(Leonardo da Vinci) (1452-1519) - the greatest figure, the multifaceted genius of the Renaissance, the founder of the High Renaissance. Known as an artist, scientist, engineer, inventor.
Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the town of Anchiano near the town of Vinci, located near Florence. His father was Piero da Vinci, a notary who came from a prominent family in the city of Vinci. According to one version, the mother was a peasant woman, according to another - the owner of the tavern, known as Katerina. At about the age of 4.5 years, Leonardo was taken to his father's house, and in the documents of that time he is called the illegitimate son of Piero. In 1469 he entered the workshop of the famous artist, sculptor and jeweler Andrea del Verrocchio ( 1435/36–1488). Here Leonardo went the whole way of apprenticeship: from rubbing paints to working as an apprentice. According to contemporaries, he painted the left figure of an angel in a painting by Verrocchio Baptism(c. 1476, Uffizi Gallery, Florence), which immediately attracted attention. The naturalness of movement, the smoothness of lines, the softness of chiaroscuro - distinguishes the figure of an angel from the more rigid writing of Verrocchio. Leonardo lived in the house of the master and after in 1472 he was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke, the guild of painters.
One of the few dated drawings by Leonardo was created in August 1473. View of the Arno Valley from a height was made with a pen with quick strokes, transmitting vibrations of light, air, which indicates that the drawing was made from nature (Uffizi Gallery, Florence).
The first painting attributed to Leonardo, although its authorship is disputed by many experts, is Annunciation(c. 1472, Uffizi Gallery, Florence). Unfortunately, the unknown author made later corrections, which significantly worsened the quality of the work.
Portrait of Ginevra de Benci(1473-1474, National Gallery, Washington) is permeated with a melancholy mood. Part of the picture below is cut off: probably, the hands of the model were depicted there. The contours of the figure are softened with the help of the sfumato effect, created before Leonardo, but it was he who became the genius of this technique. Sfumato (it. sfumato - foggy, smoky) - a technique developed in the Renaissance in painting and graphics, which allows you to convey the softness of modeling, the elusiveness of object outlines, and the feeling of the air environment.
Madonna with a flower (Madonna Benois) (Madonna with child) 1478 - 1480 Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia |
Between 1476 and 1478 Leonardo opens his workshop. To this period belongs Madonna with a flower, so-called Madonna Benois(c. 1478, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg). The smiling Madonna addresses the baby Jesus sitting on her lap, the movements of the figures are natural and plastic. In this picture, there is a characteristic interest in the art of Leonardo to show the inner world.
An unfinished painting also belongs to the early works. Adoration of the Magi(1481-1482, Uffizi Gallery, Florence). The central place is occupied by a group of the Madonna and Child and the Magi placed in the foreground.
In 1482, Leonardo left for Milan, the richest city of that time, under the patronage of Lodovico Sforza (1452–1508), who supported the army, spent huge amounts of money on lavish festivities and the purchase of works of art. Introducing himself to his future patron, Leonardo speaks of himself as a musician, military expert, inventor of weapons, war chariots, machines, and only then speaks of himself as an artist. Leonardo lived in Milan until 1498, and this period of his life was the most fruitful.
The first commission received by Leonardo was the creation of an equestrian statue in honor of Francesco Sforza (1401–1466), father of Lodovico Sforza. Working on it for 16 years, Leonardo created many drawings, as well as an eight-meter clay model. In an effort to surpass all existing equestrian statues, Leonardo wanted to make a grandiose sculpture in size, to show a rearing horse. But faced with technical difficulties, Leonardo changed the idea and decided to depict a walking horse. In November 1493 model Horse without a rider was put on public display, and it was this event that made Leonardo da Vinci famous. It took about 90 tons of bronze to cast the sculpture. The metal collection that had begun was interrupted, and the equestrian statue was never cast. In 1499, Milan was captured by the French, who used the sculpture as a target. After a while, it collapsed. Horse- a grandiose, but never completed project - one of the significant works of monumental plastic art of the 16th century. and, according to Vasari, "those who have seen the huge clay model ... claim that they have never seen a work more beautiful and majestic," called the monument "the great colossus."
At the court of Sforza, Leonardo also worked as a decorator for many festivities, creating hitherto unseen scenery and mechanisms, and made costumes for allegorical figures.
unfinished canvas Saint Jerome(1481, Vatican Museum, Rome) shows the saint at the moment of repentance in a complex turn with a lion at his feet. The picture was painted in black and white paints. But after coating it with varnish in the 19th century. the colors turned to olive and golden.
Madonna in the rocks(1483-1484, Louvre, Paris) - the famous painting by Leonardo, written by him in Milan. The image of the Madonna, baby Jesus, little John the Baptist and an angel in a landscape is a new motif in Italian painting of that time. In the opening of the rock, a landscape is visible, which has been given sublimely ideal features, and in which the achievements of linear and aerial perspective are shown. Although the cave is dimly lit, the picture is not dark, faces and figures gently emerge from the shadows. The thinnest chiaroscuro (sfumato) creates the impression of dim diffused light, models faces and hands. Leonardo connects the figures not only with a common mood, but also with the unity of space.
 LADY WITH ERMIN. 1485–1490. Czartoryski Museum |
lady with ermine(1484, Czartoryski Museum, Krakow) - one of the first works of Leonardo as a court portrait painter. The painting depicts the mistress of Lodovik Cecilia Gallerani with the emblem of the Sforza family, an ermine. The complex turn of the head and the exquisite bend of the lady's hand, the curved pose of the animal - everything speaks of the authorship of Leonardo. The background was repainted by another artist.
Portrait of a musician(1484, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan). Only the face of the young man is completed, the rest of the picture is not spelled out. The type of face is close to the faces of Leonardo's angels, only executed more courageously.
