Perhaps no one disputes the fact that one of the most outstanding personalities of the past millennium was the artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci. He was born on April 15, 1452 in the village of Anchiano near Vinci, not far from Florence. His father was the 25-year-old notary Piero da Vinci, and his mother was a simple peasant woman, Katerina. The prefix da Vinci means that he is from Vinci.
At first, Leonardo lived with his mother, but then his father took him away, since his marriage to a noble girl turned out to be childless. Leonardo's abilities manifested themselves quite early. As a child, he was good at arithmetic and played the lyre, but most of all he liked to draw and sculpt. The father wanted his son to continue the work of his father and grandfather and become a notary. But Leonardo was indifferent to jurisprudence. One day my father took the drawings to Leonardo, his friend and artist Verrocchio. He was delighted with his drawings and said that his son should definitely take up painting.
In 1466, Leonardo was accepted as an apprentice in Verrocchio's workshop. It must be said that this workshop was very famous and was visited by many famous masters of painting, such as Botticelli, Perugino. He had someone to learn the art of painting from. In 1473, when he was 20 years old, he received the title of master in the Guild of St. Luke. The genius of Leonardo da Vinci is evidenced by the fact that another genius of the Renaissance, Michelangelo, could not stand it when Leonardo was mentioned in his presence, and he always called him an upstart. As they say, geniuses have their own quirks; they don’t like it when someone might turn out to be better than him.
As an artist, he painted several paintings, but perhaps two of his works entered the treasury of humanity. This is a painting of Mona Lisa (Mona Lisa) and a painting on the wall last supper. Gioconda still excites the minds of humanity, especially her smile, and indeed the whole composition, probably not about one painting, as much has been written about the Mona Lisa. We can say that this is most likely the most expensive painting in the world, although it is impossible not to buy or sell it, it is priceless and too famous all over the world. The painting of the Last Supper, which depicts Jesus and his apostles, is an unsurpassed work of art that stuns with its depth and is fraught with many mysteries that genius left us as a legacy. There are many paintings on the theme of the Last Supper, but not one of them can compare with the painting by Leonardo da Vinci, as they say modern language number one (number one) and it is unlikely that anyone will be able to surpass the master of the Renaissance.
Leonardo never married in his life. He was left-handed. Among Leonardo's works there are also mysterious predictions. Which are still being unraveled by pundits. Here, for example: “An ominous feathered race will fly through the air; they will attack people and animals and will feed on them with a great cry. They will fill their belly with scarlet blood” - according to experts, this prediction is similar to the creation of military aircraft and helicopters or is: “People will talk to each other from the most distant countries and answer each other” - this, of course, is the telephone, and modern means of communication, such as the telegraph and radio communications. Quite a lot of such prophetic riddles were left.
Leonardo da Vinci was also considered a magician and magician, as he was well versed in physics and chemistry. He could make red wine out of white wine, apply his saliva to the end of the pen, and the pen would write on paper as if it were ink, causing a multi-colored fire from the boiling liquid. His contemporaries seriously considered him a “black magician.”
Leonardo was also well versed in mechanics, his drawings are known, where the design of a tank is guessed, there are also drawings of a parachute, he invented a bicycle and a glider. He gave the idea of creating armored ships (battleships). He described the ideas of a machine gun, a smoke screen, and the use of poisonous gases during combat operations. The list of his ideas and inventions is too long to list them all. It can be said without a doubt that he was able to look into the future development of humanity as a whole and several centuries into the future. The breadth of his thoughts is simply amazing; one must take into account the fact that this was the Middle Ages, where people were still being burned, and any free-thinking was simply dangerous to life.
He died at the age of 67, at the castle of Cloux near Amboise, on May 2, 1519. He was buried in the castle of Amboise. The following inscription was carved on the tombstone of the genius and prophet: “Within the walls of this monastery lie the ashes of Leonardo da Vinci, the greatest artist, engineer and architect of the French kingdom.” There is nothing more to add. The name of Leonardo da Vinci entered the history of mankind, like the Egyptian pyramids, mysterious and for many centuries.
In Europe, since the Proto-Renaissance, there has been a custom of giving nicknames to artists. In fact, they were analogues of modern nicknames on the Internet, and later became creative pseudonyms under which artists remained in history.
