Saturday, May 20, 2006
By ERICA DIETSCHE
THE RECORD (HACKENSACK N.J.)
HACKENSACK, N.J. -- It's hard to say which is hotter tight now: "The Da Vinci Code" movie or the impassioned controversy surrounding the portrayal of Catholicism in the novel by Dan Brown.
What seems to have escaped notice, however, are the religious and historical fallacies the book presents regarding Leonardo da Vinci's works -- the basis for the "code" on which the story rests.
In the preface of the novel, Brown writes under the heading "fact" that "all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals in this novel are accurate."
This is not the case.
Italian Renaissance scholar Sarah Blake McHam, an art-history professor at Rutgers University, separates fact from fiction and touches on a few real mysteries surrounding the works discussed in the novel.
Though she takes issue with the book's treatment of facts, McHam enjoyed the novel and is looking forward to seeing the movie.
"I hate to think that people might take Brown's interpretation of Leonardo as truth. It's absolutely not," she says.
For starters, Leonardo shouldn't be referred to as "Da Vinci." "The phrase is Italian for 'from Vinci,' the province in Italy where Leonardo lived," she explains. We're willing to let that one slide.
McHam details the other fallacies regarding Leonardo and his works: