Leonardo gained worldwide fame thanks to the comprehensive developed intellect. This unique person made several discoveries in the field of medicine, science, engineering, which changed the world.
And although the genius himself considered himself a scientist, and painting was just a hobby, his descendants put his contribution to art on a par with other merits, because the artist’s paintings are truly masterpieces. However, see for yourself the photos of the original paintings posted on this page in good quality with an increase in significant areas and with a description of each masterpiece of the artist.
The name of the canvas, written in 1503-1505, is translated as "Portrait of Mrs. Lisa Gioconda."
The identity of the woman depicted remains a mystery to this day, although plausible version, she is the wife of a silk merchant with whom da Vinci was friends in Florence.
Mona Lisa is a girl in dark robes, half turned to the viewer. Every detail of the image is spelled out in incredible detail, and the slight smile that touches her lips is a pleasant surprise. The portrait is considered one of the best in its genre and conveys the most sublime thoughts of the Italian Renaissance. On this moment he adorns the Louvre in Paris.
Painting by Da Vinci titled "The Isleworth Mona Lisa"
A portrait of the same Mrs. Liza, but differing in the background, the presence of columns and less careful drawing of details. There is controversy regarding the time of its writing.
Some historians claim that this is a late version of the Mona Lisa, while others are sure that this is its first version.
The painting was sold to the collector Blaker, who placed it in own studio located in Isleworth, West London. This area gave the “name” to the legendary portrait.
Artwork - "Madonna Litta"
Litta is a Milanese family that kept the Madonna along with other paintings in their collection throughout the 19th century. Today the painting belongs State Hermitage. It was painted in 1490-1491 and depicts a woman nursing a baby.
The girl's gaze, thoughtful and full of tenderness, is fixed on the child. The baby, on the other hand, looks at the viewer, holding the mother's breast with one hand and holding the goldfinch in the other.
"Madonna Benois"
The painting was painted in 1478-1480 and is not completed. Today it belongs to the Imperial Hermitage.
Da Vinci placed the Madonna and baby Jesus in a semi-dark room illuminated by light from an open window.
A special play of light and forms is felt in the work. The girl smiles sincerely, and the well-fed, serious kid looks with enthusiasm at the cruciferous flower.
"Madonna in the Rocks"
Under this name, there are two almost identical paintings. The Louvre has a version painted around 1483-1486, and the National Gallery of London has a version created a little later.
The canvas depicts the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, an angel and baby Jesus. In general, it has a peaceful atmosphere, saturated with tenderness. sheer cliffs, which are landscape backgrounds, create an exclusive contrast.
"Madonna and Child with Saint Anne"
This painting is often confused with da Vinci's Saint Anne with the Madonna and the Christ Child. "Madonna and Child with Saint Anne" belongs to the brush German artist Albrecht Durer. It was written in 1519 and has nothing to do with the world famous genius.
"Madonna with a Carnation"
The painting was not known until 1889, when it ended up in the Alte Pinakothek museum.
It depicts a calm Madonna with the baby Jesus in her arms, who looks at the child with undisguised tenderness. The child is active, he seems to be playing, stretching out his hands to an invisible butterfly.
"Saint Anne with the Madonna and the Christ Child" unfinished painting
This unfinished masterpiece is today in the Louvre in Paris. To create it, da Vinci used a story known in Italy, in which the Madonna is on her mother Anna's lap, holding her own son Jesus in her arms.
The effect is called mise en abyme. The estimated date of writing is 1508-1510.
"Lady with an Ermine"
The painting, created in 1489-1490, is kept in Poland. It is believed that the portrait depicts Cecilia Gallerani, the mistress of Lodovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan.
The girl is written in detail and realistically. The presence of ermine has many versions. According to the most common, this animal symbolizes purity and chastity. It is placed on the picture to convey these features of Cecilia, to point out her extramarital relationship with the duke, which does not tarnish the reputation of the beauty, but is a manifestation of sincere love.
"Ginevra de Benci" - artistic depiction of the poetess
She was a famous poetess and Platonic lover of Bernardo Bembo, who, according to historians, is the commissioner of the portrait.
Da Vinci worked on it from 1474 to 1476.
The girl on the canvas is not smiling, she is thoughtful and calm, dressed in a simple dress without frills. She is only adorned with a scarf and a small pearl around her neck. The painting is currently on display at the Washington National Gallery of Art.
"Ginevra de Benci" (reverse)
On the back of the portrait of Ginevra de Benci, an emblem is drawn by Leonardo da Vinci: a vertical branch of a juniper framed by a wreath of laurel and palm branches, which are intertwined with a ribbon with Latin phrase: Virtutem forma decorat.
