Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci works. Leonardo da Vinci. Biography and interesting facts. Leonardo da Vinci - biography

Great Italian artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the small village of Anchiano LU, located near the town of Vinci FI. He was the illegitimate son of a wealthy notary, Piero da Vinci, and a beautiful village woman, Katarina. Soon after this event, the notary entered into a marriage with a girl of noble origin. They had no children, and Piero and his wife took their three-year-old child with them.

The brief time of childhood in the village is over. Notary Piero moved to Florence, where he apprenticed his son to (Andrea del Veroccio), a famous Tuscan master. There, in addition to painting and sculpture, the future artist had the opportunity to study the basics of mathematics and mechanics, anatomy, working with metals and plaster, and methods of tanning leather. The young man greedily absorbed knowledge and later used it widely in his activities.

An interesting creative biography of the maestro belongs to the pen of his contemporary Giorgio Vasari. In Vasari's book The Life of Leonardo there is a brief story about how Andrea del Verrocchio recruited a student to carry out the commission for the Baptism of Christ (Battesimo di Cristo).

The angel painted by Leonardo so clearly demonstrated his superiority over his teacher that the latter threw down his brush in frustration and never painted again.

The qualification of a master was awarded to him by the Guild of St. Luke. Leonardo da Vinci spent the next year of his life in Florence. His first mature painting is “The Adoration of the Magi” (Adorazione dei Magi), commissioned for the monastery of San Donato.

Milanese period (1482 - 1499)

Leonardo came to Milan as a peace envoy from Lorenzo di Medici to Lodovico Sforza, nicknamed Moro. Here his work received a new direction. He was enrolled in the court staff first as an engineer and only later as an artist.

The Duke of Milan, a cruel and narrow-minded man, had little interest in the creative component of Leonardo’s personality. The master was even less worried about the duke's indifference. Interests converged in one thing. Moreau needed engineering devices for military operations and mechanical structures for the entertainment of the court. Leonardo understood this like no one else. His mind did not sleep, the master was sure that human capabilities are limitless. His ideas were close to the humanists of the New Age, but in many ways incomprehensible to his contemporaries.

Two important works belong to the same period - (Il Cenacolo) for the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie (Chiesa e Convento Domenicano di Santa Maria delle Grazie) and the painting “The Lady with an Ermine” (Dama con l’ermellino).

The second is a portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, the favorite of the Duke of Sforza. The biography of this woman is unusual. One of the most beautiful and learned ladies of the Renaissance, she was simple and kind, and knew how to get along with people. An affair with the Duke saved one of her brothers from prison. She had the most tender relationship with Leonardo, but, according to contemporaries and the opinion of most researchers, their brief relationship remained platonic.

A more common (and also not confirmed) version is about the master’s intimate relationship with his students Francesco Melzi and Salai. The artist preferred to keep the details of his personal life a deep secret.

Moro commissioned the master to create an equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza. The necessary sketches were completed and a clay model of the future monument was made. Further work was prevented by the French invasion of Milan. The artist left for Florence. He will return here again, but to another master - the French king Louis XII.

Again in Florence (1499 - 1506)

His return to Florence was marked by his entry into the service of Duke Cesare Borgia and the creation of his most famous painting, Gioconda. The new work required frequent travel; the master traveled around Romagna, Tuscany and Umbria on various assignments. His main mission was reconnaissance and preparation of the area for military operations by Cesare, who planned to subjugate the Papal States. Cesare Borgia was considered the greatest villain of the Christian world, but Leonardo admired his tenacity and remarkable talent as a commander. He argued that the Duke's vices were balanced by "equally great virtues." The ambitious plans of the great adventurer did not come true. The master returned to Milan in 1506.

Later years (1506 - 1519)

The second Milanese period lasted until 1512. The Maestro studied the structure of the human eye, worked on the monument to Gian Giacomo Trivulzio and his own self-portrait. In 1512 the artist moved to Rome. Giovanni di Medici, the son of Giovanni di Medici, was elected pope and was ordained under the name of Leo X. The pope's brother, Duke Giuliano di Medici, highly appreciated the work of his compatriot. After his death, the master accepted the invitation of King Francis I (François I) and left for France in 1516.