Today, few people think that, for example, Leonardo da Vinci did not have a surname at all, because he was the illegitimate son of the notary Piero, who lived in the village of Anchiano near the town of Vinci. So full name genius of the Renaissance - Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, which translates as “Leonardo son of Mr. Piero from the town of Vinci,” abbreviated as Leonardo da Vinci. Or Titian. His last name was Vecellio and the prefix da Cadore was often added to it, because the painter was born in the province of Pieve di Cadore. True, today most art history lovers and connoisseurs only remember the maestro’s first name Venetian school High and Late Renaissance. The same applies to Michelangelo Buanarroti, whose full name is Michelangelo di Lodovico di Leonardo di Buonarroti Simoni ( Michelangelo di Lodovico di Leonardo di Buonarroti Simoni), or Rafael Santi da Urbino, whom we simply call Raphael. But these are just abbreviations, in which, by and large, there is nothing special; today we’ll talk about the pseudonyms of significant artists of various periods of the Renaissance, which are radically different from their true names.
"Birth of Venus" by Sandro Botticelli
1. Perhaps the best example of a nickname that completely erased the artist’s full name and family surname in the mass consciousness is - Sandro Botticelli. It’s worth starting with the fact that Sandro is a shortened name from Alessandro, that is, it is an analogue of the Russian name Sasha. But real name artist - di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi (di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi). Where did the pseudonym Botticelli come from, under which the creator of “The Birth of Venus” entered art history? Everything here is very interesting. Botticelli's nickname means "barrel", and it comes from the Italian word “botte”. They teased Sandro's brother Giovanni, who was fat, but the artist simply inherited his brother's nickname.
“Venus and Mars” by Sandro Botticelli, it is believed that the artist depicted his muse in the image of Venus
Simonetta Vespucci, and features of Alessandro can be seen in the image of Mars.
2. Giotto- also a pseudonym. At the same time, we do not know the real name of the creator of the frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel and the paintings in the upper church of St. Francis in Assisi. The name of the artist is known - di Bondone, because he was born in the family of the blacksmith Bondone, who lived in the town of Vespignano. But Giotto is a diminutive form of two names at once: Ambrogio(Ambrogio) and Angiolo(Angiolo). So the artist’s name was either Amrogio da Bondone, or Angiolo da Bondone; there is still no complete clarity on this issue.
3. El Greco actually called Domenikos Theotokopoulos. The nickname under which he entered the history of art is translated from Spanish as “Greek,” which is logical, since Domenicos was born in Crete, began his creative career in Venice and Rome, but his name is more closely associated with Spanish Toledo, where the artist worked until his death. Although Domenicos signed until the end of his days own works exclusively by his real name Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος, the nickname assigned to him El Greco not at all not derogatory. On the contrary, it is even honorable, because its correct translation into Russian "that same Greek", and not some obscure character from Greece. The thing is, the prefix El is the definite article in Spanish. For comparison, for example, in Padua, the city patronized by Anthony of Padua, San Antonio is often called Il Santo (the Italian article Il is analogous to the Spanish El), which means “that same beloved saint.”
"Portrait of an Old Man", El Greco
4. Andrea Palladio- the only architect whose name is named after the architectural movement “Palladianism”, this thesis can be read in any reference book on art history. And it is not entirely correct, because Palladio is a pseudonym that refers to the ancient goddess of wisdom Pallas Athena, or more precisely, to her statue, which, according to ancient Greek legend, fell from the sky and protected Athens. The real name of the architect Andrea di Pietro della Gondola(Andrea di Pietro della Gondolla), which means “Andrea son of Pietro della Gondolla”, and Palladio’s father was an ordinary miller. By the way, Andrea did not come up with the idea of changing the unassuming surname “della Gondola” to the sonorous “Palladio” himself. The idea was suggested to him by the Italian poet and playwright Gian Giorgio Trissino from the city of Vicenza, where the architect later worked. Trissino was the first to consider the potential young man and patronized him in every possible way at the beginning of his creative career, that is, as they say now, he took on the role of producer.
In the photo: statues on top of the Basilica Palladiana and the roofs of Vicenza
5. Sometimes, to understand exactly which rich family patronized the artist, it is enough to look at his pseudonym. Speaking example - Correggio. The real name of the creator of deeply erotic by standards High Renaissance paintings “Jupiter and Io” and “Danae” – Antonio Allegri(Antonio Allegri), by the way, this can be translated into Russian as “Anton Veselov”.