In translation, the saying sounds no less luxurious: "Beauty is the adornment of virtue."
The palm branch and laurel represent virtue, and the juniper represents the poetic component. The background imitates a porphyry slab, symbolizing rare and unchanging perfection.
"Leda and the Swan" - a copy of the artist's painting
This painting is now lost, but copies of it, written by other artists, preliminary sketches by da Vinci, references in historical documents. The estimated time of writing is 1508.
The canvas depicted Leda standing in full height and hugging the neck of a swan. The girl looked at the children playing in the grass. Judging by the shell lying nearby, the babies were born from large eggs.
"Isabella d'Este"
Isabella d'Este is called the "prima donna of the Renaissance."
She was a great connoisseur of art and one of the famous girls Italy. Isabella was friends with da Vinci and repeatedly asked to create her portrait, but the genius took it up only once.
Alas, after creating a sketch with a pencil, which the artist completed in 1499, he abandoned his creation.
"The Baptism of Christ" - painting by da Vinci and Andrei Verrocchio
This painting was painted by da Vinci in collaboration with his teacher Andrea Verrocchio in 1475.
The Benedictine monastery of the Vallombrosians of San Salvia ordered it, which kept the painting until 1530, after which it transferred it to the Florentine Uffizi Gallery.
Fragment of the painting "The Baptism of Christ" - a personal work of Leonardo
Connoisseurs of da Vinci's work can enjoy a fragment of the Baptism of Christ, made personally by Leonardo.
Part of the picture depicts individual elements of the landscape and two angels - the one on the left is the work of a genius. According to legend, Verrocchio was so impressed by the skill of the student that he abandoned the art, considering himself unworthy of it.
"Adoration of the Magi"
The painting was commissioned by the Augustinian monks from the monastery of San Donato in 1481, but was not completed due to the fact that the artist had to leave for Milan. To date, the work is stored in the Uffizi Gallery.
In the background you can see the ruins of a palace or, presumably, a pagan temple, riders on horseback, rocks. In the center of the canvas is Mary with the newborn Jesus. She was surrounded by pilgrims wishing to bow to the son of God.
Historians believe that da Vinci wrote the extreme guy on the right from his nature.
"John the Baptist"
Painting in classical style, which differs from others in the absence of a landscape and a dull background, was created in 1514-1516. Today it can be seen in the Louvre in Paris.
The figure of John the Baptist is equipped with traditional symbols:
- thin reed cross;
- woolen clothes;
- long hair.
The raised finger of the right hand is also a traditional gesture that often appears in da Vinci paintings. Perhaps in this way the artist wanted to convey something important. The image of John is tender, he has a soft smile and an amazing look, as if penetrating into the soul of the viewer.
"Saint Jerome" - an unfinished painting by the author
The canvas was ordered by the church authorities of Florence in 1481, but da Vinci had to leave for Milan, so it was not completed. The state in which it has reached our time is critical - it was collected almost piece by piece, so it is stored in the Vatican Pinakothek under careful and careful supervision.
The sketch shows Saint Jerome, whose posture indicates that the man is penitent. A lion is resting nearby - the eternal companion of Jerome.
Titled "The Last Supper"
The painting was commissioned by Duke Lodovico Sforza and his wife Beatrice d'Este in 1495. The painting depicting the scene of the last meal of Christ with his disciples was completed in 1498. The Sforza family coat of arms can be seen on the lunettes formed by the three-arched ceiling. Today, the work is kept in the monastery of Milan.
"Annunciation" - an angelic work of the artist
Leonardo da Vinci wrote this canvas in 1475. The plot was chosen part of the Gospel, which tells about the proclamation of the future birth of the Savior.
The winged archangel Gabriel kneels, holding in his left hand a white lily, personifying purity. Right hand he blesses Mary. Near the girl stands a marble stand, decorated with a relief, on which lies the Bible. The work is on display at the Uffizi Museum.
"Annunciation - Landscape"
The landscape of the Annunciation, located in the background of the picture, is worth special attention. Leonardo da Vinci placed on it a river receding into the distance with visible masts of ships, carved silhouettes of trees, walls and towers of a port city, which is shrouded in a pale haze of a mountain top.
"Musician"
This portrait was rewritten by the great Italian artist almost beyond recognition in 1490-1492. He then left his work unfinished. Today, the painting is kept in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan.
In the 19th century, it was generally accepted that the canvas depicted Duke Lodovico Sforzo. But in XX, during restoration work, it was possible to make out the words on the paper that the depicted guy is holding in his hands. They turned out to be initial letters words Cantum Angelicum, which in translation sounds like "angelic song". Notes are shown next to it. Thanks to this discovery, they began to look at the work differently, giving it the appropriate name.
