101 Things You Didn't Know About Da Vinci by Shana Priwer Page A
Authors: Shana Priwer
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resignation, as if she realizes the fate for which her infant son is destined. She almost restrains Christ from embracing the lamb, and therefore his destiny, yet she also seems to have accepted his role.
The painting's composition is balanced and fluid, although some critics have remarked that the poses seem awkward. Leonardo positioned Mary and Jesus' arms like links on a chain, links that span multiple generations. The background of the painting includes a typically Leonardo-esque wilderness, complete with hazy, impassible mountain peaks, and meandering rivers. The tree in the near background is more earthly than the misty background, but rendered with Leonardo's signature botanical precision.
Like so many of Leonardo's paintings, Leonardo left The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne unfinished. Careful examination of the painting has suggested that Leonardo himself painted the background and the three figures, while it's likely that one of Leonardo's students completed the rest of the painting, including the lamb and the drapery covering the Virgin's legs. Unlike many of Leonardo's paintings, which he worked and reworked, the paint on this one is of variable thickness, and the sketch lines beneath the paint are visible in places.
Leonardo painted his final work, St. John the Baptist , during his last years in Rome, between approximately 1509 and 1516. It's quite an unusual treatment of the subject. Scripture portrays St. John the Baptist as a gaunt creature living in the wilderness. The way Leonardo painted him, however, St. John looks almost womanly. He has Leonardo's signature long, flowing, curly locks, a demurely bent arm, and an enigmatic smile quite similar to Mona Lisa's.
Unlike most of Leonardo's paintings, there is no mystical background behind St. John. Rather, the painting shows a mysterious darkness from which a glowing figure emerges. A different artist likely painted the cross that St. John holds and the animal skin he wears, and it's possible that the same unknown artist darkened the background as well. St. John the Baptist was widely copied by Leonardo's students, and a number of these copies exist with questionable attributions.
40
Building the Renaissance
Leonardo da Vinci was not a practicing architect, though he spent years studying mathematics, urban design, and civil engineering. He designed military structures, buildings, and other architectural objects. Even though none of his designs were constructed during his lifetime, he was amazingly prolific. Leonardo's voluminous drawings, sketches, writings, paintings, and other artwork reveal his architectural achievements.
Though not trained in architecture, Leonardo was familiar with architectural drawings.
In addition to learning the language of architects, Leonardo used the perspective techniques he developed in painting to represent his designs for palaces, churches, cityscapes, and other projects. Particularly with landscapes, Leonardo was fond of drawing âbird's-eye perspectives.â While typical eye-level perspectives were drawn as someone on the ground would see them, aerial views showed a project in its entirety, including the surrounding areas. Along with Michelangelo and Raphael, Leonardo was one of the first Renaissance architects to make use of this technique.
Fillippo Brunelleschi (1377â1446) provided an early architectural model, one that Leonardo continued into the Renaissance. Brunelleschi was one of the first architects to seize upon classical foundations in the creation of a modern architecture that could rival that of its ancestors. He designed churches such as San Lorenzo and San Spirito, which were based on Roman ideals of balance, harmony, and proportion. Leonardo took those ideas under advisement in many of his own architectural designs.
Genius doesn't simply appear out of thin air; even masters such as Leonardo had to build their experience (and reputation!) on the success of others. Leonardo's main sources of
The painting's composition is balanced and fluid, although some critics have remarked that the poses seem awkward. Leonardo positioned Mary and Jesus' arms like links on a chain, links that span multiple generations. The background of the painting includes a typically Leonardo-esque wilderness, complete with hazy, impassible mountain peaks, and meandering rivers. The tree in the near background is more earthly than the misty background, but rendered with Leonardo's signature botanical precision.
Like so many of Leonardo's paintings, Leonardo left The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne unfinished. Careful examination of the painting has suggested that Leonardo himself painted the background and the three figures, while it's likely that one of Leonardo's students completed the rest of the painting, including the lamb and the drapery covering the Virgin's legs. Unlike many of Leonardo's paintings, which he worked and reworked, the paint on this one is of variable thickness, and the sketch lines beneath the paint are visible in places.
Leonardo painted his final work, St. John the Baptist , during his last years in Rome, between approximately 1509 and 1516. It's quite an unusual treatment of the subject. Scripture portrays St. John the Baptist as a gaunt creature living in the wilderness. The way Leonardo painted him, however, St. John looks almost womanly. He has Leonardo's signature long, flowing, curly locks, a demurely bent arm, and an enigmatic smile quite similar to Mona Lisa's.
Unlike most of Leonardo's paintings, there is no mystical background behind St. John. Rather, the painting shows a mysterious darkness from which a glowing figure emerges. A different artist likely painted the cross that St. John holds and the animal skin he wears, and it's possible that the same unknown artist darkened the background as well. St. John the Baptist was widely copied by Leonardo's students, and a number of these copies exist with questionable attributions.
40
Building the Renaissance
Leonardo da Vinci was not a practicing architect, though he spent years studying mathematics, urban design, and civil engineering. He designed military structures, buildings, and other architectural objects. Even though none of his designs were constructed during his lifetime, he was amazingly prolific. Leonardo's voluminous drawings, sketches, writings, paintings, and other artwork reveal his architectural achievements.
Though not trained in architecture, Leonardo was familiar with architectural drawings.
In addition to learning the language of architects, Leonardo used the perspective techniques he developed in painting to represent his designs for palaces, churches, cityscapes, and other projects. Particularly with landscapes, Leonardo was fond of drawing âbird's-eye perspectives.â While typical eye-level perspectives were drawn as someone on the ground would see them, aerial views showed a project in its entirety, including the surrounding areas. Along with Michelangelo and Raphael, Leonardo was one of the first Renaissance architects to make use of this technique.
Fillippo Brunelleschi (1377â1446) provided an early architectural model, one that Leonardo continued into the Renaissance. Brunelleschi was one of the first architects to seize upon classical foundations in the creation of a modern architecture that could rival that of its ancestors. He designed churches such as San Lorenzo and San Spirito, which were based on Roman ideals of balance, harmony, and proportion. Leonardo took those ideas under advisement in many of his own architectural designs.
Genius doesn't simply appear out of thin air; even masters such as Leonardo had to build their experience (and reputation!) on the success of others. Leonardo's main sources of
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