Francis turned out to be the most generous and grateful patron. The maestro settled in the picturesque castle of Clos Lucé in Touraine, where he had every opportunity to do what was interesting to him. By royal commission, he designed a lion from whose chest a bouquet of lilies opened. The French period was the happiest of his life. The king assigned his engineer an annual annuity of 1000 ecus and donated land with vineyards, ensuring him a peaceful old age. The maestro's life was cut short in 1519. He bequeathed his notes, instruments and estates to his students.

Paintings

Inventions and works

Most of the master's inventions were not created during his lifetime, remaining only in notes and drawings. An airplane, a bicycle, a parachute, a tank... He was possessed by the dream of flight, the scientist believed that a person can and should fly. He studied the behavior of birds and sketched wings of different shapes. His design for a two-lens telescope is surprisingly accurate, and in his diaries there is a brief entry about the possibility of “seeing the Moon big.”

As a military engineer he was always in demand; the lightweight saddle bridges he invented and the wheel lock for a pistol were used everywhere. He dealt with the problems of urban planning and land reclamation, and in 1509 he built the St. Christopher, as well as the Martesana irrigation canal. The Duke of Moreau rejected his project for an “ideal city.” Several centuries later, the development of London was carried out according to this project. In Norway there is a bridge built according to his drawing. In France, already an old man, he designed a canal between the Loire and Saône.

Leonardo's diaries are written in easy, lively language and are interesting to read. His fables, parables and aphorisms speak of the versatility of his great mind.

The secret of genius

There were plenty of secrets in the life of the Renaissance titan. The main one opened relatively recently. But has it opened? In 1950, a list of Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion (Prieuré de Sion), a secret organization created in 1090 in Jerusalem, was published. According to the list, Leonardo da Vinci was the ninth of the Grand Masters of the Priory. His predecessor in this amazing post was Sandro Botticelli, and his successor was Constable Charles III de Bourbon. The main goal of the organization was to restore the Merovingian dynasty to the throne of France. The Priory considered the offspring of this family to be the descendants of Jesus Christ.

The very existence of such an organization raises doubts among most historians. But such doubts could have been sown by members of the Priory who wished to continue their activities in secret.

If we accept this version as the truth, the master’s habit of complete independence and the strange attraction to France for a Florentine become clear. Even Leonardo's writing style - left hand and right to left - can be interpreted as an imitation of Hebrew writing. This seems unlikely, but the scale of his personality allows us to make the most daring assumptions.

Stories about the Priory cause distrust among scientists, but enrich artistic creativity. The most striking example is Dan Brown's book “The Da Vinci Code” and the film of the same name.

• At the age of 24, together with three Florentine youths was accused of sodomy. The company was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
• Maestro was a vegetarian. People who consume animal food were called “walking cemeteries.”
• He shocked his contemporaries with his habit of carefully examining and sketching the hanged in detail. He considered studying the structure of the human body to be the most important activity.
• There is an opinion that the maestro developed tasteless and odorless poisons for Cesare Borgia and wiretapping devices made of glass tubes.
• Television mini-series "The Life of Leonardo da Vinci"(La vita di Leonardo da Vinci), directed by Renato Castellani, received a Golden Globe award.
• named after Leonardo da Vinci and is decorated with a huge statue depicting a master with a model of a helicopter in his hands.

↘️🇮🇹 USEFUL ARTICLES AND SITES 🇮🇹↙️ SHARE WITH YOUR FRIENDS

Leonardo da Vinci. 04/15/1452, Vinci – 05/02/1519, Clue

The unprecedented attention now paid by historians and fiction writers to the personality of Leonardo da Vinci is evidence of a turning point in relation to the culture of the Renaissance, a revaluation of the spiritual content of the “greatest progressive revolution” that underlies modern European civilization. In Leonardo they see a kind of quintessence of the emerging era, emphasizing and highlighting in his work either the connection with the worldview of the previous time, or the radical demarcation from it. Mysticism and rationalism coexist in the assessment of his personality in an incomprehensible balance, and even the huge written heritage of the master, which has come down to our time, is not able to shake him. Leonardo da Vinci is among the greatest scientists, although very few of his projects were realized. He is also one of the greatest artists, despite the fact that he created very few paintings (and not all of them have survived) and even fewer sculptures (not at all preserved). What makes Leonardo great is not the number of ideas he implemented, but the change in the method of both scientific and artistic activity. Figuratively speaking, he sought to “understand the organism of each object separately and the organism of the entire universe” (A. Benoit).