"Danae" Correggio
According to one version, he received his nickname thanks to Countess Correggio Veronica Gambara, whom Antonio captured in the painting “Portrait of a Lady,” which is in the Hermitage collection. The fact is that it was she who recommended the artist to the Duke of Mantua, after which the painter’s career began to take off. According to another version, Andrea received his nickname from the city of Correggio, where he actively worked. However, if we remember that the name of this locality is in fact simply the surname of the same influential feudal Correggio family, which also ruled neighboring Parma, where Andrea also worked, the contradiction disappears.
Portrait of Veronica Gambara by Correggio
6. From an Italian painter Rosso Fiorentino(Rosso Fiorentino), who worked not only in his homeland, but also in France, the nickname is “red-haired Florentine,” no more, no less. The real name of the painter Giovan Battista di Jacopo(Giovan Battista di Jacopo) was not remembered by most of his contemporaries. But red hair color is such a thing. Obliges.
Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron
Leonardo da Vinci
See Vinci.
The medieval world in terms, names and titles
Leonardo da Vinci
(1452-1519) - great it. artist (painter, sculptor, architect), scientist (anatomist, mathematician, physicist, natural scientist), engineer-inventor and thinker of the Renaissance. Born in the village of Anchiano (approx. Vinci, between Florence and Pisa). Illegitimate son a wealthy notary and a simple peasant woman. From 1469 he studied in Florence in the workshop of Andrea Verrocchio. In 1470 he was enrolled in the community of Florentine masters, but until 1481 he continued to work with Verrocchio. OK. 1476 he performed the figure of the left angel in his teacher’s painting “The Baptism of Christ,” which compares favorably with Verrocchio’s work. Among early works L. da V. “Madonna with a Flower” (or “Benois Madonna”) (c.1478), “Adoration of the Magi” and “Saint Jerome” (1481-1482).
In 1482, at the invitation of the actual. The ruler of Milan, Lodovico Sforza L. da V., moved to Milan. He worked primarily as a military man. engineer, wrote a “Treatise on Painting”, studied science, architecture and sculpture. In Milan, he created a clay model of the monument to Francesco Sforza (father of Lodovic), which was destroyed by France. by soldiers in 1499; painted “Madonna of the Rocks” (or “Madonna in the Grotto”) (1483-1494) using Leonard’s famous sfumato (the finest chiaroscuro), “Madonna Litta” (1490-1491); The fresco “The Last Supper” in the refectory of the Milan monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie (1495-1497) is the main pictorial work of this period. This huge mural (4.6x8.8 m) became an artistic event. life of Italy, but, executed in tempera, it began to gradually collapse during the artist’s lifetime.
The Milanese period - the most fruitful in the master's work - lasted until 1499. L. da V. became the most famous artist in Italy. He left Milan, occupied by the French, and after a short stay in Mantua and Venice in 1500 he returned to Florence, where he worked for some time as a military man. engineer for Cesare Borgia. In 1502, L. da V. received an order from the Florentine Signoria to paint the wall of the Council Hall in the Palazzo Vecchio on the subject of “The Battle of Anghiari”; on the other wall, Michelangelo was supposed to perform “The Battle of Cascina.” But both artists made only preparatory cardboards.
In 1503-1506. L. yes V. created the most famous portrait in the history of world painting - a portrait of Mona Lisa (“Gioconda”), the wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco di Gioconde. Since 1506, a period of regular wanderings began: first Milan (1506), then Rome (1513); in 1516 L. da V. moved to France, where he spent recent years life.
L. yes V. did not leave large number paintings: he worked on his works as a research scientist, considering painting to be science and the daughter of nature; argued that “a good painter must paint two main things: a person and a representation of his soul.” In his “Treatise on Painting” (1498), L. da V., as an art theorist, insisted on the need to study linear and aerial perspective, anatomy, etc. As an engineer, he expressed a number of brilliant hypotheses and left a number of designs for mechanisms, machine tools, aircraft, irrigation devices, etc. L. da V. was one of the first to substantiate the idea of the cognizability of the world through reason and sensations, and suggested that the Earth is only one of the celestial bodies and is not the center of the Universe.
Lit.: Leonardo da Vinci. A book about painting. M., 1934; Leonardo da Vinci. Selected natural science works. M., 1955; Leonardo da Vinci. Selected excerpts from the literary heritage // Masters of art about art. T. 2. Renaissance / Ed. A.A. Gubera, V.N. Grashchenkova. M., 1966; Vasari Giorgio. The biographies of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects. T. 3. M., 1970; Gukovsky ML. Leonardo da Vinci. M., 1967; Dzhivelegov A.K. Leonardo da Vinci. M., 1969; Lazarev V.N. Leonardo da Vinci. M, 1952.
