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🙂 Greetings to history and art lovers! The article “Leonardo da Vinci: biography, creativity, facts and video” – about the life of an Italian artist. This “universal man” was a painter, sculptor, architect, naturalist, inventor, writer, and musician.
Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci
In our time, historians and writers pay great attention to the personality of Leonardo da Vinci. Mysticism and rationalism are equally included in the assessment of this extraordinary person, and even the many records of a genius that have safely reached the XNUMXst century cannot change this ratio.
He is recognized as a great scientist, although his projects, with a few exceptions, have not been implemented. Recognized as a great painter and sculptor, although he painted few paintings and created only a few sculptures. It is not the number of works created that makes him a genius, but the change in working methods in these branches of knowledge and art.
Italy, Florence
There are almost no documents or memories of Leonardo’s childhood and adolescence. His father, Piero da Vinci, was a renowned notary in Florence. Mother Katerina was a peasant. When she gave birth to a son (April 15, 1452), she was immediately married to the wealthy landowner Piero del Vaccia. The boy grew up in the house of his father and stepmother Albiera.
His uncle Francesco had a great influence on the formation of his personality. Leonardo was illegitimate and, according to the laws of the Middle Ages, could not inherit his father’s profession. Piero was intimately acquainted with Verrocchio and, when he met, showed him the drawings of his son. At the age of 14, Leonardo entered the studio of the renowned painter as an apprentice.
In Verrocchio’s workshop
The young man thoroughly studied the basics of architecture, painting and sculpture in Verrocchio’s workshop. He got acquainted with other branches of knowledge, made friends with students, in particular, with Botticelli and Perugino. He met Toscanelli (mathematician, physician) and Leon Alberti.
Da Vinci was admitted to the workshop of artists in 1472. The biggest orders of Verrocchio at this time were a statue of “David” for the Medici family (presumably Da Vinci served as a model), and a painting on the dome of the cathedral.
Eight years later, Leonardo opened his own workshop. His first independent work is considered to be the image of an angel on the canvas “The Baptism of Christ”. Vasari wrote that this work was created by Verrocchio.
But the spectral analysis, which was carried out by the workers of the Uffizi gallery, proves that 3-4 artists worked on this painting. Most of the composition is the work of Botticelli. Leonardo painted the angel and the landscape behind him.
The artist did not always sign his works, which makes it difficult to study them. In the early 1470s, he created two Annunciation, possibly paintings for the altar. One of them is in the Uffizi Gallery, as one of the earliest works. It shows some resemblance to the work of Lorenzo di Credi, also a pupil of Verrocchio.
The early works include a pen drawing, which depicts a river valley and picturesque rocks visible in the distance.
Drawings of military machines and machines for the developing textile industry date back to the same time. It is possible that these projects were commissioned by Lorenzo Medici.
Leonardo da Vinci: paintings
The first large commission received from Piero Pollaiolo is the altarpiece for the chapel of St. Bernard. Leonardo received an advance, but did not finish the work and left for Milan.
Worship of the Magi, 1481. Uffizi, Florence, Italy
Another order is the altarpiece “Adoration of the Magi”. But even this work, having received an advance payment, the artist did not complete. It is this work that art critics consider the foundation for European painting. Sketches for this work are in the Uffizi, Louvre and the Museum of Britain. This composition was finished by Filippino Lippi.
“Saint Jerome”. 1480-82, Vatican Pinakothek, Vatican
The painting “Saint Jerome” is also unfinished. The figure of the saint is depicted with excellent knowledge of anatomy. The lion in the foreground is indicated only by the contour line.
The works of 1478 – 1480 include: “Portrait of Ginevra” and “Madonna with a Flower” (are on display in the Hermitage). Ginevra’s serious appearance gives reason to consider this work the first psychological portrait in art.
“Portrait of Ginevra de Benchi”, c. 1474-6, National Gallery of Art, Washington (USA)
The Benois Madonna may have been based on sketches now in the London Museum. The work is executed in a new technique and is distinguished by the transparency of chiaroscuro and the luxury of shades with the restraint of the general color.
“Madonna Benois” or “Madonna with a flower”, 1478-80, Hermitage, St. Petersburg (Russia)
The image of air space blurs the border of objects and thus connects the whole composition. Many art critics suggest that Madonna of the Carnation was created earlier than Madonna Benoit.
“Madonna of the Carnation”, 1478, Alte Pinakothek, Munich (Germany)
As is known from historical sources, in his youth Leonardo blinded clay “heads of laughing girls”, and then they made casts from them. He also painted a monster on a shield made of wood. “It was disgusting. It seemed that his breath poisons and inflames everything around. “
Milan
In 1482 he came to Milan and brought back two unfinished paintings. One of them is “Madonna Litta”. He completed it in 1490. In Milan, his activities were diverse. He worked as an engineer and is mentioned along with D. Bramante.
“Madonna Litta”, 1490-1, Hermitage, St. Petersburg (Russia)
The drawings of this period are proof of the genius giftedness of this great man. He actively participated in the construction of the canal and significantly improved the system of locks.
Da Vinci worked hard on the project of the ideal city. In his mind, it was a three-tiered city. In 1487 he submitted for a competition the design of the dome of the cathedral in Milan. The commission could not make a final decision and postponed the competition until the summer of 1490, but the master refused to participate.
Da Vinci designed wedding celebrations for rulers, was a musician and a brilliant conversationalist. He wrote fables and riddles. In Milan, he became friends with F. Cardano (doctor and mathematician). J. Marliani often visited.
Da Vinci carefully studied and observed nature, but never sought to copy it. He wanted to create something new. This is how he wrote The Head of Medusa. It was not finished, but adorned the collection of the Duke Cosimo de ‘Medici.
In the Atlantic Codex, the master’s notes on various fields of knowledge, there is a draft of a letter to Lodovico Sforza. He offers his services as an engineer and sculptor. He writes that he wants to create a large monument to Francesco Sforza.
His circle of acquaintances included the mathematician Giorgi Ballu and theologian Pietro Monti. In 1496 Leonardo attended lectures by the famous mathematician Luca Pacioli.
He was an unusually gifted person. Leonardo da Vinci left this world on May 2, 1519. He left behind many ideas, magnificent paintings and even more unsolvable mysteries.
Video
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