leonardo's as well. The arguments for this are the delicate modeling of the hair and hands, and the stoned-out-of-his-holy-gourd expression on the face of Christ.
The arguments against are: idk I just want to make trouble.

The Madonna of the Yarnwinder is tricky because there's two, both maybe only partly in Leonardo's hand, so discerning the artist's intent is not easy. What we can say for sure is that he never flipped his canvas, and believed babies needed to pupate before becoming human.

Based on certain clues in Vasari's work, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne is believed to have been titled originally "I Have The Weirdest Boner Right Now".

Ah, what can you say about that face, enigmatic, regarding you across the gap of years with the contentment of a predator who has just fed

wait, how did this dirty old painting get here, it was supposed to be a picture of Christine Baranski in Mamma Mia

You probably recognize this from the classic documentary about its creation, Ever After

The name and subject of this painting are lost, but some historians now believe Leonardo intended it to be titled Relax For Me Baby, That's It.

Some scholars argue very strongly that this fresco's name should be changed, because everyone in it is a snacc.

Tentatively titled "Sister, Soon We Shall Feast", this preliminary drawing by Leonardo was damaged by a shotgun blast in 1987 but has been painstakingly restored.

For a painting of Edward the Confessor that was left unfinished, this is the only surviving image of an Italian old man.

Early concept art for Jodorowsky's Dune. I suppose it's a good thing Leonardo died before learning this version of the movie would not be made. :(