The Tondo Doni

Tondo Doni
The Uffizi
Florence, Italy










The Tondo Doni, Michelangelo's depiction of the Holy Family enjoying a picnic while a gaggle of naked guys loiters in the background, graces a grand, high-ceilinged room in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. Tondo refers to the round-styled painting, and Doni refers to the man who commisioned the work.


Many aspects of this painting may garner your attention. Joseph looks old, like grandfather old, and he's really bald. He looks like a chemistry professor, which is not a bad thing. My grandfather was a chemistry professor, and hey, his name was Joseph, too. The Joseph in the picture appears to be taking Baby Jesus as if Mary had requested, "Joe, take the boy. He's getting into my hair, and I need to make the sandwiches." Joseph seems attentive and concerned and a little anxious; earlier he made sure everyone had applied adequate sunscreen.


Mary is tan, robust and healthy. She exudes a gentle and perfect piety but also seems practical. I suspect she's the one who changes the light bulbs and balances the checkbook back home in Nazareth.


It's an overtly human, domestic scene; any parent can relate to this captured moment. Only John the Baptist, the child on the right who looks at Jesus, seems to understand the full import of this scene: the infant Jesus is, indeed, fully human, but He is much more. Time will tell, John understands.


And the naked guys in the background who appear to be discussing the chariot race results from the previous weekend? Art scholars and theologians agree that the naked guys reveal that in God's eyes, we are all naked (and apparently, rather buff).


Finally, and I suspect you who are art historians will get all worked into a lather, the painting prooves that Michelangelo had been to Yosemite. I know that doesn't sound historically accurate, but he could have sailed from Italy to the New World in the early 1500s on the Nina, the Pinta or the Santa Maria and headed West to California on some camels.


Examine the two pictures below. The picture on the left is a close-up of the Tondo Doni (hey, one of the naked guys seems to be grabbing a robe!). Pay particular attention to the granite mountain in the background. Now look at the picture on the right, the one with the two young women in the foreground (woo-hooh!). The mountain in the background of this picture is Lembert Dome in Yosemite. Compare the Tondo Doni mountain with Lembert Dome. Look closely at the outline of their summits. Are you with me?

Coincidence? I don't think so. In my next blog entry we will discuss Leonardo da Vinci's The Mona Lisa and how the lady in the painting looks exactly like the carving of Thomas Jefferson on Mt. Rushmore.