Everything about Leonardo De Vinci totally explained
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci,
April 15,
1452 –
May 2,
1519) was an
Italian polymath; a
scientist,
mathematician,
engineer,
inventor,
anatomist,
painter,
sculptor,
architect,
botanist,
musician and
writer. Born as the illegitimate son of a notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant girl, Caterina, at
Vinci in the region of
Florence, Leonardo was educated in the studio of the renowned Florentine painter,
Verrocchio. Much of his earlier working life was spent in the service of
Ludovico il Moro in
Milan. He later worked in
Rome,
Bologna and
Venice, spending his final years in France at the home given to him by King
François I.
Leonardo has often been described as the
archetype of the "
Renaissance man", a man whose seemingly infinite curiosity was equalled only by his powers of invention. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest
painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.
It is primarily as a painter that Leonardo was and is renowned. Two of his works, the
Mona Lisa and
The Last Supper occupy unique positions as the most famous, most reproduced and most parodied portrait and religious painting of all time, their fame approached only by
Michelangelo's
Creation of Adam. He was the
illegitimate son of Messer Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci, a Florentine
notary, and Caterina, a peasant. There is evidence that Caterina was a slave from the
Middle East, Leonardo had no
surname in the modern sense, "
da Vinci" simply meaning "of
Vinci": his full birth name was "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci", meaning "Leonardo, son of (Mes)ser Piero from Vinci." Little is known about his early life, which has been the subject of historical conjecture by
Vasari and others. The second incident occurred while he was exploring in the mountains. He discovered a cave and recorded his emotions at being, on one hand, terrified that some great monster might lurk there and on the other, driven by curiosity to find out what was inside.
Verrocchio's workshop, 1466–1476
In 1466, at the age of fourteen, Leonardo was apprenticed to one of the most successful artists of his day, Andrea di Cione, known as
Verrocchio. The workshop of this renowned master was at the centre of the intellectual currents of Florence, assuring the young Leonardo of an education in the humanities. Among the painters apprenticed or associated with the workshop and also to become famous, were
Ghirlandaio,
Perugino,
Botticelli, and
Lorenzo di Credi.
As an apprentice, Leonardo would have been trained the diverse skills employed in a traditional workshop of that era. Although many craftsmen specialised in tasks such as
frame-making,
gilding and
bronze casting, Leonardo would have been exposed to a vast range of technical skills and had the opportunity to learn drafting, chemistry, metallurgy, metal working, plaster casting, leather working, mechanics and carpentry as well as the obvious artistic skills of drawing, painting, sculpting and modelling.
Although Verrocchio appears to have run an efficient and prolific workshop, he was primarily a goldsmith and metalworker. From that date until 1478 there's no record of his work or even of his whereabouts.
In 1478 he was commissioned to paint an altarpiece for the Chapel of St Bernard. In 1481 the Monks at Scopeto commissioned
The Adoration of the Magi. In 1482 Leonardo, who according to Vasari was a most talented musician, created a silver
lyre in the shape of a horse's head.
Lorenzo de’ Medici was so impressed that he decided to send both the lyre and its maker to Milan, in order to secure peace with
Ludovico il Moro,
Duke of Milan. At this time Leonardo wrote an often-quoted letter to Ludovico, describing the many marvellous and diverse things that he could achieve in the field of engineering and informing the Lord that he could also paint.
In 1506 he returned to Milan, which by then was in the hands of
Maximilian Sforza after
Swiss mercenaries had driven out the French. Many of Leonardo's most prominent pupils or followers in painting either knew or worked with him in Milan, It was for Francois that Leonardo was commissioned to make a mechanical
lion which could walk forward, then open its chest to reveal a cluster of lilies. Vasari also tells us that in his last days, Leonardo sent for a priest to make his confession and to receive the
Holy Sacrament.
Some twenty years after Leonardo's death, François was reported by the goldsmith and sculptor
Benevenuto Cellini as saying: "There had never been another man born in the world who knew as much as Leonardo, not so much about painting, sculpture and architecture, as that he was a very great philosopher."