Leonardo da Vinci's last painting on display at the Louvre
In front of you in the photo is the latest creation of Leonardo - "Saint Anna and Mary with the baby." The painter worked on this painting for 20 years. It is currently exhibited in the Louvre.
Continuation of the exposure. . .
10.04.2017 Oksana Kopenkina
Leonardo da Vinci. Mona Lisa (detail). 1503-1519 Louvre, Paris
Leonardo da Vinci is the most famous artist in the world. Which in itself is amazing. There are only 19 surviving paintings by the master. How is this possible? Two dozen works makes the artist the greatest?
It's all about Leonardo himself. He is one of the most unusual people ever born. Inventor of various mechanisms. The discoverer of many phenomena. Virtuoso musician. And also a cartographer, botanist and anatomist.
In his notes we find descriptions of a bicycle, a submarine, a helicopter and a tanker. Not to mention scissors, life jacket and contact lenses.
His innovations in painting were also incredible. He was one of the first to use oil paints. Sfumato effect and light and shade modulation. He was the first to inscribe figures in the landscape. His models in portraits became living people, not painted mannequins.
Here are just 5 masterpieces of the master. Which demonstrate all the genius of this man.
1. Madonna in the rocks. 1483-1486
Leonardo da Vinci. Madonna in the rocks. 1483-1486 Louvre, Paris. wikimedia.commons.org Young Virgin Mary. A pretty angel in a red cloak. And two fat kids. holy family they were returning from Egypt with the baby Jesus. Along the way, meeting little John the Baptist.
This is the first painting in the history of painting when people are depicted not in front of the landscape, but inside it. Heroes sit by the water. Behind the rocks. So old that they look more like stalactites.
The "Madonna in the Rocks" was ordered by the monks of the brotherhood of St. Francis for one of the churches in Milan. But the customers were not happy. Leonardo delayed the deadlines. They also didn't like the lack of halos. They were also embarrassed by the gesture of the angel. Why is it his forefinger directed at John the Baptist? After all, the baby Jesus is the most important.
Leonardo sold the painting on the side. The monks got angry and sued. The artist was obliged to paint a new picture for the monks. Only with halos and without the pointing gesture of an angel.
By official version this is how the second “Madonna in the Rocks” appeared. Almost identical to the first. But there is something strange about her.
Leonardo da Vinci. Madonna in the rocks. 1508 National Gallery of London. Leonardo carefully studied plants. Even made a number of discoveries in the field of botany. It was he who realized that tree sap plays the same role as blood in a person's veins. I also guessed to determine the age of trees by rings.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the vegetation in the Louvre painting is realistic. It is these plants that grow in a humid, dark place. But in the second picture, the flora is fictional.
How did Leonardo, so truthful in depicting nature, suddenly decide to dream up? In a single picture? Unthinkable.
I think Leonardo was not interested in painting the second picture. And he instructed his student to make a copy. Who clearly did not understand botany.
2. Lady with an ermine. 1489-1490
Leonardo da Vinci. Lady with an ermine. 1489-1490 Chertoryski Museum, Krakow. wikimedia.commons.org Before us is young Cecilia Gallerani. She was the mistress of the ruler of Milan, Ludovico Sforza. At the court of which Leonardo also served.
Smiling, kind and smart girl. She was an interesting conversationalist. Often and for a long time they talked with Leonardo.
The portrait is very unusual. Leonardo's contemporaries painted people in profile. Here Cecilia stands in three quarters. Turning his head to the opposite side. As if she looked back at someone's words. This turn makes the line of the shoulders and neck especially beautiful.
Alas, we see the portrait in a modified form. Someone from the owners of the portrait darkened the background. Leonardo's was lighter. With a window over the girl's left shoulder. The two lower fingers of her hand are also rewritten. Therefore, they are curved unnaturally.
It is worth talking about the ermine. Such an animal seems to us a curiosity. Modern man it would be more accustomed to see a fluffy cat in the hands of a girl.
But for the 15th century, it was the ermine that was an ordinary animal. They were kept to catch mice. And the cats were just exotic.
3. The Last Supper. 1495-1598
Leonardo da Vinci. The Last Supper. 1495-1498 Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazia, Milan The fresco "The Last Supper" was ordered by the same Ludovico Sforza at the request of his wife, Beatrice d'Este. Alas, she died quite young in childbirth. Never saw the finished painting.
The Duke was beside himself with grief. Realizing how dear to him was a cheerful and beautiful wife. The more he was grateful to Leonardo for the work done.
He generously paid off the artist. By handing him 2,000 ducats (with our money, this is about 800 thousand dollars), and also by transferring to him a large plot of land.