Leonardo da Vinci. Self-portrait, ca. 1510-1515

Leonardo's childhood and adolescence are very little documented. His father, Piero da Vinci, was a hereditary notary; Already in the year of his son’s birth, he practiced in Florence and soon took a prominent position there. All that is known about the mother is that her name was Caterina, she came from a peasant family and, soon after the birth of Leonardo, she was married to a wealthy farmer, a certain Accatabridge di Piero del Vaccia. Leonardo was taken into his father's house and raised by his childless stepmother Albiera Amadori. What and how he was taught, what his first experiences in drawing were, is unknown. What is indisputable is that the formation of the boy’s personality was greatly, if not decisively, influenced by his uncle Francesco, with whom Leonardo da Vinci maintained the warmest relationship throughout his life. Since Leonardo was an illegitimate son, he could not inherit his father's profession. Vasari reports that Pierrot was friends with Andrea Verrocchio and one day showed him his son’s drawings, after which Andrea took Leonardo to his workshop. Piero and his family moved to Florence in 1466, therefore, Leonardo da Vinci ended up in the workshop (bottega) of Verrocchio at the age of fourteen.

The largest works carried out by Verrocchio during the period of Leonardo’s studies with him were the statue “David” (Florence, Bargello), commissioned by the family Medici(it is believed that the young Leonardo da Vinci posed for her), and the completion of the dome of the Florence Cathedral with a golden ball with a cross (the city’s order was received on September 10, 1468 and completed in May 1472). In Andrea's workshop, the best in Florence, Leonardo da Vinci had the opportunity to study all types of fine arts, architecture, the theory of perspective, and partly familiarize himself with the natural and human sciences. His development as a painter was apparently influenced not so much by Verrocchio himself as by Botticelli and Botticelli, who studied with him in the same years. Perugino.

In 1469 Piero da Vinci received the position of notary of the Florentine Republic, and then of a number of the largest monasteries and families. By this time he was widowed. Having finally moved to Florence, Piero remarried and took Leonardo into his home. Leonardo continued his studies with Verrocchio and also studied science on his own. Already during these years he met Paolo Toscanelli (mathematician, doctor, astronomer and geographer) and Leon Battista Alberti. In 1472 he joined the guild of painters and, as evidenced by the entry in the guild book, paid a fee for the organization of the feast of St. Luke. That same year he returned to Andrea's workshop, since his father was widowed for the second time and married for the third time. In 1480 Leonardo da Vinci had his own workshop. The first painting by Leonardo, known today, is the image of an angel in the painting “The Baptism of Christ” (Florence, Uffizi). Until recently, the painting was considered (based on a report Vasari) by Verrocchio, who supposedly, having seen how much his student surpassed him in skill, abandoned painting.

Baptism of Christ. A painting by Verrocchio, painted by him and his students. The right one of the two angels is the work of Leonardo da Vinci. 1472-1475

However, an analysis carried out by Uffizi staff showed that the work was carried out collectively by three or even four artists in accordance with the traditions of medieval workshops. Obviously, Botticelli played the main role among them. The origin of the figure of the left angel by Leonardo is beyond doubt. He also painted part of the landscape - behind the angel at the edge of the composition.

The lack of documentary evidence, signatures and dates on the paintings makes their attribution very difficult. Two “Annunciations” date back to the early 1470s, which, judging by their horizontal format, are altar predella. Those of them that are kept in the Uffizi collection are included in a number of the few early works of Leonardo da Vinci. His dry execution and the types of faces of Mary and the angel are reminiscent of the works of Lorenzo di Credi, Leonardo's comrade in Verrocchio's workshop.

Painting by Leonardo da Vinci "The Annunciation", 1472-1475. Uffizi Gallery

The Annunciation from the Louvre, rendered in a more generalized manner, is currently attributed to the works of Lorenzo.

Leonardo da Vinci. Annunciation, 1478-1482. Louvre Museum

The first dated work by Leonardo da Vinci is a pen drawing representing a landscape with a river valley and rocks, possibly a view along the road from Vinci to Pistoia (Florence, Uffizi). In the upper left corner of the sheet there is an inscription: “On the day of St. Mary of the Snows, August 5, 1473.” This inscription - the first known example of Leonardo da Vinci's handwriting - was made with the left hand, from right to left, as if in a mirror image.

