Ok -- this lecture is a brief review
of Leonardo da Vinci -- just a brief introduction --
talking a little bit about training and also some the works that he produced that are
the most famous.
So starting off, let's have a look at a
work created by master,
a man that he worked with in his workshop this Verrocchio -- Andrea del
Verrocchio.
This is a sculpture that we see a young woman where we see the body has been cut
off
about halfway. So this is an important clue in terms of how Leonardo is going to
change portraiture
and how he's going to start to include more of the body. How the body is also gonna
be facing
the front. How it's going to be a frontal type perspective.
So we see the woman gazing out towards us. We see her face here.
We also see her hands, and hand actually quite alluring and
beautiful in the Renaissance, so we see her hand on full display,
and she's holding on to a bouquet of flowers, and flowers maybe could be
associated with
a beloved, or a lover of some kind.
Maybe this was a gift from her lover, and then she's holding it tightly to her chest,
so the idea that maybe she's holding her beloved closely towards her.
Her hair is tied up. There's some possibility that this
is a mistress associated with the Medici court --
possibly a mistress of Lorenzo de' Medici, but there's no
certain answer on this, so a portrait of a woman. We're not exactly sure which
woman
woman this is, but because her hands are on display in this way,
this is quite an alluring image, quite beautiful,
so we doubt that it's a well-known noblewoman because we don't think
noblewoman at this time would have allowed this kind of representation,
So, again, that is Leonardo's teacher, and Leonardo was a big fan of painting, not
sculpture,
so interesting to know that his master Verrocchio was really
much more well-known as a sculptor than as a painter. Leonardo will transition into,
however,
more painting, so here we see an example of his painting.
Although he trained in Florence, with Verrocchio
when the Medici court are commissioning works and things like that,
we do see him head up to Milan, where he thinks he's going to have more opportunity,
so he goes up to Milan, and there you have the Duke of Milan,
and so the Duke of Milan -- he's hoping the Duke of Milan will give him some employment,
but one of his projects before he actually is hired on by the Duke
is what's known as the "Madonna of the Rocks" and this is a piece that was created for
Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception
at the church called San Francesco Grande in Milan.
And this is a relatively complex altarpiece, so you see the altarpiece
here with its curved frame, and then you have the rocks in the background,
and then you have the figure of the Virgin Mary at center.
And with the Immaculate Conception, this was a belief that the Virgin had also
been conceived
immaculately, or therefore not through traditional means of conceiving
children, so the idea that
the Virgin -- the Mother of Christ -- could not be conceived in a traditional way.
So the idea is the Virgin was also very sacred.
We see her here at center. We see a figure here praying.
And, at first, people mostly think Christ, but, in fact, this is probably
Christ even though he is
lower down and he's offering a blessing gesture of two fingers,
and you have an angel presenting and pointing towards the figure
here who's praying -- probably John the Baptist.
So, you see an interesting combination of gestures, which would be something that
[Leon Battista] Alberti would like,
some of the art theorists at the time because your eye is constantly moving.
For example, you had the blessing of Christ directing your eye towards the
praying figure. Also, the point of the
angel, directing your eye towards the praying figure. Then you have the Virgin Mary with
her hand over Christ, and then her arm around John the Baptist, who's the praying
figure. It also has a smoky quality,
which tells us about the sfumato, this dramatic chiaroscuro
that Leonardo preferred to use. These
mountains, although they look kind of frightening and a little spooky,
are probably something he saw when he was traveling around Northern Italy.
There are mountains called the Dolomites, which have these
peaks that are associated with them. Leonardo was also very interested in
NATURE,
so similarities to Northern painting, that is Flemish painting,
so it's done in oil in the Northern style. You can see all this attention to
detail in the natural world.
And Leonardo was known for his enjoyment of experimentation,
and his different types a projects that he worked on observing the natural world,
such as water movement
and things like that. So Leonardo was not easy to work with -- that's something to keep
in mind --
and it seems that some kind of legal battle developed over this altarpiece.