Another unique work was created by Leonardo in one of the halls of the Sforza Palace, which is called the Donkey. On the vaults and walls of this hall, he painted willow crowns, whose branches are intricately intertwined, tied with decorative ropes. Subsequently, part of the paint layer crumbled, but a significant part was preserved and restored.
In 1495 Leonardo began work on last supper(area 4.5 × 8.6 m). The fresco is located on the wall of the refectory of the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, at a height of 3 m from the floor and occupies the entire end wall of the room. Leonardo oriented the perspective of the fresco to the viewer, thus it organically entered the interior of the refectory: the perspective reduction of the side walls depicted in the fresco continues the real space of the refectory. Thirteen people are seated at a table parallel to the wall. In the center is Jesus Christ, to the left and to the right of him are his disciples. The dramatic moment of exposure and condemnation of betrayal is shown, the moment when Christ just uttered the words: “One of you will betray Me”, and different emotional reactions of the apostles to these words. The composition is built on a strictly verified mathematical calculation: in the center is Christ, depicted against the background of the middle, largest opening of the back wall, the vanishing point of the perspective coincides with his head. The twelve apostles are divided into four groups of three figures each. Each is given a vivid characteristic by expressive gestures and movements. The main task was to show Judas, to separate him from the rest of the apostles. By placing him on the same line of the table as all the apostles, Leonardo psychologically separated him by loneliness. Creation last supper became a notable event in the artistic life of Italy at that time. As a true innovator and experimenter, Leonardo abandoned the fresco technique. He covered the wall with a special composition of resin and mastic, and painted in tempera. These experiments led to the greatest tragedy: the refectory, which was hastily repaired by order of Sforza, the pictorial innovations of Leonardo, the lowland in which the refectory was located - all this served a sad service to safety. last supper. The paint began to peel off, as already mentioned by Vasari in 1556. Secret supper it was repeatedly restored in the 17th and 18th centuries, but the restorations were unqualified (the paint layers were simply reapplied). By the middle of the 20th century, when The Last Supper came to a deplorable state, began a scientific restoration: first, the entire paint layer was fixed, then later layers were removed, and Leonardo's tempera painting was opened. And although the work was badly damaged, these restoration works made it possible to say that this Renaissance masterpiece was saved. Working on the fresco for three years, Leonardo created the greatest creation of the Renaissance.
After the fall of Sforza's power in 1499, Leonardo went to Florence, stopping by Mantua and Venice on the way. In Mantua he creates cardboard with Portrait of Isabella d "Este(1500, Louvre, Paris), executed in black crayon, charcoal and pastel.
In the spring of 1500, Leonardo arrived in Florence, where he soon received an order to paint an altar painting in the monastery of the Annunciation. The order was never completed, but one of the options is the so-called. Burlington House Cardboard(1499, National Gallery, London).
One of the significant commissions received by Leonardo in 1502 for the decoration of the wall of the Council Hall of the Signoria in Florence was Battle of Anghiari(not saved). Another wall for decoration was given to Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), who painted a painting there. Battle of Kashin. Sketches by Leonardo, now lost, showed the panorama of the battle, in the center of which the battle for the banner took place. Cardboards by Leonardo and Michelangelo, exhibited in 1505, were a huge success. As in the case with last supper, Leonardo experimented with paints, as a result of which the paint layer gradually crumbled. But preparatory drawings, copies, have survived, which partly give an idea of the scale of this work. In particular, a drawing by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) has been preserved, which shows the central scene of the composition (c. 1615, Louvre, Paris).
For the first time in the history of battle painting, Leonardo showed the drama and fury of the battle.
Mona Lisa- the most famous work of Leonardo da Vinci (1503-1506, Louvre, Paris). Mona Lisa (short for Madonna Lisa) was the third wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo del Giocondo. Now the picture is slightly changed: columns were originally drawn on the left and right, now cut off. Small in size, the picture makes a monumental impression: the Mona Lisa is shown against the backdrop of a landscape, where the depth of space, the air haze are conveyed with the greatest perfection. Leonardo's famous sfumato technique is brought here to unprecedented heights: the thinnest, as if melting, haze of chiaroscuro, enveloping the figure, softens the contours and shadows. There is something elusive, bewitching and attractive in a slight smile, in the liveliness of facial expression, in the stately calmness of the pose, in the stillness of the smooth lines of the hands. |
In 1506 Leonardo received an invitation to Milan from Louis XII of France (1462-1515). Having given Leonardo complete freedom of action, regularly paying him, the new patrons did not demand certain jobs from him. Leonardo is fond of scientific research, sometimes turning to painting. Then the second version was written Madonnas in the rocks(1506-1508, British National Gallery, London).
 MADONNA WITH CHILD AND ST. ANNO. OK. 1510. Louvre, Paris |
St. Anne with Mary and the Christ Child(1500-1510, Louvre, Paris) - one of the themes of Leonardo's work, to which he repeatedly addressed. The last development of this theme remained unfinished.
In 1513, Leonardo went to Rome, to the Vatican, to the court of Pope Leo X (1513–1521), but soon lost the pope's favor. He studies plants in the botanical garden, draws up plans for draining the Pontine Marshes, writes notes for a treatise on the structure of the human voice. At this time, he created the only self-portrait(1514, Reale Library, Turin), executed in sanguine, showing a gray-haired old man with a long beard and a fixed gaze.
Leonardo's last painting was also painted in Rome - Saint John the Baptist(1515, Louvre, Paris). St. John is shown pampered with a seductive smile and feminine gestures.