Leonardo da Vinci. Landscape with a river valley and rocks, executed on the day of St. Mary of the Snows, August 5, 1473

Numerous drawings of a technical nature also date back to the 1470s - images of military vehicles, hydraulic structures, spinning machines and for finishing cloth. Perhaps it was Leonardo da Vinci’s technical projects that he carried out for Lorenzo de’ Medici, to whom, as stated in the master’s biography (written by an unknown author, apparently shortly after Leonardo’s death), he was close for some time.

Leonardo da Vinci received his first large order for a painting thanks to his father’s petition. December 24, 1477 Piero Pollaiolo was commissioned to paint a new altarpiece (instead of the work by Bernardo Daddi) for the Chapel of St. Bernard in the Palazzo Vecchio. But a week later, a decree of the Signoria appeared (dated January 1, 1478), according to which the work was transferred “in cancellation of any other order made up to now in any way, in any way and to anyone, Leonardo , son of Ser [notary] Piero da Vinci, painter.” Apparently, Leonardo needed money, and already on March 16, 1478 he turned to the Florentine government with a request for an advance. He was paid 25 gold florins. The work, however, moved so slowly that it was not completed by the time Leonardo da Vinci left for Milan (1482) and was transferred to another master the following year. The plot of this work is unknown. The second order that Leonardo Ser Piero provided was the execution of an altar image for the church of the monastery of San Donato a Scopeto. On March 18, 1481, he entered into an agreement with his son, precisely specifying the deadline for completing the work (in twenty-four, at most thirty months) and indicating that Leonardo would not receive an advance, and if he did not meet the deadline, then everything that would be done by him would be will become the property of the monastery. However, history repeated itself, and in July 1481 the artist turned to the monks with a request for an advance, received it, and then twice more (in August and September) took money as collateral for the future work. The large composition “Adoration of the Magi” (Florence, Uffizi) remained unfinished, but even in this form it is one of “those works on which the entire further development of European painting is based” (M. A. Gukovsky). Numerous drawings for it are kept in the collections of the Uffizi, Louvre and the British Museum. In 1496, the order for the altar was transferred to Filippino Lippi, and he painted a painting on the same subject (Florence, Uffizi).

Leonardo da Vinci. Adoration of the Magi, 1481-1482

“St. Jerome" (Rome, Pinacoteca Vatican), which is an underpainting in which the figure of the penitent saint is worked out with exceptional anatomical precision, and some minor details, for example the lion in the foreground, are only outlined.

A special place among the master’s early works is occupied by two completed works - “Portrait of Ginevra d’Amerigo Benci” (Washington, National Gallery) and “Madonna with a Flower” (St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum). The seriousness and peculiar hermeticism of Ginevra’s image, which speak of her complex spiritual life, mark the first manifestations of a psychological portrait in European art. The painting has not been completely preserved: its lower part with the image of hands has been cut off. Apparently, the position of the figure was reminiscent of the Mona Lisa.

Leonardo da Vinci. Portrait of Ginevra de Benci, 1474-1478

The dating of the “Madonna of the Flower, or Madonna of Benois” (1478-1480) is accepted on the basis of a note on one of the sheets from the Cabinet of Drawings in the Uffizi: “...bre 1478 inchomincial le due Vergini Marie.” The composition of this painting is recognizable in the drawing with pen and bistrome, stored in the British Museum (No. 1860. 6. 16. 100v.). Executed in a new oil painting technique for Italy, the painting is distinguished by the transparent lightness of the shadows and the richness of color shades with an overall restrained color scheme. The transmission of the air environment begins to play an extremely important role in creating a holistic impression, connecting characters with their surroundings. Melting chiaroscuro, sfumato, makes the boundaries of objects subtly unsteady, expressing the material unity of the visible world.

Leonardo da Vinci. Madonna with a Flower (Benois Madonna). OK. 1478

Another early work of Leonardo da Vinci is considered to be “Madonna of the Carnation” (Munich, Alte Pinakothek). Perhaps this work preceded the appearance of the Benois Madonna.

