La cara y la mano. La filosofía de expresión en Ficino y Leonardo

The present paper focuses on Marsilio Ficino and Leonardo da Vinci. Both authors describe the human production of artifacts as transformative principles that affect the world from both a technical and an aesthetic viewpoint. In this light, manus and risus become the strongholds of a typically Renaissance anthropology, according to which the homo faber rises to that godlike status which plays a major role in Nicholas of Cusa’s philosophy; while the human hand is the active transformative principle,the smile is the sign of an accomplished work. In sum, these two aspects unveil a process of spiritualization of reality, i.e., the perfect interpenetration of beauty with virtue and truth. This paper will explore the similarities between the two authors also with reference to Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci (1475-1478 ca.), a very special picture sermon, with the back of the table being a concise philosophical treaty that reads “virtutem forma decorat”, a formula which evokes Ficino’s Convivium.