Again, Leonardo receives an offer from the French king, this time from Francis I (1494-1547), the successor of Louis XII: to move to France, to an estate near the royal castle of Amboise. In 1516 or 1517, Leonardo arrives in France, where he is assigned apartments in the Cloux estate. Surrounded by the respectful admiration of the king, he receives the title of "The first artist, engineer and architect of the king." Leonardo, despite his age and illness, is engaged in drawing canals in the Loire Valley, takes part in the preparation of court festivities.
Leonardo da Vinci died on May 2, 1519, bequeathing his drawings and papers to Francesco Melzi, a student who kept them all his life. But after his death, all countless papers were distributed all over the world, some were lost, some are stored in different cities, in museums around the world.
A scientist by vocation, Leonardo even now impresses with the breadth and diversity of his scientific interests. His research in the field of aircraft design is unique. He studied the flight, planning of birds, the structure of their wings, and created the so-called. ornithopter, an aircraft with flapping wings, and never realized. He created a pyramidal parachute, a model of a spiral propeller (a variant of the modern propeller). Observing nature, he became an expert in the field of botany: he was the first to describe the laws of phyllotaxy (the laws governing the arrangement of leaves on a stem), heliotropism and geotropism (the laws of the influence of the sun and gravity on plants), discovered a way to determine the age of trees by annual rings. He was an expert in the field of anatomy: he was the first to describe the valve of the right ventricle of the heart, demonstrated anatomy, etc. He created a system of drawings that still help students understand the structure of the human body: he showed an object in four views to examine it from all sides, created an image system organs and bodies in cross section. His research in the field of geology is interesting: he gave descriptions of sedimentary rocks, explanations of marine deposits in the mountains of Italy. As an optical scientist, he knew that visual images on the cornea of the eye are projected upside down. He was probably the first to use a camera obscura for sketching landscapes (from Latin camera - room, obscurus - dark) - a closed box with a small hole in one of the walls; rays of light are reflected on the frosted glass on the other side of the box and create an inverted color image, used by landscape painters of the 18th century. for accurate reproduction of views). In the drawings of Leonardo there is a project for an instrument for measuring the intensity of light, a photometer, brought to life only three centuries later. He designed canals, locks, dams. Among his ideas can be seen: light shoes for walking on water, a life buoy, webbed gloves for swimming, an underwater movement device similar to a modern spacesuit, machines for the production of rope, grinders and much more. Talking to mathematician Luca Pacioli, who wrote the textbook On Divine Proportion, Leonardo became interested in this science and created illustrations for this textbook.
Leonardo also acted as an architect, but none of his projects was ever brought to life. He participated in the competition for the design of the central dome of the Milan Cathedral, designed the mausoleum for members of the royal family in the Egyptian style, a project he proposed to the Turkish Sultan to build a huge bridge across the Bosphorus, under which ships could pass.
A large number of Leonardo's drawings remained, made with sanguine, colored crayons, pastels (it is Leonardo who is credited with the invention of pastels), silver pencil, and chalk.
In Milan, Leonardo begins to write Treatise on painting, work on which continued throughout his life, but was never completed. In this multi-volume reference book, Leonardo wrote about how to recreate the world around him on the canvas, about linear and aerial perspective, proportions, anatomy, geometry, mechanics, optics, about the interaction of colors, reflexes.
 John the Baptist. 1513-16 |
 Madonna Litta 1478-1482 Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia |
 Leda with a swan 1508 - 1515 Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy |
The life and work of Leonardo da Vinci left a colossal mark not only in art, but also in science and technology. Painter, sculptor, architect - he was a naturalist, mechanic, engineer, mathematician, made many discoveries for future generations. It was the greatest personality of the Renaissance.
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"Vitruvian Man"- the common name for a graphic drawing by da Vinci, made in 1492. as an illustration to the entries in one of the diaries. The figure depicts a naked male figure. Strictly speaking, these are even two images of the same figure superimposed on each other, but in different poses. A circle and a square are described around the figure. The manuscript containing this drawing is sometimes also referred to as The Canon of Proportions or simply The Proportions of Man. Now this work is stored in one of the museums in Venice, but it is exhibited extremely rarely, since this exhibit is truly unique and valuable both as a work of art and as a subject of research.
Leonardo created his "Vitruvian Man" as an illustration of the geometric studies he carried out on the basis of a treatise by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius (hence the name of da Vinci's work). In the treatise of the philosopher and researcher, the proportions of the human body were taken as the basis of all architectural proportions. Da Vinci, on the other hand, applied the studies of the ancient Roman architect to painting, which once again clearly illustrates the principle of the unity of art and science, put forward by Leonardo. In addition, this work also reflects the master's attempt to correlate man with nature. It is known that da Vinci considered the human body as a reflection of the universe, i.e. was convinced that it functions according to the same laws. The author himself considered the Vitruvian Man as "the cosmography of the microcosm". This drawing also has a deep symbolic meaning. The square and circle in which the body is inscribed do not simply reflect physical, proportional characteristics. The square can be interpreted as the material existence of a person, and the circle represents its spiritual basis, and the points of contact of geometric figures between themselves and with the body inserted into them can be considered as a connection between these two foundations of human existence. For many centuries this drawing was considered as a symbol of the ideal symmetry of the human body and the universe as a whole.
The Italian Renaissance enters a new stage of development at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. The culmination of art (the end of the 15th and the first decades of the 16th century), which presented the world with such great masters as Raphael, Titian, Giorgione and Leonardo da Vinci, is called the stage of the High Renaissance.