When the inhabitants of Milan could see the fresco, there was no limit to amazement. The apostles differed not only in appearance, but also in their emotions and gestures. Each of them reacted in their own way to the words of Christ, “One of you will betray me.” Never before has the individuality of the characters been as pronounced as in Leonardo's.
The painting has another amazing detail. The restorers found that Leonardo painted the shadows not in gray or black, but in blue! This was unthinkable until the middle of the 19th century. When colored shadows began to write.
Leonardo da Vinci. Fragment of the Last Supper. 1495-1498 Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazia, Milan This is not so clearly visible on the reproduction, but the composition of the paint speaks for itself (blue crystals of copper acetate).
Read about other unusual details of the painting in the article.
4. Mona Lisa. 1503-1519
Leonardo da Vinci. Mona Lisa. 1503-1519 . wikimedia.commons.org In the portrait we see Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a Florentine silk merchant. This version is official, but doubtful.
We got one curious description this portrait. It was left by Leonardo's student, Francesco Melzi. And under this description, the Louvre lady does not fit at all. I wrote about this in detail in the article. .
Now another version of the woman's personality is being considered. It may be a portrait of Giuliano de' Medici's mistress from Florence. She bore him a son. And she died shortly after giving birth.
Giuliano commissioned a portrait of Leonardo especially for the boy. In the image of the ideal mother-Madonna. Leonardo painted a portrait from the words of the customer. Adding to them the features of his student Salai.
Therefore, the Florentine lady is so similar to "John the Baptist" (see the next picture). For which the same Salai posed.
In this portrait, the sfumato method is revealed to the maximum. A barely perceptible haze, shading the lines, makes the Mona Lisa almost alive. It looks like her lips are about to part. She will sigh. The chest will rise.
The portrait was never given to the customer. Since in 1516 Giuliano died. Leonardo took him to France, where he was invited by King Francis I. He last day continued to work on it. Why so long?
Leonardo had a completely different perception of time. He was the first to claim that the Earth is much older than commonly thought. He did not believe that he brought shells to the mountains biblical flood. Realizing that in place of the mountains there was once a sea.
Therefore, it was common for him to paint a picture for decades. What is 15-20 years compared to the age of the Earth!
5. John the Baptist. 1514-1516
Leonardo da Vinci. Saint John the Baptist. 1513-1516 Louvre, Paris. wga.hu "John the Baptist" puzzled Leonardo's contemporaries. Silent dark background. Whereas even Leonardo himself liked to arrange the figures against the backdrop of nature.
The figure of a saint emerges from the darkness. And it is difficult to call him a saint. Everyone is used to the elderly John. And then the pretty young man pointedly bowed his head. Gentle touch of the hand on the chest. Well-groomed curls of hair.
IN last turn you think of holiness when you look at this effeminate man in the skin of a leopard.
Don't you think that this picture does not seem to belong at all? It's more like the 17th century. Hero's mannerisms. theatrical gestures. Contrast of light and shadow. All this comes from the Baroque era.
Leonardo looked into the future? Predicting the style and manner of painting of the next century.
Who was Leonardo? Most know him as an artist. But his genius is not limited to this vocation.
After all, he was the first to explain why the sky is blue. He believed in the unity of all life in the world. Anticipating the theorists of quantum physics with their “butterfly effect”. He realized such a phenomenon as turbulence. 400 years before its official opening.
In contact with
At the age of 14 he began to study art in the workshop of Verrocchio, and after only five years he himself was already called a real master. Recognized genius of the Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci was not only talented artist. He perfectly mastered playing the lyre, and many said that the young man also learned painting from himself.
Leonardo da Vinci possessed a gift that is best suited for the name "prophecy". He left mysterious and brilliant ideas to his descendants, made discoveries in many existing sciences, and da Vinci's sketches and paintings became a kind of proof of the artist's unique genius. The scope of his talents was truly limitless: the construction of arched bridges, systems for draining wetlands, looms, textile machines and even powerful cranes, the creation of which no one could have thought of before.
Not only unique inventions, but also da Vinci's paintings, which still amaze the most sophisticated art lovers, cause great resonance.
Painting the greatest master seems incredible, and da Vinci's painting "Portrait of himself in old age" is considered one of the artist's "unearthly" works. According to experts, this canvas was created by Leonardo da Vinci around 1512, when he was 60 years old. To see the masterpiece with your own eyes, you will have to visit the Royal Library of Turin.
Peculiarity mysterious work is that the viewer looks at the same person, whose expression and facial features change depending on the angle of observation. The hero of the self-portrait looks either as a determined old man, or as an arrogant and arrogant elderly man, or as a frightened, decrepit and weak old man.