Vasari reports that in his youth Leonardo da Vinci made from clay “several heads of laughing women,” from which plaster casts were still made in his time, as well as several children’s heads. He also mentions how Leonardo depicted a monster on a wooden shield, “very disgusting and terrible, which poisoned with its breath and ignited the air.” The description of the process of its creation reveals the system of work of Leonardo da Vinci - a method in which the basis of creativity is the observation of nature, but not with the goal of copying it, but in order to create something new based on it. Leonardo did the same thing later, when painting “The Head of Medusa” (not preserved). Executed in oil on canvas, it remained unfinished in the middle of the 16th century. was in the collection of Duke Cosimo de' Medici.

In the so-called “Codex Atlantica” (Milan, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana), the largest collection of Leonardo da Vinci’s records on various fields of knowledge, on page 204 there is a draft letter from the artist to the ruler of Milan, Lodovico Sforza ( Lodovico Moro). Leonardo offers his services as a military engineer, hydraulic engineer, and sculptor. In the latter case, we are talking about the creation of a grandiose equestrian monument to Francesco Sforza, the father of Lodovico. Since Moro visited Florence in April 1478, there is an assumption that even then he met Leonardo da Vinci and negotiated about working on “The Horse.” In 1482, with the permission of Lorenzo Medici, the master left for Milan. A list of things that he took with him has been preserved - among them many drawings and two paintings are mentioned: “The Finished Madonna. The other is almost in profile.” Obviously, they meant “Madonna Litta” (St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum). It is believed that the master finished it already in Milan around 1490. An excellent preparatory drawing for it - an image of a woman's head - is kept in the collection of the Louvre (No. 2376). Active interest in this work on the part of researchers arose after its acquisition by the Imperial Hermitage (1865) from the collection of Duke Antonio Litta in Milan. The authorship of Leonardo da Vinci has been repeatedly denied, but now, after research and exhibition of the painting in Rome and Venice (2003-2004), it has become generally accepted.

Leonardo da Vinci. Madonna Litta. OK. 1491-91

There are several more portraits, executed with the elegance characteristic of Leonardo, but compositionally they are solved more simply and do not have the spiritual mobility that makes the image of Cecilia fascinating. These are the “Portrait of a Lady” in profile (Milan, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana), “Portrait of a Musician” (1485, ibid.) - perhaps Franchino Gaffurio, regent of the Milan Cathedral and composer - and the so-called “Bella Feroniera” (portrait of Lucrezia Crivelli?) from the collection of the Louvre.

Leonardo da Vinci. Portrait of a Musician, 1485-1490

On behalf of Lodovico Moro, Leonardo da Vinci performed for Emperor Maximilian the painting “The Nativity,” about which an anonymous biographer writes that it was “revered by connoisseurs as a masterpiece of one-of-a-kind and amazing art.” Her fate is unknown.

Leonardo da Vinci. Bella Ferroniera (Beautiful Ferroniera). OK. 1490

Leonardo's largest painting created in Milan was the famous "Last Supper", painted on the end wall of the refectory of the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Leonardo da Vinci began the actual execution of the composition in 1496. This was preceded by a long period of deliberation. The collections of Windsor and the Venetian Academy contain numerous drawings, sketches, sketches related to this work, among which the heads of the apostles especially stand out for their expressiveness. It is not known exactly when the master completed the work. It is generally believed that this happened in the winter of 1497, but a note sent by Moro to his secretary Marchesino Stange and referring to this year says: “Demand that Leonardo finish his work in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie.” Luca Pacioli reports that Leonardo completed the painting in 1498. As soon as the painting saw the light, a pilgrimage of painters began, who more or less successfully copied it. “There are paintings, frescoes, graphic, mosaic versions, as well as carpets that repeat the composition of Leonardo da Vinci” (T. K. Kustodieva). The earliest of them are kept in the collections of the Louvre (Marco d'Odzhono?) and the Hermitage (No. 2036).