Childhood Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Vinci, a Tuscan town located on the hill of the same name. Mysteries surround the life of Leonardo from birth. He was the illegitimate son of a young notary, Piero da Vinci, and a certain Katerina, either a peasant woman or a tavern owner. We know almost nothing about the mother of our hero, although the life of Piero da Vinci is well documented. Pierrot's ancestors settled in Vinci at least in the 13th century (and maybe even earlier). His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were also notaries - and so successful that they became landowners and became wealthy citizens, the so-called "seniors". This title was inherited by Pierrot. The house where Leonardo lived as a child
Leonardo was raised in the home of Piero da Vinci. It is known that the young Leonardo was distinguished by a strong physique, beauty and inquisitive mind. At the same time, he received a rather superficial education - later the artist regretted that he had not learned Latin, and this language was the basis of education in those days. However, even then Leonardo showed outstanding mathematical abilities, sang beautifully and played the lyre, and drew wonderfully. At the age of 15, he became an apprentice with one of the famous Florentine masters - Andrea del Verrocchio (c. 1435 1488). Here he studied not only painting, but also drawing, sculpture, and jewelry making. Seeing the student's abilities, Andrea allowed him to take part in the creation of The Baptism of Christ, instructing him to write a figure of an angel holding the clothes of Christ.
Vasari's Impression Vasari describes the impression made on the teacher by the work of his student in the following way: . . Leonardo's angel turned out to be much better than Verrocchio's figures, and this was the reason that Andrea never again wanted to touch paints, offended that some boy surpassed him in skill.
Coincidence of interests of teacher and student Verrocchio was not only a famous artist and sculptor of the Italian Renaissance, but also a talented teacher. He started as a master jeweler, but his sculpture and paintings brought him fame. In addition, Verrocchio was revered as an outstanding engineer. He was happy to study with his new student, rejoicing at the coincidence of their interests. Unfortunately, their shortcomings also coincided. So, neither the teacher nor the student wanted to deeply study the fresco technique. If Leonardo painted frescoes in the traditional way, then his great works "The Last Supper" and "The Battle of Anghiari" would have come down to us in their original form.
The title of master of painting Leonardo received the title of master of painting in 1472, but until 1476 he remained with Verrocchio. Perhaps this was due to some kind of joint work. 1481 dates from the first large order of Leonardo. He was commissioned to paint the painting "The Adoration of the Magi" - for the altar of the monastery of San Donato. He never finished it. But, working on the image, Leonardo managed to move far enough to be talked about as an innovator in terms of the transmission of gestures and emotions. In the same year, work began on the painting "Saint Jerome"
Long before Leonardo, the ma donna in the paintings and sculptures of the Italian masters ceased to be the heavenly queen holding the savior of the world in her arms. She has become a young mother admiring her son. But no matter what Leonardo did, he always opened up new, as yet unexplored possibilities, both in art and in science. Never before has a religious subject turned into a genre scene to such an extent as in the Benois Madonna.
The young Florentine, sweet and charming, dressed in the fashion of the last quarter of the 15th century, placed her son on her lap. Amusing him, she separated a flower from a modest bouquet and handed it to the child. The baby grabbed one hand of the mother, and the second tries to take a new object for him. The mother laughs carelessly, watching the boy's still uncertain movements. The flower, around which the hands are intertwined, serves as the semantic and mathematical center of the composition. The crucifer in the hand of the Madonna
The problems that worried the masters throughout the 15th century found their solution in this small work of Leonardo. Unmistakable transmission of bodies in motion, the ability to connect the figures so that the group is perceived as something unified both externally and in mood, the finest gradations of light and shade, thanks to which the forms become tangibly voluminous, the transfer of features of different objects - hair, fabrics, jewelry , persuasiveness on buildings - all this suggests that the Benois Madonna sums up the long journey of Italian painting.
Moving from Florence to Milan and back One of the reasons that made Leonardo quit his job was his move from Florence to Milan to serve at the court of Duke Lodovico Sforza, the ruler of the city, who received the nickname "Moro" (that is, "Moor" because of his dark skin). ). In 1482, before moving to Milan to the court of Duke Lodovico Moro, Leonardo sent him a letter in which he listed in detail to his patron everything that he could do: “I know how to make extremely light and easily portable bridges, suitable to pursue enemies and to flee from them. . . » And so on, point by point (there are ten of them), Leonardo sets out his possibilities in the field of technology. And only at the end does he add: “In peacetime, I hope you will compete with everyone in architecture, in the construction of buildings. . . I also undertake in sculpture, in marble, bronze or clay, as in painting, to do everything possible, no worse than anyone who wants to measure with me. However, Leonardo did not stop there. He was destined to discover new horizons in art when he left Florence for Milan in 1482, realizing that his native city did not give him the opportunity to truly reveal his talent.
In Milan, the Master of Vinci thought that for him the ruler of Milan, Lodovico Moro, a rude but ambitious man, who sought to secure for Milan the position of the leading center in the system of fragmented Italy, would become such a patron. As is clear from the letter cited at the beginning of our story, Leonardo is the last to speak of himself as an artist. Indeed, the field of his activity in Milan was extremely wide. He was engaged in science, painted a picture for one of the churches, worked for the duke. He painted a portrait of the beloved Duke Cecilia Galerani, but the main task in the field of art for him was the construction of a monument in honor of Moro's father, Francesco Sforza. Unfortunately, only preparatory drawings and a small group of bronze - the winner on horseback - have come down to us. The model of the monument was destroyed during the French invasion at the beginning of the 16th century, the soldiers of Louis XII made it into an arrow target.
Sculpture in Milan. Leonardo's Horse In 2001, Leonardo's horse was finally installed in Milan.