The mysterious painting by da Vinci, aka Mona Lisa, aka Mona Lisa, has gained worldwide fame. The sly smile and the omnipresent look of the girl from the portrait haunted various researchers for several centuries. Just as the very personality of the model did not leave alone. But the classic version says that Leonardo da Vinci portrayed the wife of a silk merchant from Florence, Lisa Ghirardini.
No less popular were such paintings by da Vinci as “Madonna with a Flower” and which the artist dedicated to one of the main events of the “New Testament”. But Leonardo da Vinci has works that are familiar only to a few of his most dedicated fans.
In Windsor there is a canvas on which the master depicted a certain mysterious creature unearthly origin. From time to time, this painting by da Vinci has suffered significantly, but the wide-spaced huge eyes of the creature painted on it remained distinguishable. They literally make a paralyzing impression on all viewers, but the opinions of experts about who is depicted on the canvas do not coincide. Some of them believe that Leonardo da Vinci portrayed the image of Beatrice, so dearly loved by Dante. At the same time, others are firmly convinced that anatomically, an earthly woman cannot have such facial features.
In the artist's life certain period when he temporarily abandoned art, preferring science. Fra Novellara, closest friend Leonardo da Vinci, noticed that mathematics classes alienated the master from painting so much that the mere sight of a brush could infuriate him.
But this did not last long, and Leonardo da Vinci created several more world-famous paintings and painted the Florentine hall of the Great Council in the Palazzo Vecchio. Unfortunately, this painting began to collapse already at a time when the artist was still working on it. And to our time, only a few sketches and sketches remained from her, on which the legendary da Vinci worked.
ABOUT brilliant artist it was often said that he was a messenger of the future or an “alien” who came to us from a more developed extraterrestrial civilization. And the legendary paintings of Leonardo da Vinci make you believe it, don't they?
Gallery of Leonardo da Vinci-Paintings-
Gioconda - Mona Lisa (1503) 
Cecilia Gallerani, Lady with an Ermine (1485) 
Ginevra de Benci
Madonna Litta (1490) 
Madonna Litta (DETT) 
Madonna and Child with Saint Anne (1510) 
Madonna and Child with Saint Anne - detail (1510) 
John the Baptist (1513) 
Young lady 
Madonna with a Carnation (1478) 
Maidens of the Rock (1506) 
Portrait of a musician (1485) 
Beautiful Ferronière (1490) 
Adoration of the Magi (1481) 
Leda and the Swan (DETT) 
Leda and the swan 
Leda and the Swan (1510) 
Leda (1530), 
Madonna dell "arcolaio (1510) 
Madonna dell "arcolaio (DETT) 
St. John in the Wilderness (Bacchus) (1510) 
Baptism of Christ (1485) 
Baptism of Christ (detail) 
Maidens of the Rock (DETT) 
Annunciation (1472) 
Annunciation (detail) 
Annunciation (detail) 
Annunciation (detail) 
Madonna of the Carnation (DETT) 
Maidens of the Rock (DETT) 
St. Jerome (1480) 
The Last Supper
Sculptures and statues of Leonardo
Equestrian statue 
Equestrian statue 
Equestrian statue 
Bust of Flora
Biography and Life of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
Portraits and biographies of Leonardo da VinciLeonardo da Vinci, painter, architect, scientist and writer, one of the most outstanding minds produced by mankind, illegitimate son notary Piero, and a peasant girl, born April 15, 1452 in Vinci, a small village in Tuscany. After a childhood spent in a calm countryside Florence, lived with his mother in the early years and then with his father, at the age of 17, for his drawing skills, accepted as an apprentice in art studio Andrea del Verrocchio. located in Florence, where he remained until the age of thirty, Leonardo, draws, paints and studies, interested in all areas human knowledge. regretting that you have not yet studied Latin, he is considered "Omo without a letter" and try to learn it himself, as a self-taught person explores "anatomy, technology, architecture and other sciences. After drawing lots, writing is his passion, he writes all the time, take notes and make sketches, but to maintain complete secrecy about his notes, Leonardo uses in composing songs from left to right and an anagram of words that he wants to keep confidential.In 1482, Leonardo da Vinci is taken to the court of Ludovico il Moro, where she has, before in total, projects with military equipment, hydraulic engineering, architecture and, in the end, as a painter and sculptor with the design of a bronze horse on the monument to Francesco Sforza. In Milan, which then, with its one hundred thousand inhabitants, was one of largest cities Europe, Leonardo da Vinci remains until the end of 1499, the fall of Sforza. Over the years, Leonardo paints a lot, remember the portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, "Lady with an Ermine", the first version of "The Virgin of the Rock" and the famous "Last Supper" in S. Maria delle Grazie. "s frescoes, made with the technique invented by Leonardo, occupied him