Was Leonardo religious or not?

Was Leonardo religious or not?

I think he was not religious from the conventional point of view. Nor can I conclude that he was not religious at all.






Some claim that he was not religious based on that fact that he did not use the halo nor place a traditionally accepted sacred object on the Last Supper table, such as a Holy Chalice.


But, to me, Leonardo was more spiritual and perhaps religious than some of the painters of his time. Just because he did not use the halo does not automatically become equal to being non-religious.


He may well have thought and imagined, "What makes a person 'appear' more spiritual? Does putting a halo on the being portrayed makes him/her more spiritual? How can I convey the spirituality of a sacred beings without introducing the rather superficial, blindly traditional elements?


Yes, there are no Chalice on the Last Supper table in his painting. But is it not so that if such sacred being as Christ touches, anything can become sac red as the Holy Chalice? If he touched, the object can become sacred. Leonardo did not like the relic.


Instead, he wanted to show the holiness of the being through the gesture, posture, scenes, and facial expression... how to create the sacred atmosphere...


Can human nature express the divine? After all, these sacred beings in the paintings took the human forms to approach us. ...and God created human forms...!