Back in 1482, the Duke of Milan, Lodovico Sforza, ordered Leonardo da Vinci to sculpt a horse in memory of his father Francesco. The horses are not simple, but not even golden. But simply the biggest. In the world. What is really trifles there, after all, dear father. Leonardo is also not a modest guy, and the project was complicated by an unusual and difficult-to-implement composition with a rider preparing to crush an enemy sprawled on the ground (and they also say, “you don’t beat a lying down one”). Having received a deposit from Sforza, Da Vinci, with his characteristic responsibility and diligence, began to study the anatomy of horses in the ducal stables. Separate parts of the body of the most beautiful specimens were sketched with notes like "Morel Florentine is huge and has a beautiful neck with a rather beautiful head." A rearing horse more than seven meters high at that time was a colossal idea in terms of complexity. As it turned out, even for Leonardo. A few years after receiving the order, the defeated enemy was crossed out of the plans, and the horse itself was decided to be lowered to the sinful earth on all four horseshoes. In 1493, a life-size clay model was exhibited to the admiring public. Natural in plan, not in nature mother, that is, more than seven meters of playing muscles and a curly mane. There was only a little left - to fill the statue with bronze. Bronze required about 100 tons. Which were available quite recently, but floated away. On cannons for the defense of the duchy from the French invasion led by Louis XII. Leonardo was offended by such extravagance and retired to Mantua. And the horse remained in the Sforza castle, where it soon became a target in shooting training with French soldiers, who were distinguished by enviable accuracy.
In 1483, Leonardo received an order to create an altar image, that is, a picture that was placed in the center of the wall above the altar and played the role of the main decoration of the church. Leonardo was always procrastinating in completing work, breaking all deadlines. This led to the fact that the first version of the painting, written for the church of San Francesco, remained with the artist, and later he took it with him to France. The second, created many years later with minimal participation by Leonardo and maximum by his students, is currently in the National Gallery in London. We are interested in the first version of the so-called Madonna of the Rocks. Traditional for the altar image was the image of Mary with the baby sitting on a throne among saints and angels. Leonardo has created something extraordinary, something like this has never happened before.
His Madonna sits not on a throne, but in a strange grotto, on the bank of a stream overgrown with flowers. With one hand on the shoulders of little John the Baptist, she extends her hand in a guarding gesture over the head of her son, who is blessing the Baptist. With a smile full of hidden, mysterious meaning, the mother looks at the baby Christ, and this smile seems to be reflected on the lips of a beautiful angel, who mysteriously looks at the viewer, while the finger of his right hand points to John. Thus the circle of looks and gestures closes, forming a magical connection of communication between beautiful beings in the midst of majestic nature. Perhaps the words “magic”, “magic” sound somewhat banal, but they fully express the impression that many paintings of the painter from Vinci make on us. It seems strange that this man, who had the sober mind of a scientist, spoke with such magical power about the poetic depths of the human soul and nature. Until today, art historians do not get tired again and again to unravel the meaning of Leonardo's creations.
A work that marks the onset of the High Renaissance "Madonna in the Rocks" is a work that marks the onset of the High Renaissance, the time of the highest rise of Italian art. The main principles of the High Renaissance are formulated in the work of Leonardo. The artist no longer seeks to follow nature with "soul and eyes" - the principle of the masters of the 15th century, but chooses from the surrounding world what is most essential, sweeping aside everything accidental and secondary, generalizing what he saw. If the individual features in the face of the Benois Madonna were brought almost to portrait resemblance, then the faces of Mary and the angel in the picture we are analyzing are types that have absorbed the idea of ideal beauty. The combination of calm greenish blue tones reinforces the impression of unity reigning in the work.
Unfortunately, the legacy of Leo Nardo as an artist is small: no more than 12-14 of his works have come down to us. Some died during his lifetime. Such is the fate of the model of the monument to Francesco Sforza, preparatory cardboard for the wall painting "Battle of Anghiari". Others, although they have come down to us, are in a rather deplorable state. This also applies to the master's program work - The Last Supper. "
The Last Supper fresco was supposed to decorate the wall of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. While working on it, Leonardo experimented with the composition, designed, in his opinion, to protect the painting from moisture. The experiment ended in disaster - a few years after the creation, the fresco began to crumble, and now, after a series of restorations, it is the most famous ruin in the history of art. The famous fresco "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci was not lucky from the very beginning. Already two decades after completion, it began to lose its original appearance. Firstly, the artist used a completely new, untested composition of paints and a new writing technique in his work on it. The novelty was not very successful: although the colors were initially surprisingly bright, they soon began to fade. Secondly, an extremely unfortunate place was chosen for her. . . . This fresco was commissioned by Leonardo, already a well-known painter from Vinci, by the monks of the Dominican order for the refectory of their monastery near the newly built church of Site Maria della Grazie in Milan. In 1495, Leonardo set to work, and two years later the order was completed.
Numerous attempts were made to “treat” the pictorial composition of the brilliant artist, which depicts a scene from the gospel legend: Christ at a meal with the twelve apostles. In the 18th and 19th centuries, attempts were made to restore the work of Leo Nardo, but little success was achieved. All of them only suspended the destruction of the masterpiece for a while. To top it all off, in 1943 a bomb hit the refectory. But especially great damage has been caused to the fresco recently as a result of poisoning the air in the city with exhaust gases, as a result, the very existence of the Last Supper was threatened. Now, looking at it, it seems as if the painted wall is covered with a gauze curtain: before that, the fresco faded.
Drawing in the Louvre At the authorship of Leonardo indicates the sketch of the head of the Madonna, which is stored in the Louvre. Nevertheless, many art historians pay attention to the elements of the picture, unusual for the author's manner of Leonardo, in particular, to the unnatural posture of the baby. It is assumed that at least the figure of the baby belongs to the brush of one of Leonardo's students, most likely Boltraffio.