So he ends up making a copy, and today this is actually in France. This one ends up in
London. But he ends up making a copy, so it seems that
something happened with this commission indicating to us
a pattern with Leonardo maybe not really finishing his projects. He seems to have
preferred experiments, working on his own, and working really slowly.
So, this is a case where we're seeing something
where problem arose -- so an artwork probably
created by Leonardo and then also associates, so people in his workshop.
You can see it's very similar -- same kinds of poses, but it's clear that this is
John the Baptist. He has an elongated cross.
You have halos that are more clearly defined.
The pointing is taken away, so it's clear to know that this is
Christ
and this is John the Baptist because that pointing gesture might have confused people.
So, Leonardo's paintings are not always easy to understand.
They have a lot of complexity and sometimes mystery has been associated with them,
but I think through some close observation following the different
gestures, following the emotion, you can figure it out.
So, finally, he does get hired by the Duke of Milan, and one of his projects is to
create
a painting for the refectory or the cafeteria basically
of a monastery that was important for the duke -- and this is Santa Maria delle Grazie
in Milan. And so this is, basically again, where you would eat,
and usually you would have a Last Supper scene on one side, and a Crucifixion scene
on the other. So that's what you have here, and we'll focus in on the Last
Supper scene,
which is the part that Leonardo painted. But the idea is, while you're eating,
you're thinking about the Last Supper of Christ, before his Crucifixion,
and then his sacrifice in the Crucifixion.
Leonardo did this in experimental technique, so
this is the pretty restored view of it, but it's in pretty rough shape.
He did it primarily in a "fresco secco" technique, so primarily
dry. A lot of chipped off, and it started chipping off almost immediately,
so it was very, very quick. You can see the Duke of Milan's [coat of] arms up on the top, so we
know that it's
something that he commissioned -- that it's something that he paid for. I
And you can see that Christ is very calm at center, and the moment that
Leonardo has picked in order to
charge it with emotion and drama is the moment when Christ
says "one of you is going to betray me."
And so, all the figures are reacting to that. So, you have figures
arguing with each other on this side -- this group of three. You have this group of three, where one
figure is asking "Is it I?" Another one that is maybe accusing someone and raising
his finger up.
Another group of three, that's our key group of three, and then a final group of three.
So, the idea is you have chaos surrounding Christ, and then a calm Christ right at the center.
So, this key group of three, you have Judas, who usually has darker skin, darker hair.
St. Peter, who is an important follower of Christ, but one that will
deny him
as the Crucifixion comes. And then John the Evangelist.
In recent literature, some people have at speculated
this indicates a marriage to Mary Magdalene -- maybe this is a female
figure -- but trust me on this. This image is in really, really bad shape, so it's very
hard to see
exactly what's going on in this image, but traditionally
there is a young figure, John the Evangelist, close to Christ, who often
looks a little bit feminine
because he is so young, and he was a favorite of Christ.
We don't think this is a woman. This is usually seen as John the Evangelist, a
young follower of Christ.
So, the Duke of Milan eventually will be kicked out of his city even though
Leonardo sells himself to the Duke as someone
or tells the Duke he can create a lot of war machines for him --
in addition to doing paintings, such as we see here. Eventually the Duke of Milan will fall
from power,
and Leonardo makes his way back home -- he makes his way back to Florence.
And, that's where he's commissioned to create this work
his most famous painting, and probably one of the most famous paintings
in the world, which is the Mona Lisa. So, the Mona Lisa -- the big question is:
Who is this? Who is this really?
And this painting has become an object of wonder, and a lot has been written about it.
Is this some mysterious woman who has some secret?
What is with her expression? Is she smiling? Is she not smiling?
Also, it was stolen in the early 20th century, so that made it very famous.
In addition to that, a lot of artists have used it to create
art, so we see a lot in popular culture, and then a lot of other artists use it as
inspiration.
So, who is she really? So what documents tell us, or what history tells us
is that her name was Lisa Gherardini and that she was
the wife of a merchant, Francesco del Giocondo, and so
probably just a portrait commission where
Francesco the husband said -- you know -- I would like to portrait
of my wife. He's probably doing pretty well and so
this is what Leonardo creates, and it's extremely detailed.
