Words: 1268
E Interpretive Biography Leonardo Dad Vinci is considered one of the greatest geniuses of all time. He was the epitome of the term “Renaissance Man”, which meaner a person with many talents. During the Italian Renaissance Dad Vine’s accomplishments ranged from many fields such as anatomy, engineering, mathematics, nature ,philosophy, painting, sculpting and architecture. His achievements in these fields stem from an early age, Dad Vinci was an illegitimate child born of “Seer Piper, a notary, and Catering, a peasant woman who were unmarried”.
At the age of 15 Dad Vinci was sent to Florence to be an Prentice of an aspiring artist named Overarching. This is where Dad Vine’s talent for painting was first seen it is said that Overarching was so impressed with Leonardo addition to Veronica’s painting that he break his paint brushes and said I will never paint again. According to Giorgio Vassar, Leonardo first demonstration of his talent in painting was while he was an apprentice in Veronica’s studio.
Leonardo helped in painting Veronica’s Baptism of Christ he painted the left handed angel, which made the other figure look His contribution, the left-hand angel, made the other figures look bland and dull. It is said by Vassar that Overarching was so impressed by his apprentice’s painting that it was said that he took his paint brushes and snapped and said that he will never paint again since Dad Vinci surpassed him.
After this stage in Dad Vine’s life he was accepted into the painter’s guild of Florence, a guild was a medieval association of craftsmen or merchants, often having considerable power. After leaving Veronica’s studio, Leonardo talent became widely known throughout Florence, however gained a reputation for not completing jobs he was commissioned. A commission that he received while in Florence was The Adoration of the Magi in 1481; it was an important work for monks of San Donate from a monastery At Scope Leonardo left this work undone in 1482 when he left for Milan.
During his time in Milan he was commissioned another work which was from the Church of Francesco Grandee which asked him to paint The Virgin of the Rocks which was not done until twenty- five years later. It was during this time period that he wrote to Duke Oxfords in which he stated that he was a military inventor and engineer that could make indestructible bridges and safe chariots, at the end of the letter he also stated that he was an architect, sculptor and a painter. An excerpt from Vicar’s book stated that “He also painted in Milan, for the Friars of S.
Dominic, at S. Maria dell Gracie, a Last Supper, a most beautiful and marvelous thing; and to the heads of the Apostles he gave such majesty and beauty, that he left the head of Christ unfinished, not believing that he was able to give it that divine air which is essential to the image of Christ. This work, remaining thus all but finished, has ever been held by the Melamine in the greatest veneration, and also by strangers as well; for Leonardo imagined and succeeded in expressing that anxiety which had sized the Apostles in wishing to know who should betray their Master.
For which reason in all their faces are seen love, fear, and wrath, or rather, sorrow, at not being able to understand the meaning of 550) this showed his artistic views and how he displayed images as an art master. “Leonardo Last Supper, painted in Milan, is a brilliant summary of fifteenth-century trends in its organization of space and use of perspective to depict subjects three-dimensionally in a two- dimensional medium. “(Spiegel, 2009) Leonardo importance wasn’t realized till the High Renaissance where he was presented as “a transitional figure in the shift to High Renaissance principles.
He carried on the fifteenth- century experimental tradition by studying everything and even dissecting human bodies to see more clearly how nature worked. But Leonardo stressed the need to advance beyond such realism and initiated the High Renaissances preoccupation with the idealization of nature, or the attempt to generalize from realistic portrayal to an ideal form. “(Spiegel, 2009) Leonardo exhibited a period of the Renaissance where artist tried to make a realistic portrayal to an ideal portrayal.
A description given by Giorgio Vassar in his biography of Leonardo Dad Vinci named The Genius of Leonardo Dad Vinci shows a firsthand source of how others thought of him “In the normal course of events many men and women are born with various remarkable qualities and talents; but occasionally, in a way that transcends nature, a single person is marvelously endowed by heaven with beauty, grace, and talent in such abundance that he leaves other men far behind, all his actions seem inspired, and indeed everything he does clearly comes from God rather than from human art. (Vassar, 1 550) shows the respect that Leonardo received from there artist during his lifetime. Leonardo most famous work is the Mona Lisa which was commissioned by Francesco Del Giaconda to make a portrait his wife; and after toiling over it for four years, he left it unfinished. Leonardo had one of the greatest minds of the Italian Renaissance. He tried to understand the inner workings of nature. Majority of his inventions and scientific ideas were ahead of its time. Leonardo was one of the first people to study the flight of birds and make an invention that modeled after how they glided in the wind.
He also made drawings, schematics and designs for tanks, helicopters, and a parachute. Leonardo importance to art was even greater than his importance to science. He had a strong influence on many leading artists, including Raphael and Michelangelo. Leonardo balanced compositions and idealized figures became standard features of later Renaissance art. Painters also tried to imitate Leonardo knowledge of perspective and anatomy, and his accurate observations of nature. What most impresses people today is the wide range of Leonardo talent and achievements.
He turned his attention to many subjects and mastered nearly all. His inventiveness, versatility, and wide-ranging intellectual curiosity have made Leonardo a symbol of he Renaissance spirit. ” (Bin) Leonardo most important successes were the two techniques that he created which were suffuse and chiaroscuro. They are both painting techniques that deal with using shades of light and dark colors. Kauffman in “painting or drawing, the fine shading that produces soft, imperceptible transitions between colors and tones. (Britannica) Chiaroscuro is a “technique employed in the visual arts to represent light and shadow as they define three-dimensional objects. Some evidence exists that ancient Greek and Roman artists used chiaroscuro effects, UT in European painting the technique was first brought to its full potential by Leonardo Dad Vinci in the late 1 5th century in such paintings as his Adoration of the Magi (1481). “(Britannica) Other important successes that Dad Vinci made were in engineering advance defenses for Milan.
While he was working on the last supper he also made plans for mortars, battering rams, scaling ladders halberds and other defenses. Leonardo had many inventions and designs that were not recognized till his notebook was found and deciphered. Dad Vine’s notebooks with his diagrams of engineering have drawings of the machines and brief notes that explain them. Dad Vinci was thorough in his anatomical diagrams and dissections, dissecting dead bodies were outlawed in Florence so that is why Dad Vinci was only allowed to perform dissections on criminals.