Plot The painting depicts a woman holding a baby in her arms, whom she is breastfeeding. The background of the painting is a wall with two arched windows, the light from which falls on the viewer and makes the wall darker. The windows overlook the landscape in blue tones. The very same figure of the Madonna is as if illuminated by light coming from somewhere in front. The woman looks at the child tenderly and thoughtfully. Madonna's face is depicted in profile, there is no smile on her lips, only a certain image of her lurks in the corners. The baby looks absently at the viewer, holding his mother's breast with his right hand. In the left hand the child holds a goldfinch. The vivid imagery of the work is revealed in small details that tell us a lot about mother and child. We see the baby and the mother in the dramatic moment of weaning. The woman is wearing a red shirt with a wide neck. Special cuts are made in it, through which it is convenient, without removing the dress, to breastfeed the baby. Both incisions were carefully sewn up (that is, it was decided to wean the baby from the breast). But the right cut was hastily torn off - the top stitches and a piece of thread are clearly visible. The mother, at the insistence of the child, changed her mind and postponed this difficult moment.
Even the first Italian biographers of Leonardo da Vinci wrote about the place that this painting occupied in the artist's work. Leonardo did not shy away from working on the Mona Lisa - as was the case with many other orders, but, on the contrary, gave himself to her with some kind of passion. She devoted all the time that remained with him from work on The Battle of Anghiari. He spent considerable time on it and, leaving Italy in adulthood, he took with him to France, among some other selected paintings. Da Vinci had a special affection for this portrait, and also thought a lot during the process of its creation, in the "Treatise on Painting" and in those notes on painting techniques that were not included in it, one can find many indications that undoubtedly refer to the "Gioconda » .
According to Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), a biographer of Italian artists who wrote about Leonardo in 1550, 31 years after his death, Mona Lisa (short for Madonna Lisa) was the wife of a Florentine named Francesco del Giocondo, whose portrait Leonardo spent 4 years, yet left it unfinished.
"Mona Lisa" Leonardo became a watershed in the history of world art. This painting opened a new era of realistic portraiture. As a rule, portraits in Italy of the 15th century were painted in profile and were rather formal, in many respects repeating the minting of Roman coins. For a long time, very rich and noble people who wanted to see themselves in the portrait not so much recognizable as powerful could order their own portrait. However, already in the same XV century, rich merchants began to order portraits. New customers, on the contrary, demanded a portrait resemblance. Leonardo's ability to create portraits is most powerfully embodied in the Mona Lisa, which marked the transition from the formal portrait of the early Renaissance to the more realistic portrait of the High Renaissance.
All Leonardo's paintings (with the exception of those made on the wall) are painted on wooden boards, which were the usual “base” in those days (canvas in this capacity was still very rare then). It was on the board that Leonardo commissioned two of his most enchanting portraits, Portrait of a Musician, 1485 and Portrait of Ginevra de Benci, 1474.
In 1513-1516 Leonardo lived in the Belvedere and worked on the painting "John the Baptist"
A deaf background, devoid of landscape, so characteristic of the works of the Renaissance in general, completely concentrates the viewer's attention on the figure of John the Baptist, which is enveloped in a melting sfumato brought to perfection. The image of the saint is equipped with traditional paraphernalia: a thin reed cross, long hair, woolen clothes. The intersection of the diagonals of the body and the right hand enhances the motif of the cross, which is barely noticeable by the artist. The upward gesture of the right hand is also considered traditional for the images of John the Baptist. However, this gesture, in a certain sense, is also traditional for Leonardo’s work, it can be found in a number of finished works (“The Last Supper”, “Madonna in the Rocks”, “Madonna and Child” (1510), etc.), as well as sketches.
In 1508 the great artist, scientist and engineer Leonardo da Vinci created a wax figure of a rider on a horse, which was thought to be a model for a larger sculpture. However, the genius of the Italian Renaissance died before the sculpture could be cast in metal, and the model mysteriously disappeared from view for several centuries. And, nevertheless, after a diligent search, the figurine was found, and the bronze figure of a horse with a rider finally appeared before the public eye.
A distinctive feature of the High Renaissance culture A distinctive feature of the High Renaissance culture was the extraordinary expansion of the social horizons of its creators, the scale of their ideas about the world and space. The view of a person and his attitude to the world is changing. The very type of artist, his worldview, his position in society are decisively different from that occupied by the masters of the 15th century, who were still largely associated with the class of artisans. The artists of the High Renaissance are not only people of great culture, but creative personalities, free from the framework of the guild foundations, forcing representatives of the ruling classes to reckon with their plans.
Leonardo da Vinci (Leonardo da Vinci) (), Italian painter, sculptor, architect, scientist and engineer. The founder of the artistic culture of the High Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci developed as a master, studying in Florence with Verrocchio. The methods of work in the workshop of Verrocchio, where artistic practice was combined with technical experiments, as well as friendship with the astronomer P. Toscanelli, contributed to the emergence of the scientific interests of the young da Vinci.
Leonardo was born in 1452 and was the illegitimate son of a certain Sir Piero, a notary from a small town near the city of Vinci, and a simple peasant woman. Therefore, later, when the artist became famous, he began to call himself Leonardo da Vinci. Already from childhood, he showed an equal interest in mechanics, astronomy, mathematics, and other natural sciences, which did not prevent him from drawing and sculpting various figures with enthusiasm. It is said that from a young age he sculpted several heads of laughing women, which were so expressive that plaster casts are still made of them to imitate. Already a renowned artist, he did not leave engineering studies, perpetuating his new ideas in the drawing.
In his early works (the head of an angel in Verrocchio's The Baptism of Christ, after 1470; The Annunciation, circa 1474, both in the Uffizi; in the first independent work, Benois Madonna, circa 1478, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg), the artist, developing traditions art of the Early Renaissance, emphasized the smooth volume of forms with soft chiaroscuro, sometimes enlivened faces with a barely perceptible smile, achieving with its help the transfer of subtle states of mind. Baptism of Christ Annunciation Madonna Benois
One day, Leonardo's teacher, Verrocchio, received an order for the painting "The Baptism of Christ" and instructed Leonardo to paint one of the two angels. It was a common practice in art workshops of that time: the teacher created a picture together with student assistants. The most talented and diligent were entrusted with the execution of a whole fragment. Two angels, painted by Leonardo and Verrochio, clearly demonstrated the superiority of the student over the teacher. As Vasari writes, struck by Verrochio, he abandoned his brush and never returned to painting.
