The Last Supper - da Vinci Self Portrait - Leonard da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
(1452-1519), Florentine artist, one of the great
masters of the High Renaissance, celebrated as a
painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, and
scientist. Leonardo da Vinci profound love of knowledge and
research was the keynote of both his artistic
and scientific endeavors. His innovations in the
field of painting influenced the course of
Italian art for more than a century after his
death, and his scientific studies—particularly
in the fields of anatomy, optics, and
hydraulics—anticipated many of the developments
of modern science.
Although
Leonardo da Vinci produced a relatively small number of
paintings, many of which remained unfinished, he
was nevertheless an extraordinarily innovative
and influential artist. During his early years,
his style closely paralleled that of Verrocchio,
but he gradually moved away from his teacher's
stiff, tight, and somewhat rigid treatment of
figures to develop a more evocative and
atmospheric handling of composition. The early
The Adoration of the Magi introduced a new
approach to composition, in which the main
figures are grouped in the foreground, while the
background consists of distant views of
imaginary ruins and battle scenes.
Leonardo's stylistic innovations are even more
apparent in the The Last Supper, in which he
re-created a traditional theme in an entirely
new way. Instead of showing the 12 apostles as
individual figures, he grouped them in dynamic
compositional units of three, framing the figure
of Christ, who is isolated in the center of the
picture. Seated before a pale distant landscape
seen through a rectangular opening in the wall,
Christ—who is about to announce that one of
those present will betray him—represents a calm
nucleus while the others respond with animated
gestures. In the monumentality of the scene and
the weightiness of the figures, Leonardo
reintroduced a style pioneered more than a
generation earlier by Masaccio, the father of
Florentine painting.
The Mona
Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci's most famous work, is as well
known for its mastery of technical innovations
as for the mysteriousness of its legendary
smiling subject. This work is a consummate
example of two techniques—sfumato and
chiaroscuro—of which Leonardo was one of the
first great masters. Sfumato is characterized by
subtle, almost infinitesimal transitions between
color areas, creating a delicately atmospheric
haze or smoky effect; it is especially evident
in the delicate gauzy robes worn by the sitter
and in her enigmatic smile. Chiaroscuro is the
technique of modeling and defining forms through
contrasts of light and shadow; the sensitive
hands of the sitter are portrayed with a
luminous modulation of light and shade, while
color contrast is used only sparingly.
An especially notable characteristic of Leonardo da Vinci paintings is his landscape
backgrounds, into which he was among the first
to introduce atmospheric perspective. The chief
masters of the High Renaissance in Florence,
including Raphael, Andrea del Sarto, and Fra
Bartolommeo, all learned from Leonardo; he
completely transformed the school of Milan; and
at Parma, Correggio's artistic development was given direction by Leonardo da
Vinci's work.
Leonardo da Vinci's many extant drawings, which reveal
his brilliant draftsmanship and his mastery of
the anatomy of humans, animals, and plant life,
may be found in the principal European
collections; the largest group is at Windsor
Castle in England. Probably his most famous
drawing is the magnificent self-portrait in old
age (c. 1510-13, Biblioteca Reale, Turin)
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Leonardo da Vinci Art Paintings