Relationships and influences
Florence—Leonardo's artistic and social background
Leonardo commenced his
apprenticeship with Verrocchio in 1466, the year that Verrocchio’s master, the great sculptor
Donatello, died. The painter
Uccello whose early experiments with perspective were to influence the development of landscape painting, was a very old man. The painters
Piero della Francesca and
Fra Filippo Lippi, sculptor
Luca della Robbia, and architect and writer
Alberti were in their sixties. The successful artists of the next generation were Leonardo's teacher Verrocchio,
Antonio Pollaiuolo and the portrait sculptor,
Mino da Fiesole whose lifelike busts give the most reliable likenesses of Lorenzo Medici's father Piero and uncle Giovanni.
Leonardo’s political contemporaries were
Lorenzo Medici (il Magnifico), who was three years older, and his popular younger brother Giuliano who was slain in the
Pazzi Conspiracy in 1478.
Ludovico il Moro who ruled
Milan between 1479–1499 and to whom Leonardo was sent as ambassador from the Medici court, was also of Leonardo’s age. Leonardo later wrote in the margin of a journal "The Medici made me and the Medici destroyed me." While it was through the action of Lorenzo that Leonardo was to receive his important Milanese commissions, it isn't known exactly what Leonardo meant by this cryptic comment.
Assistants and pupils
Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno, known as
il Salaino ("The little devil) or
Salai, was described by
Giorgio Vasari as "a graceful and beautiful youth with fine curly hair, in which Leonardo greatly delighted". Nevertheless, Leonardo's notebooks during their early years contain many pictures of the handsome, curly-haired adolescent. Salai remained his companion, servant, and assistant for the next thirty years. Salai owned the
Mona Lisa at the time of his death in 1525, and in his will it was assessed at 505 lire, an exceptionally high valuation for a small panel portrait.
Personal life
Leonardo had many friends who are now renowned either in their fields or for their historical significance. They included the mathematician
Luca Pacioli, with whom he collaborated on a book in the 1490s, and
Cesare Borgia, whose service he was in from 1502–1503. During that time he also met
Niccolò Machiavelli, with whom he later developed a close friendship. Also among his friends were
Franchinus Gaffurius and
Isabella d'Este. Leonardo appears to have had no close relationships with women except for Isabella d'Este. He drew a portrait of her while on a journey which took him through
Mantua, and which appears to have been used to create a painted portrait now lost.
Leonardo's most intimate relationships were perhaps with his pupils Salai and Melzi, Melzi writing that Leonardo's feelings for him were both loving and passionate. It has been claimed since the 16th century that these relationships were of an erotic nature. Since then much has been written about Leonardo's presumed homosexuality and its role in his art, particularly in the androgyny and eroticism manifested in
John the Baptist and
Bacchus, and more explicitly in a number of drawings.
Painting
Despite the recent awareness and admiration of Leonardo as a scientist and inventor, for the better part of four hundred years his enormous fame rested on his achievements as a painter and on a handful of works, either authenticated or attributed to him that have been regarded as among the supreme masterpieces ever created.
These paintings are famous for a variety of qualities which have been much imitated by students and discussed at great length by connoisseurs and critics. Among the qualities that make Leonardo’s work unique are the innovative techniques that he used in laying on the paint, his detailed knowledge of anatomy, light, botany and geology, his interest in
physiognomy and the way in which humans register emotion in expression and gesture, his innovative use of the human form in figurative composition and his use of the subtle gradation of tone. All these qualities come together in his most famous painted works, the
Mona Lisa, the
Last Supper and the
Virgin of the Rocks.
Early works
Leonardo’s early works begin with the
Baptism of Christ painted in conjunction with Verrocchio. Two other paintings appear to date from his time at the workshop, both of which are
Annunciations. One is small, }} long and high. It is a "predella" to go at the base of a larger composition, in this case a painting by
Lorenzo di Credi from which it has become separated. The other is a much larger work, long.
In the smaller picture Mary averts her eyes and folds her hands in a gesture that symbolised submission to God's will. In the larger picture, however, Mary isn't in the least submissive. The beautiful girl, interrupted in her reading by this unexpected messenger, puts a finger in her bible to mark the place and raises her hand in a formal gesture of greeting or surprise.
While the painting is quite large, about 200 x 120 cms, it isn't nearly as complex as the painting ordered by the monks of St Donato, having only four figures rather than about 50 and a rocky landscape rather than architectural details. The painting was eventually finished; in fact, two versions of the painting were finished, one which remained at the chapel of the Confraternity and the other which Leonardo carried away to France. But the Brothers didn't get their painting, or the de Predis their payment, until the next century.
