Renaissance Man: Leonardo da Vinci
By Genevieve Flynn
The Makings of an Artist
Leonardo da Vinci was born April 15th, 1452 in Vinci, Italy. He spent most of his life in Florence and Milan but also lived in Rome and Cloux, France. He was raised by a wealthy family and was spoiled being an only child. Leonardo's training started when he moved to Florence so he could apprentice with Andrea del Verrocchio. There Leonardo learned the fundamentals of painting and sculpting. In 1472, he entered a Florence painting guild, and was recognized as Verrocchio's assistant four years later. He formed his own studio in 1478 and began to gain commissions. In 1482, he was hired away to Milan. In Milan he was very creative, but started many pieces he could not complete. He stayed until 1499, then left for Florence, but returned in 1509. He stayed for 4 years the left for Rome for 3 years and mostly worked on his notebooks. He did not create much art during that time. He eventually settled down in France. His lifestyle was consisting mostly of starting many projects he was not able to complete, leaving other people to take inspiration from them(Leonardo da Vinci).
Forms of Expression
Leonardo da Vinci was talented in many artistic ways. He worked on sculptures, architectures, drawings, but was very famous for his paintings. The Last Supper is one of his most well-known paintings. He begun working on it during his time in Milan where it became popular around 1493. Today whole books have been written about the famous work like Leonardo: The Last Supper by Ludwig H. Heydenreich. Another masterpiece of his was the Mona Lisa. This was created during the time where he lived in Florence and Milan for a second time. Arguably the most famous, studied portrait of all time, this piece was vey well- known and influential on other people. The last art of his is one of his early paintings, Virgin of the Rocks, which was created in Milan also. This painting actually has two different versions and is one of his earliest examples of sfumato. Some of his patrons were Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan who hired him, Cesare Borgia, Duke of Romagna who hired him in Florence to supervise fortification of territories, and King Francis the first who had Leonardo come into his service. The renaissance forms that are most closely linked to Leonardo are Humanism and Scientific Naturalism. He believes in Humanism because in his paintings like the Mona Lisa and many of his portraits, are focusing on the person in it and their beauty. He uses Scientific Naturalism in his notebooks and paintings. He makes notes about botany, physics, engineering, and architecture. He studies a lot of science which he then used to make drawing and architectural works(Leonardo da Vinci).
Virgin of The Rocks
This piece was created when Leonardo da Vinci visited Milan for the first time. This can be seen in both Paris and London because it has two versions and is in the Louvre museum. This piece was so significant because it is his first painting in Milan and his first hint at sfumato. Sfumato is the bluish shadows on the blurred background which make the subject more prominent in front and make it mysterious. This piece shows four people in a cave and two are babies. I think that the person in the middle wearing black is the Virgin Mary, while the women on the side is and angel because of her colorful clothes and she seems to be watching over the babies. the painting is very dark in the background making the people show as the light of the piece. The babies are naked, which shows their vulnerability to the cave. The "ism" closely relating to this would be humanism. In the name virgin might refer to the Virgin Mary. Its seems to really focus on the people and not their surroundings. Also, by portraying babies it is very humanistic because of their simplicity in living. I find this piece interesting because I like how the dark background displays the people and I have never seen the Virgin Mary displayed like this. It is not something that you would see everyday, its different. Also, I think it is interesting how the angel is pointing to one of the babies, which leads me to think that is Jesus. The other baby is pointing to him also. This piece is an amazing work of art, and is still around today. You can read about it and see it with this link http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/virgin-rocks.
Works cited
"Leonardo da Vinci." Authors and Artists for Young Adults. Vol. 40. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Biography in Context. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
The Mona Lisa. 1503-1506. Artstor. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
Vigin of the Rocks. 1483. Artstor. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
The Last Supper. 1498. Artstor. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.