Leonardo da Vinci. Last Supper, 1498

The composition of “The Last Supper” in its “airy volume” seems to be a continuation of the refectory hall. The master was able to achieve such an effect due to his excellent knowledge of perspective. The Gospel scene appears here “close to the viewer, humanly understandable and at the same time not losing either its high solemnity or its deep drama” (M. A. Gukovsky). The glory of the great work, however, could not protect “The Last Supper” either from the destruction of time or from the barbaric attitude of people. Due to the dampness of the walls, the paints began to fade during Leonardo da Vinci’s lifetime, and in 1560 Lomazzo reported in his “Treatise on Painting,” albeit somewhat exaggerating, that the painting was “completely destroyed.” In 1652, the monks enlarged the door of the refectory and destroyed the image of the feet of Christ and the apostles next to Him. Artists also contributed their share of destruction. So, in 1726, a certain Belotti, “who claimed to have the secret of bringing colors to life” (G. Sayle), rewrote the entire picture. In 1796, when Napoleon's troops entered Milan, a stable was built in the refectory, and the soldiers amused themselves by throwing fragments of bricks at the heads of the apostles. In the 19th century “The Last Supper” was reconstructed several more times, and during the Second World War, during the bombing of Milan by British aircraft, the side wall of the refectory collapsed. Restoration work, which began after the war and consisted of strengthening and partially clearing the paintings, was completed in 1954. More than twenty years later (1978), restorers began a grandiose effort to remove later layers, which was completed only in 1999. Several centuries later, you can again see the bright and clean paints of a genuine master's painting.

Obviously, immediately after arriving in Milan, Leonardo da Vinci turned to the design of the monument to Francesco Sforza. Numerous sketches indicate changes in the master’s plan, who initially wanted to present the horse rearing (in all equestrian monuments that existed at that time, the horse was shown calmly walking). Such a composition, given the huge size of the sculpture (about 6 m high; according to other sources - about 8 m), created almost insurmountable difficulties during casting. The solution to the problem was delayed, and Moro instructed the Florentine ambassador in Milan to order another sculptor from Florence, which he reported Lorenzo Medici in a letter dated July 22, 1489. Leonardo had to work closely on “The Horse.” However, in the summer of 1490, work on the monument was interrupted by the trip of Leonardo and Francesco di Giorgio Martini to Pavia to advise on the construction of the cathedral. In early September, preparations began for Lodovico’s wedding, and then the master carried out numerous assignments for the new ruler, Beatrice. At the beginning of 1493, Lodovico ordered Leonardo to speed up the work in order to show the statue during the next wedding celebrations: Emperor Maximilian was marrying Moreau's niece, Bianca Maria. The clay model of the statue - “The Great Colossus” - was completed on time, by November 1493. The master abandoned the original idea and showed the horse walking calmly. Only a few sketches give an idea of ​​this final version of the monument. It was technically impossible to cast the entire sculpture at once, so the master began experimental work. In addition, about eighty tons of bronze were required, which was collected only by 1497. All of it was used for cannons: Milan was expecting an invasion by the troops of the French king Louis XII. In 1498, when the political position of the duchy temporarily improved, Lodovico commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to paint the hall in the Castello Sforzesco - the Sala delle Acce, and on April 26, 1499 he signed a deed of gift for a vineyard in the vicinity of Milan. This was the last favor shown by the Duke to the artist. On August 10, 1499, French troops entered the territory of the Duchy of Milan, on August 31, Lodovico fled from the city, and on September 3, Milan surrendered. The Gascon marksmen of Louis XII destroyed a clay statue while competing in crossbow shooting. Apparently, even after this, the monument made a strong impression, since two years later, Duke of Ferrara Ercole I d'Este negotiated its acquisition. The further fate of the monument is unknown.