Encyclopedic Dictionary
Leonardo Da Vinci
- (Leonardo da Vinci) (April 15, 1452, Vinci near Florence - May 2, 1519, Cloux Castle, near Amboise, Touraine, France), Italian artist, scientist, engineer and philosopher. Born into the family of a wealthy notary. He developed as a master, studying with Andrea del Verrocchio (1467 - 72). The methods of work in the Florentine workshop of that time, where the artist’s work was closely linked with technical experiments, as well as his acquaintance with the astronomer P. Toscanelli contributed to the emergence of young Leonardo’s scientific interests. IN early works(angel's head in "Baptism" Verrocchio, after 1470, "Annunciation", around 1474, both in the Uffizi, "Madonna Benoit", around 1478, Hermitage) enriches the traditions of Quattrocento painting, emphasizing the smooth volume of forms with soft chiaroscuro, enlivening faces with a subtle, subtle smile. IN "Adoration of the Magi"(1481-82, unfinished; underpainting - in the Uffizi) turns religious image into a mirror of diverse human emotions, developing innovative drawing techniques. Recording the results of countless observations in sketches, sketches and full-scale studies (Italian pencil, silver pencil, sanguine, pen and other techniques), Leonardo achieves rare acuity in conveying facial expressions (sometimes resorting to grotesque and caricature), and the structure and movements of the human body leads in perfect harmony with the dramaturgy of the composition. In the service of the ruler of Milan, Lodovico Moro (from 1481), Leonardo acts as a military engineer, hydraulic engineer, and organizer of court festivities. For over 10 years he has been working on the monument to Francesco Sforza, father of Lodovico Moro; The life-size clay model of the monument, full of plastic power, has not survived (it was destroyed during the capture of Milan by the French in 1500) and is known only from preparatory sketches. "Madonna of the Rocks" This period marked the creative flowering of Leonardo the painter. IN "Madonna of the Rocks"(1483-94, Louvre; second version - 1487-1511, National Gallery, London) the master’s favorite subtle chiaroscuro ( "sfumato") appears as a new halo that replaces the medieval halos: this is equally a divine-human and natural mystery, where the rocky grotto, reflecting Leonardo’s geological observations, plays no less dramatic role than the figures of saints in the foreground. "Last Supper" Leonardo creates a painting in the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie "Last Supper"(1495-97; due to the risky experiment that the master undertook, using oil mixed with tempera for the fresco, the work has reached us in a very damaged form). The high religious and ethical content of the image, which represents the stormy, contradictory reaction of Christ’s disciples to his words about the impending betrayal, is expressed in clear mathematical laws of the composition, powerfully subjugating not only the painted, but also the real architectural space. The clear stage logic of facial expressions and gestures, as well as the excitingly paradoxical, as always with Leonardo, combination of strict rationality with an inexplicable mystery made "Last Supper" one of the most significant works in the history of world art. Also involved in architecture, Leonardo develops various options "ideal city" and the central domed temple. The master spends the following years in constant travel (Florence - 1500-02, 1503-06, 1507; Mantua and Venice - 1500; Milan - 1506, 1507-13; Rome - 1513-16). From 1517 he lived in France, where he was invited by King Francis I. "Battle of Angyari". Mona Lisa (Portrait of Mona Lisa) In Florence, Leonardo works on a painting in the Palazzo Vecchio ( "Battle of Angyari", 1503-06; not finished and not preserved, known from copies from cardboard, as well as from a recently discovered sketch - private collection, Japan), which stands at the origins of the battle genre in the art of modern times; the deadly fury of war is embodied here in the frenzied fight of the horsemen. In the most famous painting Leonardo, portrait of the Mona Lisa (the so-called "Mona Lisa", around 1503, Louvre) the image of a rich city woman appears as a mysterious personification of nature as such, without losing its purely feminine cunning; The inner significance of the composition is given by the cosmically majestic and at the same time alarmingly alienated landscape, melting into a cold haze. Late paintings Leonardo's later works include: designs for the monument to Marshal Trivulzio (1508 - 12), painting "St. Anne with Mary and the Christ Child"(c. 1500-07, Louvre). The latter, as it were, sums up his searches in the field of light-air perspective, tonal color (with a predominance of cool, greenish shades) and harmonious pyramidal composition; at the same time, this is harmony over the abyss, since a group of holy characters, welded together by family closeness, is presented on the edge of the abyss. Last picture Leonardo, "St. John the Baptist"(circa 1515-17, ibid.) is full of erotic ambiguity: the young Forerunner looks here not like a holy ascetic, but like a tempter full of sensual charm. In a series of drawings depicting a universal catastrophe (the so-called cycle with "By the Flood", Italian pencil, pen, circa 1514-16, Royal Library, Windsor) thoughts about the frailty and insignificance of man before the power of the elements are combined with rationalistic, anticipatory "vortex" cosmology of R. Descartes with ideas about the cyclicity of natural processes. "Treatise on Painting" The most important source for studying the views of Leonardo da Vinci are his notebooks and manuscripts (about 7 thousand sheets), written in spoken Italian. The master himself did not leave a systematic presentation of his thoughts. "Treatise on Painting", prepared after Leonardo’s death by his student F. Melzi and which had a huge influence on the theory of art, consists of passages largely arbitrarily extracted from the context of his notes. For Leonardo himself, art and science were inextricably linked. Giving in "dispute of arts" the palm of painting as the most intellectual, in his opinion, form of creativity, the master understood it as a universal language (similar to mathematics in the field of science), which embodies the entire diversity of the universe through proportions, perspective and chiaroscuro. “Painting,” writes Leonardo, “is a science and the legitimate daughter of nature..., a relative of God”. By studying nature, the perfect artist-naturalist thereby learns "divine mind", hidden under the external appearance of nature. By engaging in creative competition with this divinely intelligent principle, the artist thereby affirms his likeness to the Supreme Creator. Since he "first in the soul, and then in the hands" "everything that exists in the universe", he is there too "some god". Leonardo is a scientist. Technical projects As a scientist and engineer, Leonardo da Vinci enriched almost all areas of knowledge of his time with insightful observations and guesses, considering his notes and drawings as sketches for a giant natural philosophical encyclopedia. He was a prominent representative of the new, experimentally based natural science. Leonardo paid special attention to mechanics, calling it "paradise of mathematical sciences" and seeing in it the key to the secrets of the universe; he tried to determine the coefficients of sliding friction, studied the resistance of materials, and was passionate about hydraulics. Numerous hydrotechnical experiments were expressed in innovative designs of canals and irrigation systems. Leonardo's passion for modeling led him to astonishing technical foresights that were far ahead of his era: such are sketches of designs for metallurgical furnaces and rolling mills, weaving machines, printing, woodworking and other machines, a submarine and a tank, as well as designs for flying machines developed after a thorough study of the flight of birds and parachute Optics Leonardo's observations on the influence of transparent and translucent bodies on the color of objects, reflected in his painting, led to the establishment of the principles of aerial perspective in art. The universality of optical laws was associated for him with the idea of the homogeneity of the Universe. He was close to creating a heliocentric system, considering the Earth "a point in the universe". He studied the structure of the human eye, making guesses about the nature of binocular vision. Anatomy, botany, paleontology In anatomical studies, summarizing the results of autopsies of corpses, in detailed drawings he laid the foundations of modern scientific illustration. When studying the functions of organs, he considered the body as a model "natural mechanics". First described a number of bones and nerves, special attention devoted to the problems of embryology and comparative anatomy, trying to introduce the experimental method into biology. Having established botany as an independent discipline, he gave classical descriptions leaf arrangement, helio- and geotropism, root pressure and movement of plant juices. He was one of the founders of paleontology, believing that fossils found on mountain tops disprove the idea of "global flood" . Revealing the ideal of the Renaissance "universal man", Leonardo da Vinci was interpreted in subsequent tradition as the person who most clearly outlined the range of creative quests of the era. In Russian literature, the portrait of Leonardo was created by D. S. Merezhkovsky in the novel "Resurrected Gods" (1899 - 1900).
- (Leonardo da Vinci) (1452 - 1519), Italian painter, sculptor, architect, scientist, engineer. Combining the development of new tools artistic language with theoretical generalizations, created an image of a person that meets the humanistic ideals of the High Renaissance. In the painting "Last Supper"(1495-97, in the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan) the high ethical content is expressed in strict patterns of composition, a clear system of gestures and facial expressions of the characters. Humanistic ideal female beauty embodied in the portrait of Mona Lisa (the so-called "Gioconda", OK. 1503). Numerous discoveries, projects, experimental studies in the field of mathematics, natural sciences, mechanics. He defended the decisive importance of experience in knowledge of nature (notebooks and manuscripts, about 7 thousand sheets).