for three years, from 1495 to 1498. Leonardo is responsible for the decoration of the Sforza castle made on the occasion of the marriage of Gian Galeazzo Sforza, also invent fantastic machines theatrical representative heavens and the sky with stars in motion , which was completely defeated by the Milanese. After the fall of Ludovico il Moro, under pressure French troops Louis XII, Leonardo left Milan and begins a long journey going from Mantua, Venice and Friuli to arrive in Florence. between 1500 and 1512, lives in Florence, Rome, Milan, dealing with anatomy, urban architecture, optics and hydraulic engineering. In 1513, Leonardo moved to Rome, where he was responsible for locating the Port of Civitavecchia, creating a project for draining the Pontic marshes by the project ever completed in the death of the Pope, working with burning mirrors that were coming from Germany and continuing to deal with anatomy, which puts him in difficult situation and what led him to accept the invitation of the king of France, Francis I received with many honors received by the king of France, he settled in the Château de Cloux, he was appointed the first painter, architect and engineer of the king independent project Royal Palace of Romorantin, Francesco I want to build for my mother Louise of Savoy, Leonardo has the opportunity to continue his hydrological studies, begun years before the Sforza, as well as plans for a small town that even provides for the movement of the riverbed, which enriches the water and irrigation of the surrounding countryside. Francis I, Leonardo sells a portrait of the Mona Lisa, which began in Florence, and to which he worked intermittently until 1506, which he never considered finished and accompanied them on their journey. called the French Gioconda Mona Lisa, oil painting on poplar wood, cm. X 77 cm. 53, now belongs to the collection of the Louvre in Paris and is the most famous painting in the world.
Leonardo da Vinci died on May 2, 1519 at his residence in Cloux, and was buried in the church of S. Valentino in Amboise, leaving all his manuscripts, drawings and instruments of the legacy of the disciples of Salai and Melzi.
By 1514 - 1515 refers to the creation of the masterpiece of the great master - "La Gioconda".
Until recently, they thought that this portrait was written much earlier, in Florence, around 1503. They believed the story of Vasari, who wrote: “Leonardo undertook to complete for Francesco del Gioconde a portrait of Monna Lisa, his wife, and after working on it for four years, left it unfinished. This work is now with the French king in Fontainebleau. By the way, Leonardo resorted to the following trick: since the Madonna Lisa was very beautiful, while painting the portrait, he kept people who played the lyre or sang, and there were always jesters who kept her cheerful and removed the melancholy that is usually reported painting to performed portraits.
This whole story is wrong from start to finish. According to Venturi, "Monna Lisa, later Gioconda, was the creation of the fantasy of the novelist, Aretin biographer, George Vasari." Venturi in 1925 suggested that the Gioconda is a portrait of the Duchess of Costanza d "Avalos, the widow of Federigo del Balzo, sung in a short poem by Eneo Irpino, which also mentions her portrait painted by Leonardo. Costanza was the mistress of Giuliano Medici, who, after marriage with Philibert of Savoy gave the portrait back to Leonardo.
At the very Lately Pedretti put forward a new hypothesis: the Louvre portrait depicts the widow of Giovanni Antonio Brandano named Pacifica, who was also the mistress of Giuliano de' Medici and gave birth to his son Ippolito in 1511.
Be that as it may, the Vasarius version is doubtful because it does not explain in any way why the portrait of Francesco del Giocondo's wife remained in the hands of Leonardo and was taken by him to France.
2. Lady with an ermine ca. 1488-1490
Oil on panel.
54.8 x 40.3 cm
Czartory Museum, Krakow, Poland
"Lady with an Ermine" is the immortal seventeen-year-old Cecilia Gallerani, the favorite of Lodovico Sforza. Daughter of the 15th century. Cunning enchantress. Favorite of the Milanese palace. Tender and wise, bashful and frivolous, she appears before us. Simple and complex. Mysteriously attractive, with an almost static face, she still has a magnetism of extraordinary, hidden movement. But what gives the appearance of a young lady this magical liveliness? Smile. She barely touched the corners of her chaste lips. She hid in the slightly swollen girlish dimples near her mouth and, like lightning, flashed in response in dark, dilated pupils, covered with rounded, onion-shaped eyelids. Take a closer look at the subtle, spiritual features of the “Lady with an Ermine”, her posture, full of dignity, her strict but elegant clothes, and the Renaissance with its magnificent creations will instantly appear before you. masters of genius arts. Cecilia Gallerani. She, like a small planet, reflected the radiance of the cruel, ugly and beautiful, unique XV century.
3. Fresco The Last Supper 1494 -1498
Oil and tempera on plaster.