Leonardo da Vinci remained in the occupied city for some time, and then, together with Luca Pacioli, went to Mantua to the court of Isabella Gonzaga. For political reasons (Isabella was the sister of Beatrice, Moreau’s wife, who had died by that time - in 1497), the margravess did not want to provide patronage to the artist. However, she wanted Leonardo da Vinci to paint her portrait. Without stopping in Mantua, Leonardo and Pacioli went to Venice. In March 1500, the musical instrument maker Lorenzo Gusnasco da Pavia wrote to Isabella in a letter: “Here in Venice is Leonardo Vinci, who showed me an outline portrait of Your Lordship, which is as well executed according to nature as possible.” Obviously, we were talking about a drawing currently kept in the Louvre. The master never completed a picturesque portrait. In April 1500 Leonardo and Pacioli were already in Florence. During this short – just over two years – quiet period of Leonardo da Vinci’s life, he was mainly engaged in technical research (in particular, the design of an aircraft) and, at the request of the Florentine government, took part in an examination to identify the reasons for the subsidence of the Church of San Salvatore on the hill of San Miniato. According to Vasari, at that time Filippino Lippi received an order for an altarpiece for the Church of Santissima Annunziata. Leonardo “declared that he would be willing to do such work,” and Filippino kindly gave him the order. The idea for the painting “St. Anne” apparently came to Leonardo da Vinci while still in Milan. There are numerous drawings of this composition, as well as a magnificent cardboard (London, National Gallery), but it did not form the basis of the final decision. Exhibited by the master after Easter in 1501 for public viewing, the cardboard did not survive, but, judging by the documents that have survived to this day, it was its composition that was repeated by the master in the well-known painting from the Louvre. Thus, on April 3, 1501, the Vicar General of the Carmelites Pietro da Nuvolario, who was in correspondence with Isabella Gonzaga, informed her, describing in detail the composition of the cardboard, that, in his opinion, the image of St. Anna embodies the Church, which does not want “His sufferings to be turned away from Christ.” It is unclear when exactly the altar painting was completed. Perhaps the master finished it in Italy, where it was acquired by Francis I, as Paolo Giovio reports, without specifying when or from whom. In any case, the customers did not receive it and in 1503 they again turned to Filippino, but he did not satisfy their wishes.

At the end of July 1502 Leonardo da Vinci entered the service of Cesare Borgia, son Pope AlexanderVI, who by this time, trying to create his own possessions, had captured almost all of Central Italy. As chief military engineer, Leonardo traveled around Umbria, Tuscany, Romagna, drawing up plans for fortresses and consulting local engineers on improving the defense system, and created maps for military needs. However, already in March 1503 he was again in Florence.

By the beginning of the first decade of the 16th century. refers to the creation of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous work - the portrait of Mona Lisa - “La Gioconda” (Paris, Louvre), a painting that has no equal in the number of interpretations and controversies it provoked. The portrait of the wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo combines the amazing concreteness of reality with such spiritual ambiguity and generality of the universal that it outgrows the boundaries of the genre and ceases to be a portrait in the proper sense of the word. “This is not a mysterious woman, this is a mysterious being” (Leonardo. M. Batkin). The very first description of the painting given by Vasari is contradictory, who assures that Leonardo da Vinci worked on it for four years and did not finish, but immediately writes admiringly that the portrait “reproduces all the smallest details that the subtlety of painting can convey.”

Leonardo da Vinci. Mona Lisa (La Gioconda), c. 1503-1505

Another painting created by Leonardo da Vinci during these years, “Madonna with a Spindle,” is described in detail by Pietro da Nuvolario in a letter to Isabella Gonzaga dated April 4, 1503. The vicar reports that the artist painted it for the secretary of Louis XII. The fate of the painting is unknown. A good copy of the 16th century gives an idea of ​​it. (collection of the Duke of Buccleuch in Scotland).

During the same period, Leonardo returned to his anatomy studies, which he began in Milan in the building of the Grand Hospital. In Florence, doctors and university students, with special permission from the government, worked on the premises of Santa Croce. The treatise on anatomy that the master was going to compile was not carried out.

In the fall of 1503, through the permanent gonfalonier Pietro Soderini, Leonardo da Vinci received an order for a large painting - painting one of the walls of the new hall - the Council Hall, added in 1496 to the Palazzo della Signoria. On October 24, the artist was given the keys to the so-called Papal Hall of the Monastery of Santa Maria Novella, where he began work on the cardboard. By decree of the Signoria he received 53 gold florins in advance and permission to receive small sums “from time to time.” The completion date for the work was February 1505. The theme of the future work was the Battle of Anghiari (June 29, 1440) between the Florentines and Milanese. In August 1504, Michelangelo received an order for the second painting for the Council Hall - “The Battle of Cascina”. Both craftsmen completed the work on time, and the cardboards were displayed to the public in the Council Chamber. They made a tremendous impression; artists immediately began to copy them, but it was impossible to determine the winner in this unique competition. Both cardboards have not survived. The central part of Leonardo da Vinci's composition was the scene of the battle for the banner. Only about it can one currently get some idea thanks to a drawing by Raphael (Oxford, Christ Church Library), executed by him in 1505-1506, as well as from a copy of Rubens (Paris, Louvre). However, it is unknown where exactly Rubens, who lived in Italy in 1600-1608, made his copy from. An anonymous biographer of Leonardo da Vinci reports that after the death of the master, most of the cardboard “Battle of Anghiari” could be seen in the hospital of Santa Maria Novella, and “the group of horsemen remaining in the palazzo” also belonged to it. In 1558 Benvenuto Cellini in his “Biography” he writes that the cardboards hung in the Papal Hall and “while they were intact, they were a school for the whole world.” From this we can conclude that in the 1550s Leonardo's cardboard, at least as a whole, no longer existed.