European art: Painting. Sculpture. Graphics: Encyclopedia
Leonardo Da Vinci
(Leonardo da Vinci)
1452, Vinci - 1519, Amboise.
Italian painter, sculptor, architect, scientist, engineer, art theorist. Master of the Florentine school, student of Verrocchio. Creative path started in Florence. In 1481/1482 he was invited to Milan by Duke Lodovico Moro. Until 1499 he worked in Milan as a painter, sculptor, architect, military engineer, and organizer of court festivities. In 1500-1506 (with interruptions) he worked in Florence; in 1502-1503 he was in the service of Cesare Borgia as a military engineer; in 1506-1513 he worked in Milan, in 1513-1514 - in Rome. In 1516, at the invitation of King Francis I, he moved to France; He spent the last years of his life (1516-1519) at the castle of Cloux near Amboise. Having surpassed all the geniuses of the Italian Renaissance in the universality of his talents, Leonardo da Vinci belonged to the same generation as those who completed the development Early Renaissance Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Carpaccio, Perugino, Pinturicchio, Signorelli. At the same time, he acted as one of the greatest reformers Italian art, who embodied in his works a new worldview, new principles of artistic generalization, which became the basis of the art of the High Renaissance. The uniqueness of Leonardo da Vinci as an artist lies not only in the versatility of his talents and in his inherent innovative spirit, but also in the organic unity of his artistic and scientific interests. Leonardo gave the palm among plastic arts painting, which he called “science and the legitimate daughter of nature,” capable of cognizing, in his words, “the beauty of nature’s creations,” in contrast to the exact sciences, cognizing “discontinuous and continuous quantities.” For him, a pictorial work was a concentrated embodiment in a picture of certain general and most essential principles of visible reality. At the same time, the work on the composition itself was for Leonardo a process of aesthetic knowledge of the world and its theoretical research, which was continued in his extensive scientific treatises. Hence the unusually large place even for a Renaissance artist, which he devoted to clarifying the concept in compositional sketches, full-scale and anatomical studies, searching for gestures and movements that most fully express feelings, etc. The process of working on each composition was so long, and Leonardo's creative time was so often divided between his works of art, scientific and technical research, that his pictorial heritage numbers only about one and a half dozen works (including unfinished ones and those made together with his students). But these few works became the starting point for the formation aesthetic principles High Renaissance. In the making creative appearance Leonardo da Vinci occupies an important place in the first Florentine period (c. 1470-1480), when in his few works the features of a new artistic style, marked by a desire for generalization, laconicism, concentration on the image of a person, a new degree of completeness of images; chiaroscuro begins to play an important role, softly modeling forms and combining them with spatial environment. These features, outlined in the figure of an angel in the Baptism of Christ by Verrocchio (c. 1470), in the Annunciation (c. 1474, both Florence, Uffizi Gallery) acquire more complete expression in the works of con. 1470 - beginning 1480s. In the Madonna with a Flower (the so-called Benois Madonna, c. 1478, St. Petersburg, State Hermitage), Leonardo abandons the detail typical of his contemporaries, focusing all his attention on the Virgin Mary and the Child, combining in the depicted moment the naturalness of the manifestation of feeling and the solemn seriousness. Leonardo's preparatory drawings make it possible to trace the search for the most compact and harmonious compositional formula, when the figures seem to fit into an invisible arch that follows the outlines of the painting. An even more decisive departure from the traditions of the Early Renaissance is demonstrated by the unfinished Adoration of the Magi (1481-1482, Florence, Uffizi Gallery), remaining at the stage of golden-brown underpainting, built on the contrast of dramatic excitement permeating the crowd merged together by large masses of light and shadows, a strange landscape with ruins, fiercely fighting horsemen, and reverent silence uniting the Madonna and the Magi. The study of the pathos of feelings expressed in the plasticity of the human body, which found expression in the preparatory drawings for the Adoration of the Magi, also determined the solution to the unfinished composition of St. Jerome (c. 1481, Vatican, Pinacoteca). Leonardo da Vinci's first experience in the field of portrait dates back to the Florentine period. A small Portrait of Ginevra Benci (c. 1474-1476, Washington, National Gallery) stands out from the portraits of this time by the artist’s desire to create a sense of the richness of spiritual life, which is facilitated by the subtle play of light and shadows. The