Heiland
The "Salvator Mundi" as an image type predates Leonardo. Thusly, Martin Kemp argues that on one hand Leonardo was constrained in his composition by the expected iconography of the Salvator Mundi, but on the other hand he was able to use the image as a vehicle for spiritual communication between the spectator and the likeness of Christ. The composition has its sources in the Byzantine period, the imagery of which developed in northern Europe before finding its place in the Italian states. Snow-Smith relates the development of the Salvator Mundi to Byzantine iconography and narratives of images of Christ "not made by human hands." Such "acheiropoeta" would include the Mandylion of Edessa, the Keramidion, the Berenike Kerchief, and the Veil of Veronica. Although the "Salvator Mundi" has its origins in the "acheiropoeta," Snow-Smith discusses, the "Salvator Mundi" came into the fifteenth century through such intermediaries as Christ as "Pantocrator", Christ in Majesty, and The Last Judgement, which like the "acheiropoeta" betray their Byzantine origins though their frontal depictions of Christ. The frontality of Christ is shared by other images of Christ and God the Father in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, including in 'portrait' images of Christ, which feature only Christ at half-length and without the orb or blessing gesture, as well as in images of 'Christ Blessing' which does not show Christ holding an orb. Images of Christ holding a sphere became widely popular following Charlemagne's adoption of the globus criciger and the scepter. The earliest true Salvator Mundi images are found in northern Europe. Indeed, the iconography of the "Salvator Mundi" came to fruition in paintings like Robert Campin's "Blessing Christ and Praying Virgin" and in the central panel of Rogier van der Weyden's "Braque Triptych" before such images became common in Italy later in the fifteenth century. Works by such artists as the Milanese painter Antonello da Messina and his "Christ Blessing" betray the influence of Northern artists in the Italian states.