Recording the results of countless observations in sketches, sketches and field studies performed in various techniques (Italian and silver pencils, sanguine, pen, etc.), Leonardo da Vinci achieved, sometimes resorting to an almost caricatured grotesque, sharpness in the transfer of facial expressions, and physical brought the features and movement of the human body into perfect harmony with the spiritual atmosphere of the composition. In 1481 or 1482, Leonardo da Vinci entered the service of the ruler of Milan, Lodovico Moro, acting as a military engineer, hydraulic engineer, and organizer of court holidays.
In the Milan period, Leonardo da Vinci created the "Madonna in the Rocks" (Louvre, Paris; 2nd version - about, the National Gallery, London), where the characters are presented surrounded by a bizarre rocky landscape, and the finest chiaroscuro plays the role of a spiritual principle that emphasizes warmth human relations.Madonna in the rocks
Madonna of the Rocks, Louvre, Paris.
In the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, he completed the wall painting "The Last Supper" (; due to the peculiarities of the technique used by Leonardo da Vinci - oil with tempera - was preserved in a badly damaged form; restored in the 20th century), which marks one of the peaks of European painting; its high ethical and spiritual content is expressed in the mathematical regularity of the composition, which logically continues the real architectural space, in a clear, strictly developed system of gestures and facial expressions of the characters, in the harmonious balance of forms. The Last Supper
After the fall of Milan, Leonardo da Vinci's life was spent in constant travel (, Florence; Mantua and Venice; 1506, Milan; Rome; France).
The strength of the artist's convictions was such that even the most fantastic of what he invented seemed quite real to his contemporaries. Giorgio Vasari reports that when Leonardo was still living in Florence, he made a drawing with which he repeatedly proved to many enterprising citizens who ruled the city at that time that he could raise the temple of San Giovanni and bring ladders under it without destroying it. . “And he persuaded with such convincing arguments that it seemed possible, although everyone, after his departure, in the depths of his soul, was aware of the impossibility of such an undertaking.” Temple of San Giovanni
Unfortunately, the penchant for the most diverse reflections and scientific experiments did not give Leonardo the opportunity to focus on one thing. He started a lot, didn’t finish a lot, so that an opinion began to form about him as a person who was not able to bring anything to the end. Therefore, when he was asked to paint the refectory of the new Dominican monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan, he agreed without a moment's hesitation, hoping to prove the opposite to all idle gossips by performing this fresco.
Leonardo began work on The Last Supper for the monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie in 1495. He had to complete the fresco as soon as possible. But, as always, he wanted to be independent and original in everything that required careful and hard work. And although the concept of The Last Supper was born by Leonardo long before receiving this order, he, before starting to paint on the wall, made many drawings and sketches, accompanying them with verbal descriptions like the following: “The first one who drank and put the glass on his place, turns his head towards the speaker; the other joins the fingers of both hands and looks at his comrade with furrowed brows; the other, opening his hands, shows their palms, raises his shoulders to his ears and makes a mine of amazement with his mouth, ”and so on for each character.“ The Last Supper ”
The Last Supper, the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie.
The abbot of the monastery constantly urged Leonardo to complete the work. Once, irritated by the slowness of the artist, he complained about him to the duke. The artist, who often discussed art with the duke, managed to convince him that "exalted talents sometimes work less, but achieve more when they think over their ideas and create those perfect ideas that only after that they express with their hands." Leonardo handed over his work in the winter of 1497, however, without having time to complete the head of Jesus Christ. The success of the fresco exceeded all expectations. All of Italy was struck by the boldness of the composition, the power of expression, the movement combined with calmness, which still surprise everyone who enters the refectory. The variety of visible forms of spiritual life is amazing. The head of Jesus Christ
The compositional solution of the traditional gospel story, chosen by Leonardo for painting the refectory, was already unusual. The room where the fresco is located is elongated in shape, and the tables were located in it in the form of the letter "P". To create the illusion of the reality of what is happening, the table at which Jesus Christ sat with his disciples was drawn the same as those that stood in the refectory, closing them in a single rectangle. The originality of the idea also consisted in the fact that the abbot of the monastery turned out to be just opposite Christ, sitting in front of his figure during the afternoon meal. The walls of the real room and the ceiling also imperceptibly merge into the walls and ceiling depicted in the fresco. When all the monks gathered at the table, it seemed that Christ and the apostles were participating in a joint meal. The desire to convey the impression of the reality of what is happening, which occupied the artist from early youth, was realized in this work with complete authenticity and persuasiveness.
Fresco by Leonardo da Vinci "The Last Supper"
At the table of the upper room, where the last meal of the Teacher and the disciples takes place, Christ sits in the center. On either side of him were the apostles, united in groups of three. The entire composition of The Last Supper depicts the moment when Jesus utters his famous words: "One of you will betray me." The calmness of the last supper, conveyed by a strictly adjusted composition, is disturbed by the emerging noise and wave of human emotions: “Is it not me, rabbi?” Judas, traditionally always sitting on the other side of the table, this time is in the group of apostles. He is also indignant, also trying to be surprised, but his right hand, nervously clutching a purse with thirty pieces of silver, betrays him and makes him recognizable. The visually balanced composition is disturbed by the resulting noise. The remarks seem to be transferred from one end of the table to the other, mixing separate groups of apostles into one restless mass. Christ cannot but hear and not notice what is happening, but his figure remains imperturbable. To the excitement that gripped all the apostles, he responds with ritual calmness, immobility, silence. Judas
The fate of the fresco "The Last Supper" was tragic. Once, having come one evening to the refectory of the monastery to admire his most famous work, Leonardo noticed that some mistake had been made when working with primer and paints, and his work, on which so much effort and time had been spent, might turn out to be short-lived. He constantly monitored the ongoing changes and did everything possible to extend the life of his creation.