pale face of a young woman glows against the backdrop of a landscape shrouded in evening twilight with a dark juniper bush and reflections of light on the surface of the pond, anticipating the artist’s later works by the understatement of its expression. The Milanese period (1482-1499) was the time of Leonardo's most intense and versatile activity. Court engineer of Duke Lodovico Moro, he supervised construction work and the laying of canals, designed military structures, siege equipment, developed projects for improving weapons, participated in the design of court festivities, and worked on a project that was never implemented equestrian statue Ludovico Moro's father, Duke Francesco Sforza. Dating back to the Milanese period most Leonardo's scientific manuscripts and his notes on the problems of painting, subsequently systematized and published by his student Melzi under the title Book of Painting. Few paintings Leonardo da Vinci's Milanese period are among his most significant creations. The altar painting Madonna in the Grotto (c. 1483, Paris, Louvre) is unusual in the motif chosen by the artist - the quiet solitude of the Madonna with the Child Christ, John the Baptist, a young wingless angel in the twilight of a grotto with a fantastic pile of sharp rocks. Their figures are inscribed in the pyramid, classic for compositional solutions of the Renaissance, which gives the composition clear readability, composure, balance; at the same time, glances, gestures, turns of heads, the pointing finger of the angel turning his gaze to us create an internal movement, a cycle of rhythms that involves the viewer, forcing him to turn to each character again and again, imbued with an atmosphere of reverent spiritual concentration. A major role in the picture is played by subdued diffused light, penetrating through the crevices into the twilight of the grotto, giving rise to smoky chiaroscuro - “sfumato”, in Leonardo’s terminology - which he called “the creator of expressions on faces.” Softening, blurring the contours and relief of forms, sfumato creates a feeling of tenderness and warmth of naked children's bodies, gives the beautiful faces of the Madonna and the angel a subtle spirituality. Leonardo strives to convey this elusive movement of feelings both in the Litta Madonna (c. 1490-1491, St. Petersburg, State Hermitage) and in the Lady with an Ermine (c. 1483, Krakow, National Czartoryski Gallery). Central location Among the works of the Milanese period is the monumental painting of the Last Supper (1495-1497, Milan, monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie). Having abandoned the traditional fresco technique, which required speed of execution and almost did not allow for corrections, the artist preferred a complex mixed technique, which caused already in the 16th century. crumbling of the painting. Freed these days from numerous restoration records, it has preserved both traces of destruction from numerous falls of paint, and the grandeur of the artist’s plan. This is the first work of Leonardo in which he achieved that measure of artistic generalization, greatness and spiritual power of images that are characteristic of the art of the High Renaissance. Based on the compositional and plot interpretation found by Castagno (the symmetry of the composition deployed parallel to the image plane, the reaction of the apostles to the words “one of you will betray me”), Leonardo found a solution that excluded traditional ritual solemnity and was based on the dramatic contrast of the calm detachment of Christ and the explosion of feelings , as if spreading from him in waves, capturing the shocked apostles. The time of Leonardo da Vinci's new creative flourishing was the second Florentine period (1500-1506). The works of these years had the greatest influence on the formation of the High Renaissance style, the work of Raphael and other younger contemporaries of Leonardo. According to Vasari, the now lost carton of St. Anne (c. 1501), a life-size graphic version that usually preceded the creation of a painting in the Renaissance, prompted a pilgrimage of Florentines to the artist’s studio. The surviving earlier version (St. Anne, cardboard, c. 1499-1500, London, National Gallery) is distinguished by the naturalness and ease with which the artist combined into a compact and full of life group the Madonna, sitting on the lap of her mother Anne, and playing at her feet are the children - Christ and John the Baptist; the breadth and generality of forms and rhythms, the energy and softness of modeling, the subtle spirituality of faces illuminated by a smile, which is indicated not so much by the movement of the lips as by the elusive thickening and thinning of chiaroscuro, are remarkable. This strange, unsaid, more guessed than visible, smile created an aura of mystery surrounding the most famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci, the Mona Lisa (La Gioconda; c. 1503-1505, Paris, Louvre). Its solution, apparently, should be sought in the fact that Leonardo saw in his model, the wife of a Florentine notary, something that allowed