Paintings of the 1490s
Leonardo's most famous painting of the 1490s is
The Last Supper, also painted in Milan. The painting represents the last meal shared by Jesus with his disciples before his capture and death. It shows specifically the moment when Jesus has said "one of you'll betray me". Leonardo tells the story of the consternation that this statement caused to the twelve followers of Jesus. and harks back to the St Jerome picture with the figure set at an oblique angle. What makes this painting unusual is that there are two obliquely-set figures superimposed. Mary is seated on the knee of her mother, St Anne. She leans forward to restrain the Christ Child as he plays roughly with a lamb, the sign of his own impending sacrifice. and through them
Pontormo and
Correggio. The trends in composition were adopted in particular by the Venetian painters
Tintoretto and
Veronese.
Drawings
Leonardo wasn't a prolific painter, but he was a most prolific draftsman, keeping journals full of small sketches and detailed drawings recording all manner of things that took his attention. As well as the journals there exist many studies for paintings, some of which can be identified as preparatory to particular works such as
The Adoration of the Magi,
The Virgin of the Rocks and
The Last Supper.
Among his famous drawings are the
Vitruvian Man, a study of the proportions of the human body, the
Head of an Angel, for
The Virgin of the Rocks in the Louvre, a botanical study of
Star of Bethlehem and a large drawing (160×100 cm) in black chalk on coloured paper of the
The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and St. John the Baptist in the National Gallery, London. The
Codex Leicester is the only major scientific work of Leonardo's in private hands. It is owned by
Bill Gates, and is displayed once a year in different cities around the world.
Leonardo's journals appear to have been intended for publication because many of the sheets have a form and order that would facilitate this. In many cases a single topic, for example, the heart or the human foetus, is covered in detail in both words and pictures, on a single sheet. Why they were not published within Leonardo's lifetime is unknown. Aspects of his work on the studies of anatomy, light and the landscape were assembled for publication by his pupil Francesco Melzi and eventually published as
Treatise on Painting by Leonardo da Vinci in France and Italy in 1651, and Germany in 1724, with engravings based upon drawings by the Classical painter
Nicholas Poussin.
For much of his life, Leonardo was fascinated by the phenomenon of
flight, producing many studies of the flight of
birds, including his c. 1505
Codex on the Flight of Birds, as well as plans for several flying machines, including a
helicopter and a light
hang glider.
Leonardo the legend
Within Leonardo's own lifetime his fame was such that the King of France carried him away like a trophy, and was claimed to have supported him in his old age and held him in his arms as he died.
Vasari, in his
Lives of the Artists written about thirty years after Leonardo's death, described him as having talents that "transcended nature".
The interest in Leonardo has never slackened. The crowds still queue to see his most famous artworks,
T-shirts bear his most famous drawing and writers, like Vasari, continue to marvel at his genius and speculate about his private life and, particularly, about what one so intelligent actually believed in. while the biographer known as "Anonimo Gaddiano" wrote, c. 1540: "His genius was so rare and universal that it can be said that nature worked a miracle on his behalf ...".
The 19th century brought a particular admiration for Leonardo's genius, causing H. Fuseli to write in 1801: "Such was the dawn of modern art, when Leonardo da Vinci broke forth with a splendour that distanced former excellence: made up of all the elements that constitute the essence of genius ..." This is echoed by A. E. Rio who wrote in 1861: "He towered above all other artists through the strength and the nobility of his talents."
By the 19th century, the scope of Leonardo's notebooks was known, as well as his paintings. H. Taine wrote in 1866: "There may not be in the world an example of another genius so universal, so incapable of fulfilment, so full of yearning for the infinite, so naturally refined, so far ahead of his own century and the following centuries."
The famous art historian
Bernard Berenson wrote in 1896: "Leonardo is the one artist of whom it may be said with perfect literalness: Nothing that he touched but turned into a thing of eternal beauty. Whether it be the cross section of a skull, the structure of a weed, or a study of muscles, he, with his feeling for line and for light and shade, forever transmuted it into life-communicating values."