From Milan, Leonardo returned to Florence. In the same city, Leonardo painted a portrait of the Mona Lisa (La Gioconda). A beautiful woman looks at the viewer from a small canvas, folding her graceful hands with thin aristocratic fingers crosswise. Her gaze is serious, and her lips are slightly touched by a smile, which is often called mysterious. Instead of a background, behind the Gioconda, an ideal landscape typical of the Renaissance is spread. Mona Lisa (Mona Lisa)
Portrait of Mona Lisa (La Gioconda) Tree. 77 x 53. Louvre, Paris.
Fragment. Portrait of Mona Lisa (La Gioconda) Tree. 77 x 53. Louvre, Paris.
Leonardo spent the last years of his life in wanderings. First he returned to Milan, from there he went to Rome. There, for his scientific experiments, he was accused of heresy. Fleeing from the persecution of the church, Leonardo accepted the invitation of the French king. In France, he hardly worked, but he was always surrounded by respectful admiration. Leonardo's life ended in 1519 in the small town of Amboise in the castle of Cloux. Vasari noted that "although he did a lot more in words than in deeds, all these branches of his activity, in which he showed himself so divinely, will never let either his name or fame fade."
Among the works of Leonardo da Vinci are paintings, frescoes, drawings, anatomical drawings that laid the foundation for the emergence of scientific illustration, works of architecture, projects of technical structures, notebooks and manuscripts (about 7 thousand sheets), "Treatise on Painting" (Leonardo began to write a treatise back in Milan at the request of Sforza, who wished to know which art is more noble - sculpture or painting; the final version was compiled after the death of Leonardo da Vinci by his student F. Melzi).
Chambord Castle was built for King Francis I and still impresses not only with its size - 440 rooms and 365 fireplaces, but also with the innovation of architecture. It is no coincidence that it is considered a masterpiece of engineering and it is assumed that the first project was developed by Leonardo da Vinci himself.
Reliable sculptures by Leonardo da Vinci have not been preserved at all. But we have a huge number of his drawings. These are either separate sheets, which are complete graphic works, or, most often, sketches interspersed with his notes. Leonardo drew not only designs of various mechanisms, but also captured on paper what his sharp, penetrating eye of the artist and sage revealed to him in the world. He, perhaps, can be considered perhaps the most powerful, the sharpest draftsman in all the art of the Italian Renaissance, and already in his time, many, apparently, understood this.
“... He made drawings on paper,” writes Vasari, “with such virtuosity and so beautifully that there was no artist who would equal him ... With a freehand drawing, he knew how to convey his ideas so perfectly that he won with his themes and led to embarrassment with his ideas, even the most proud talents ... He made models and drawings that showed the ability to easily tear down mountains and bore them with passages from one surface to another ... He wasted precious time on the image of a complex interweaving of shoelaces so that it all seemed continuous from one end to to another and forms a closed whole.
This last remark by Vasari is particularly interesting. Perhaps the people of the XVI century. it was believed that the famous artist wasted his precious time on such exercises. But in this drawing, where the continuous interlacing is introduced into the strict framework of the planned order, and in those where he depicted some kind of whirlwinds or a deluge with raging waves, himself thoughtfully contemplating these whirlwinds and this whirlpool, he tried to decide whether or only to raise questions more important than which, perhaps, there is none in the world: the fluidity of time, perpetual motion, the forces of nature in their formidable emancipation, and the hope of subordinating these forces to human will.
He painted from nature or created images born of his imagination: rearing horses, violent fights and the face of Christ, full of meekness and sadness; marvelous female heads and terrible caricatures of people with bulging lips or monstrously overgrown noses; features and gestures of those sentenced to death or corpses on the gallows; fantastic bloodthirsty beasts and human bodies of the finest proportions; sketches of hands, in his rendering as expressive as faces; trees close by, with each petal carefully drawn out, and trees in the distance, where only their general outlines are visible through the haze. And he painted himself.
Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, sculptor and architect, singer and musician, poet-improviser, art theorist, theater director and fabulist, philosopher and mathematician, engineer, mechanical inventor, forerunner of aeronautics, hydraulic engineer and fortifier, physicist and astronomer, anatomist and optician , biologist, geologist, zoologist and botanist. But this list is far from exhaustive of his activities.
Leonardo achieved true fame, universal recognition by completing the clay model of the equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza, i.e. when he was forty years old. But even after that, orders did not fall on him, and he still had to persistently seek the application of his art and knowledge.
Vasari writes:
“Among his models and drawings was one, by means of which he explained to all reasonable citizens, then at the head of Florence, his plan to raise the Florentine church of San Giovanni. It was necessary, without destroying the church, to bring a ladder under it, and with such convincing arguments he accompanied his idea that this matter really seemed to be possible, although, parting with him, everyone inwardly recognized the impossibility of such an undertaking.
This is one of the reasons for the failure of Leonardo in the search for possible ways to apply his knowledge: the grandiosity of ideas, which frightened even the most enlightened contemporaries, the grandeur that delighted them, but only as a brilliant fantasy, as a game of the mind.
Leonardo's main rival was Michelangelo, and the victory in their competition was for the latter. At the same time, Michelangelo tried to prick Leonardo, to make him feel as painfully as possible that he, Michelangelo, was superior to him in real, generally recognized achievements.