And Leonardo actually ends up keeping it with him until he dies,
so that raised a lot of questions. Why would he keep this portrait with him?
Why did he never deliver it to the patron? So,
the most likely response is that the patron Francesco probably didn't like it.
There's a lot of things about it that are problematic in terms of the
representation
of a respectable woman. So, starting off, we can see her hands -- her hands are on full
display
and remember those were sensual, very beautiful things that were often hidden
away.
Things that weren't meant to be seen. She's not wearing any jewelry,
so remember in a lot of portraits, it was the woman's job to demonstrate how wealthy
her husband was
by wearing lots and lots of jewelry. We don't see that here, so we don't know her
husband
is wealthy or doing well. Also her hair is down.
Most married women would have their hair up. We see a fair amount of skin on display
in addition to the hands.
Her expression may be problematic. Maybe Leonardo is just trying to make her
look pleasant,
but it comes off as a little bit too available -- maybe
too pleasant. So, most likely this portrait was rejected.
We have a woman who's looking directly towards us. she gazing up towards us in
a very confrontational way,
a very proud women who is up on a balcony. This was very common for women
to be up on balconies for their portraits because they couldn't really wander the
streets.
So, we see a very pound woman, who's directly engaging with us, which is so
unusual
for for women in art at this time answer, so it's a really, really strong interaction [with the viewer]. So
Francesco probably did not like it -- probably rejected it.
So, Leonardo, an artist who spent all this time with it, who was so detailed in its execution,
seems to have kept it with him for the rest of his life and kept working on
it.
So, the idea here is -- why did he keep it with him?
Did he become obsessed with this image? Why was he so interested in it.
So, that's something important to think about -- why does he
remain interested in this work. Why does he keep it with him, and that's
something that has
yet to be answered. But, why is the Mona Lisa so important?
So it's a new example of the type of portrait that confronts the viewer
and reveals more of the body. It's not just in profile and
hidden away. It was likely rejected for reasons of decorum. He worked on it for
many years
after this painting, and her expression is probably an attempt to make her seem pleasant,
so most likely there's not a specific secret that she knows, but
anything is possible. Alright, and then a final work to look at for Leonardo is the
"Virgin and Child with St. Anne."
This is another adventurous attempt at taking out religious such matter and switching some
things around.
So here I'm showing you a pre-restored version and a post-restoration version
So after cleaning off some of the layers of varnished to get rid of
some of that smoky effect that's become too dark,
so I show you the same painting just in two different views.
So, the idea here is he's taking a pretty traditional pieces of iconography like we saw
with "The Madonna of
the Rocks" and changing it around. So typically,
this was a way of showing three generations: St. Anne, who's the mother of
the Virgin,
then the Virgin, then the Christ Child. And here Leonardo's really trying to
bring that subject to life.
It's a much more organic type of representation than we would normally see.
The figures are turning, one on top of the other. They're looking at each other
in a really sweet and thoughtful way. It's a very personal painting,
and something that women -- especially women with children
could relate to very closely. One of the
sweetest parts is the idea that the Virgin is reaching towards the Christ Child
and trying to pull him back. The idea that he's
reaching out to this sacrificial lamb -- this idea that he's going to be sacrificed -- that he's
going to be crucified,
and the Virgin trying to pull him back trying to keep him from being killed.
So that's one of the more interesting parts, and also been read in an even more personal way,
a Freudian way, in the idea that Leonardo grew up with essentially two
mothers. He had a biological mother
that he was born to her outside of marriage, so his father was pretty well off. His
mother
was a relatively low status woman. He was born, lived with her for a while, and
then eventually went with his father and his father's wife, who was essentially his
stepmother.
So, some people have read more personally, and that you have these two mothers with
the one child,
but most likely what Leonarod's trying to do is to take that really
serious,
stiff religious imagery and infuse it with a more organic and personal quality,
and infuse all his chiaroscuro [and sfumato], his shadowing techniques,
including things like atmospheric perspective to give dimension,
so Leonardo really was a master at Renaissance technique of creating nice,
stable compositions, harmonious composition, but infusing them with his
own flair
making them look very, very natural.