460 x 880 cm
Santa Maria del Grazia, Milan, Italy
From left to right, a table with food stretches across the entire width of the picture. At the table facing us in groups of three sit twelve characters with Christ in the center. The apostles are talking animatedly. What are they talking about and what is the picture about? From the testimony of Ammoreti, it should be concluded that the painting " Last Supper"was completed in 1497. Unfortunately, Leonardo da Vinci painted it with paints, some of which turned out to be very fragile. Fifty years after the end, the picture, according to Vasari, was in the most miserable state. However, if at that time it was possible to fulfill the desire of King Francis I, expressed sixteen years after the completion of the painting, and, breaking down the wall, transfer the painting to France, then maybe it would have been preserved.But this could not be done.In 1500, the water that flooded the meal, In addition, in 1652, a door was broken in the wall under the face of the Savior, destroying the legs of this figure.The painting was unsuccessfully restored several times. the generals who followed him, ignoring his order, turned this place into a stable, and later into a storage place for hay.
4. Portrait of Ginevra de Benci c. 1475 - 1478
Tempera and oil on panel
38.1 x 37 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington
This painting, now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, depicts a young lady in a mountainous landscape, with reflections from the river playing on it. There are different points of view regarding the identification of the person being portrayed; opinions of experts on the dating of this work are also divided. Some attribute it to the first Florentine period of Leonardo's work, others, on the contrary, to the Milanese. Most researchers adhere to the hypothesis that Ginevra Benci is represented in the portrait (her name is hinted at by juniper branches, ginepro, which are visible in the background of the composition). It was made in the period when Leonardo freed himself from student dependence on the art of Verrocchio, that is, around 1475.
5. Portrait of a musician 1485-1490
Oil on panel.
43 x 31 cm
Ambrosiano Library, Milan, Italy
Portraits attributed to Leonardo contain common features: their background is darkened, the semi-figured image of the model, usually in a three-quarter turn, helps to present it to the viewer in all its individual specificity. The names of those portrayed are unknown, despite the best efforts of art historians to reveal them, and despite documentary evidence of the master's activities. A number of Leonardo's portraits are associated with the atmosphere of the Sforza court, where the glorification of the individual, reflecting the glory of the court, played a decisive role. The purity of the forms, the dignity of the poses, combined with a keen insight into the character of the model, bring the artist's portraits closer to the most advanced achievements in art for that time. this genre art - with the works of Antonello da Messina. They go far beyond the memorative formalism of the masters of the 15th century, developing a type of portrait that embodies the state of mind of a character and makes it possible to significantly deepen the characterization of the image. In the so-called Portrait of a Musician from Ambrosiana in Milan - his model is sometimes identified with the regent of the Milan Cathedral, Francino Gaffurio, but in fact it is just a young man with a leaf. music paper. We can also distinguish some geometrism in the transfer of plastic volumes that betray the Tuscan influence. A cap on the head and a mass of curly hair form two hemispheres on the sides of the face; the sharpness of the contours and chiaroscuro already testify to the master's acquaintance with the Lombard traditions and portraits of Antonello da Messina. Heavily restored, rewritten and perhaps even left unfinished, albeit at a fairly advanced stage of work, this is the only one in Leonardo's male portrait- if it is really made by the artist himself - depicts a person with an intelligent and firm look. Without being carried away by the rhetorical glorification of the individual, Leonardo conveys inner light the face and gaze of the person being portrayed has its own moral strength.
6. Madonna with a flower ( Madonna Benois) 1478 - 1480
Oil transferred from board to canvas
48x31.5 cm
Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia
The young painter Leonardo da Vinci, who had just completed his studies, painted this picture in Florence in the late seventies of the fifteenth century. She was accepted with enthusiasm, many copies were made, and at the beginning of the sixteenth century ... they were lost.
Three hundred years later, a troupe of itinerant actors toured in Astrakhan. One of the servants of Melpomene offered the local admirer of the muses and the richest of the merchants of the city, Alexander Sapozhnikov, to buy a picture darkened from old age, painted on a board. The deal went through.
Many years later, his granddaughter Maria got married. The creation of an unknown Italian was also attached to the luxurious addition, which at first few people paid attention to. It is not known what would have happened to him if the successful architect and future president of the Academy of Arts Leonty Benois (the son of an even more famous architect) had not become the husband of Maria Alexandrovna, and if his younger brother was not a famous artist, art historian and organizer of the association "World of Art" Alexander. “Hearing the persistent requests of Brother Leonty and his wife,” he recalls, “I had to stay in Berlin. The fact is that they instructed me to show the painting they own to the famous Bode. "(We note in parentheses that Bode is one of the main authorities on history European art, director of the Berlin State Museums). He was absent, but there were several world-class specialists in the museum. Their sentence was harsh: the painting is not a work of Leonardo, rather, it was written by one of his fellow students in the workshop of Verrocchio. Later, Bode himself confirmed this conclusion.