The interest in Leonardo's genius has continued unabated; experts study and translate his writings, analyse his paintings using scientific techniques, argue over attributions and search for works which have been recorded but never found. Liana Bortolon, writing in 1967, said: "Because of the multiplicity of interests that spurred him to pursue every field of knowledge ... Leonardo can be considered, quite rightly, to have been the universal genius par excellence, and with all the disquieting overtones inherent in that term. Man is as uncomfortable today, faced with a genius, as he was in the 16th century. Five centuries have passed, yet we still view Leonardo with awe."
Madonna and Child with St Joseph, Borghese Gallery, previously attributed to Fra Bartolomeo.
Mary Magdalene, recently attributed as a Leonardo by Carlo Pedretti. Previously regarded as the work of Giampietrino who painted a number of similar Magdalenes.
Christ Carrying the Cross, date unknown, private collection. Attribution by Carlo Pedretti.
Known only as a copy
Leda and the Swan (1508)—(Only copies survive—best-known example in Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy. Another is in Wilton House, England.)
The Battle of Anghiari (1505), Hall of Five Hundred (Salone dei Cinquecento) in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.
Footnotes
a. This drawing in red chalk is widely (though not universally) accepted as an original
self-portrait. The main reason for hesitation in accepting it as a portrait of Leonardo is that the subject is apparently of a greater age than Leonardo ever achieved. But it's possible that he drew this picture of himself deliberately aged, specifically for Raphael's portrait of him in
The School of Athens.
b. There are 15 significant artworks which are ascribed, either in whole or in large part, to Leonardo by most art historians. This number is made up principally of paintings on panel but includes a mural, a large drawing on paper and two works which are in the early stages of preparation. There are a number of other works that have also been variously attributed to Leonardo.
c. Modern scientific approaches to
metallurgy and
engineering were only in their infancy during the Renaissance.
d. A number of Leonardo's most practical inventions are displayed as working models at the Museum of Vinci.
e. According to Alessandro Vezzosi, Head of the Leonardo Museum in Vinci, there's evidence that Piero owned a Middle Eastern slave called Caterina who gave birth to a boy called Leonardo. That Leonardo had Middle Eastern blood is supported by the reconstruction of a fingerprint as reported by Marta Falconi, Associated Press Writer, "
Experts Reconstruct Leonardo Fingerprint
"
12 December 2001
f.
Donatello's David and
Verrocchio's David are iconic sculptures of the Early Renaissance. Both are located in the
Bargello Museum in Florence and the stylistic differences are often subject to comparison.
g. This work is now in the collection of the
Uffizi, Drawing No. 8P.
h. That Leonardo joined the guild before this time is deduced from the record of payment made to the Compagnia di San Luca in the company's register, Libro Rosso A, 1472-1520, Accademia di Belle Arti.
l. Both works are lost. While the entire composition of Michelangelo's painting is known from a copy by Aristotole da Sangallo, 1542. Leonardo's painting is only known from preparatory sketches and several copies of the centre section, of which the best known, and probably least accurate is by
Peter Paul Rubens.
o. Clos Luce, also called "Cloux" is now a public museum.
p. On the day of Leonardo's death, a royal edict was issued by the King at
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a two-day journey from
Clos Luce. This has been taken as evidence that King François can't have been present at Leonardo's deathbed. However, White in
Leonardo: The First Scientist points out that the edict wasn't signed by the king himself.
q. Michael Baxandall lists 5 "laudable conditions" or reactions of Mary to the presence and announcement of the angel. These are: Disquiet, Refection, Inquiry, Submission and Merit. In this painting Mary's attitude doesn't comply with any of the accepted traditions.
r. The painting, which in the 18th century belonged to
Angelica Kauffmann, was later cut up. The two main sections were found in a junk shop and cobbler's shop and were reunited.
t. Jack Wasserman writes of "the inimitable treatment of the surfaces" of this painting..
ag. Daniel Arasse discusses this painting as a youthful work in
Leonardo da Vinci, (1997).
ai. Carlo Pedretti's attribution of this painting isn't accepted by other scholars, eg Carlo Bertelli, (former director of the Brera Art Gallery in Milan), who said this painting isn't by Leonardo and that the subject could be a Lucretia with the knife removed.
aj. This attribution by Carlo Pedretti is based on fingerprints and the similarity of the tormentors of Christ to some of Leonardo's grotesque drawings.
ak. This method of organisation minimises of loss of data in the case of pages being mixed up or destroyed.
al. The third hour of the night was 10:30 pm, three hours after the saying of the
Ave Maria.
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