him to embody portrait image the whole sum of his ideas about man and the Universe, beauty, harmony and order, about the “science of painting”, its cognitive and creative possibilities. The composition of the picture is so flawless, outlined by a smooth generalized silhouette female figure so impeccably inscribed in a rectangular frame, in a natural and calm pose there is such balance and completeness, so accurately found the relationship between dark and light spots, the natural chaos of the landscape immersed in a bluish haze and powerfully dominating it, as if absorbing the harmony and spiritual power of the universe human figure, that the image of Mona Lisa acquires a generalized, as if universal, character. The sfumato haze, enveloping not only the figure, but also the deserted rocky landscape, gives unity to the world depicted by the artist and imparts ambiguity to the facial expression and elusive, mysterious smile of Mona Lisa. Leonardo's third significant Florentine work was the cardboard for the central episode of the Battle of Anghiari painting, commissioned from him for the main hall of the Palazzo Vecchio (1503-1505). The cardboard, depicting the fierce battle of four horsemen for the banner, survived until the 18th century; a drawing by Rubens (Paris, Louvre), painted copies (Florence, Uffizi Gallery; Vienna, Academy Gallery) and two drawings by Leonardo for the heads of warriors (Budapest, Museum of Fine Arts) give an idea of the power of expression and the intensity of passions that weaved the combatants into a single ball. Leonardo's last paintings - St. Anne completed after returning to Milan (c. 1509, Paris, Louvre) and a replica of the Madonna of the Rocks completed by him with the help of A. di Predis (c. 1505-1508, London, National Gallery) - testify about the growing creative crisis a master returning to already found formulas. For the last ten years of his life, Leonardo apparently did not turn to painting.
Lit.: Leonardo da Vinci. A book about painting. M., 1934; Leonardo da Vinci. Selected works/ Ed. A.K. Dzhivelegova and A.M. Efros. M.; L., 1935. T. 1-2; Leonardo da Vinci. Favorites. M., 1952; Lazarev V.N. Leonardo da Vinci. M.; L., 1969; Zubov V.P. Leonardo da Vinci. M.; L., 1961; Gukovsky M. A. Leonardo da Vinci. L.; M., 1967; Dzhivelegov A.K. Leonardo da Vinci. M., 1974; Gastev A. Leonardo da Vinci. M., 1972; Batkin L. M. Leonardo da Vinci and the features of Renaissance creative thinking. M., 1990; Suida W. Leonardo und sein Kreis. Munchen, 1929; Clark K. Leonardo da Vinci. Cambridge, 1939; Cambridge, 1952; Heydenreich L. Leonardo di Vinci. Berlin, 1945; Basel, 1953; Castelfranco J. La pittura di Leonardo da Vinci. Milano, 1956.
I. Smirnova
Russian language dictionaries
Knowing your own elegance gives you a sense of self-confidence. It is important for you to be “well dressed,” smart, respectable. Sometimes yours appearance can serve as a kind of shield for you, allowing you to isolate yourself from people with whom communication in at the moment for some reason it is undesirable for you. At the same time, your appearance, sometimes quite colorful, but always correct, endears you to you and evokes sympathy.Compatibility of the name Vinci, manifestation in love
Love for you is an urgent, everyday necessity, sometimes unconscious. Therefore, your attitude towards your partner is dominated by tenderness, often quite burdensome, and caring, sometimes bordering on obsessive servility. However, you remain in unshakable confidence that you are doing everything right and demand an adequate, from your point of view, reaction to your actions - gratitude and admiration. Vinci, you are easily vulnerable, suspicious and touchy, often getting into a state of irritation for no apparent reason. When your partner is not “within reach” for a long time, you experience a feeling of abandonment, uncertainty that you are happy. All you really need is to find a person who will appreciate both your touching affection and your selfless devotion. Then the union will be long-lasting and harmonious.Motivation
You are attracted to beauty and harmony in all its forms. Therefore, the fundamental basis of your spiritual aspirations is the desire to keep them around you. Consequently, any actions that may result in a violation of the usual order of things are contrary to your nature.But you won’t “fight” with someone who is trying to create such an imbalance. A “bad peace” for you is always “better than a good quarrel,” which means you should turn an enemy into a friend, showing tact and diplomacy.
And there is nothing surprising in the fact that you have many friends, but practically no enemies. You are always able not only to find a compromise solution, but also to “awaken the best feelings” in a person who is negatively disposed towards you.
However, simply knowing what to do in a given situation is not a choice. Opinion must be supported by action. And this is where your indecision often lets you down. This is not timidity or fear of consequences. Just hesitation while searching for the best option. Life experience will help get rid of them.