For a whole year, "Madonna" from the Sapozhnikovs' house lay in Alexander Nikolayevich's Parisian apartment, and then he was taken back to St. Petersburg and returned to the owners. However, after eight years (this was already in 1914), when he was in the hustle and bustle associated with the preparation of the Russian exhibition in Paris, he was given business card with the name of one of the Berlin specialists: "Professor Moller Walde".
“I didn’t have time to agree to accept him,” said Alexander Benois, - as his own persona flew at me with a cry: "Now I am firmly convinced that your Madonna is Leonardo!" Immediately, without sitting down, not letting me come to my senses, red with excitement, he began to pull out from a huge, tightly stuffed briefcase a pile of photographs of those undoubted drawings by Leonardo, which were in his eyes (and in fact) confirmation of his confidence in the authorship of the great master.
Benois refused the offer to sell the masterpiece to Berlin museums, transferring it to the collection Imperial Hermitage. There the picture is to this day, known to the whole world under the name "Madonna Benois".
7. Madonna in the grotto 1483-1486
Oil on panel (transferred to canvas)
199 x 122 cm
Louvre, Paris, France
The painting was intended to decorate the altar (the frame for the painting was a carved wooden altar) in the Immacolata Chapel of the Church of San Francesco Grande in Milan. On April 25, 1483, members of the Brotherhood of the Holy Conception commissioned paintings (the central composition is the Madonna and Child, the side compositions are Musical Angels) by Leonardo, who was entrusted with the execution of the most important part of the altar, as well as the brothers Ambrogio and Evangelista de Predis. Currently, art historians are of the opinion that both canvases on an identical subject, of which one is kept in the Louvre and the other in the National Gallery in London, are variants of a painting made for the same purpose. A signature Madonna on the Rocks from Paris (Louvre) originally adorned the altarpiece of the Church of San Francesco Grande; perhaps it was given by Leonardo himself to the French king Louis XII as a token of gratitude for mediating in the conflict between customers and artists over payment for paintings. It was replaced in the altar by a composition now in London. For the first time, Leonardo was able to solve the problem of merging human figures with the landscape, which gradually occupied leading place in his artistic program.
8. John the Baptist 1512
Oil on panel
69 x 57 cm
Louvre, Paris
It can be thought that the artist's first idea was to portray the evangelizing angel, if only this is consistent with a strange figure that evokes in the viewer a feeling of embarrassment rather than enthusiastic amazement. We can discern in it the same spirit of irony that is characteristic of the Mona Lisa, but there is no landscape on which this irony could be projected, reflecting more complex connections between man and nature. Because of this, John the Baptist makes a strange, even ambiguous impression on the viewer. Meanwhile, the picture certainly belongs to the circle of Leonardo's works, and in its design is one of the most innovative, since in the figure of St. John the master synthesized his search for means of expressing feelings and human nature as a whole. Overloaded with symbolism and illusions, this image seems to exist on the verge of mystery and reality.
9. Leda with a swan 1508 - 1515
Oil on panel.
130 x 77.5
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
Mona Lisa was created at a time when Leonardo Vinci was so absorbed in the study of the structure female body, anatomy and the problems associated with childbearing that separate his artistic and scientific interests almost impossible. During these years, he sketched a human embryo in the uterus and created the last of several versions of the painting "Leda" on the subject ancient myth about the birth of Castor and Pollux from the union of the mortal girl Leda and Zeus, who took the form of a swan. Leonardo was engaged comparative anatomy and was interested in analogies between all organic forms.
10. Self-portrait 1514 - 1516
Red sanguine (chalk).
33.3x21.3cm
National Gallery in Turin, Italy
Leonardo's Turin self-portrait belongs to the last years of his life.
And Lomazzo’s description apparently also refers to this self-portrait: “His head was covered with long hair, his eyebrows were so thick and his beard was so long that he seemed to be a true personification of noble learning, which the druid Hermes and the ancient Prometheus had already been before.”
The old biographers of Leonardo da Vinci draw in the most attractive features his appearance:
According to Vasari:
"With the brilliance of his appearance, which showed the highest beauty, he returned clarity to every saddened soul."
According to Anonymous:
“He was handsome, proportionately complex, graceful, with an attractive face. He wore a red cloak that reached to his knees, although long clothes were then in vogue. A beautiful beard fell down to the middle of the chest, curly and well combed.
BES Brockhaus and Efron:
"Vinci was handsome, beautifully built, possessed a huge physical strength, was versed in the arts of chivalry, horseback riding, dancing, swordsmanship, etc."
Sourced from abc-people.com
