A Political Allegory, c.1495 (red chalk on paper)

It is generally accepted that the drawing has a political meaning, though suggested interpretations have varied widely - an allegory on the magnetic north pole, on river navigation, or on the relationship between Pope Leo X and King Francis I around 1515-16. The eagle apparently wears the French crown, and the wolf is very probably the Pope, steering the Ship of the Church (in St Ambrose's exegesis the Ship of the Church has as its mast the Cross of Christ; rather than using a pictorially disruptive crucifix, Leonardo substituted the Tree of Life, a branch of which was planted on Adam's grave, itself growing into a tree from which ultimately the Cross was fashioned).