Leonardo da Vinci. Battle of Anghiari, 1503-1505 (detail)

Contrary to custom, Leonardo completed the painting on the wall of the Council Chamber quickly. As the anonymous author reports, he worked on a new soil of his own invention and used the heat of a brazier to dry it as quickly as possible. However, the wall dried unevenly, its upper part did not hold the paint, and the painting turned out to be hopelessly damaged. Soderini demanded completion of the work or return of the money. The situation was temporarily resolved by leaving for Milan, at the invitation of his viceroy, Charles d'Amboise, Marquis de Chaumont. The artist entered into an agreement with the Signoria, according to which he undertook to return in three months, and in case of violation of the obligation, to pay a penalty of 150 gold florins. June 1 1506 Leonardo da Vinci went to Milan. In a letter dated August 18, Charles d'Amboise asks the Florentine government to keep the artist at his disposal for some time. In the response letter (dated August 28), consent was given, but with the condition of repaying the debt. Since the money was not sent, Soderini again appealed to the governor on October 9, demanding compliance with the agreement. Finally, on January 12, 1507, the Florentine ambassador to the French court informed the members of the Signoria that Louis XII wanted to leave Leonardo in Milan until his arrival. Two days later, the king personally signed a letter with the same content. In April 1507, Leonardo received his vineyard back and at the beginning of May he was able to pay 150 florins. The king arrived in Milan on May 24: Leonardo da Vinci took an active part in organizing processions and performances for this occasion. Thanks to the intervention of Louis, on August 24, the long-term process over the “Madonna of the Rocks” ended. The painting remained at the master’s disposal, but he, together with Ambrogio de Predis (Evangelista had died by this time), had to paint another one on the same subject within two years (London, National Gallery).

From September 1507 to September 1508 Leonardo da Vinci was in Florence: it was necessary to conduct litigation over an inheritance. The elderly Ser Piero, Leonardo's father, died back in 1504 at the age of ninety, leaving ten sons and two daughters.

Saint Anne with the Madonna and Child Christ. Painting by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1510

In Milan, Leonardo da Vinci completed “Saint Anne” and painted several more paintings, the most famous of which is “John the Baptist” (Paris, Louvre). Currently, the “Bacchus” stored there is also recognized as the work of Leonardo.

Leonardo da Vinci. John the Baptist, 1513-1516

Leda was also in the French royal collection. The last time this painting was mentioned in the inventory of Fontainebleau was in 1694. According to legend, it was destroyed at the request of Madame de Maintenon, the last favorite of Louis XIV. An idea of ​​its composition is given by several drawings by the master and several repetitions that differ in detail (the best is attributed to Cesare da Sesto and is kept in the Uffizi).

In addition to paintings, Leonardo da Vinci was engaged in Milan in designing a monument to Marshal Trivulzio, who was in French service. A small bronze model in the collection of the Budapest Museum is believed to be associated with this project. If this is so, then Leonardo da Vinci again returned to the idea of ​​​​a dynamic composition with a galloping horse.

In 1511 troops Pope JuliaII in alliance with the Venetian Republic and Spain, they expelled the French. During 1511-1512 Leonardo lived for a long time with his friend, the nobleman Girolamo Melzi, on his estate in Vaprio. Girolamo's son, Francesco, became a student and passionate admirer of the aging master. In 1513, Leo X de' Medici was elected to the papal throne, with whose brother, Giuliano, who was interested in alchemy, Leonardo da Vinci was friendly. On September 14, 1513 Leonardo left for Rome. Giuliano assigned him a salary and allocated premises for work. In Rome, the master drew up projects for the refurbishment of the papal mint and the drainage of the Pontic swamps. Vasari noted that for the papal datarius (chief of the chancellery) Baldassare Turini of Pescia, Leonardo da Vinci completed two paintings - “Madonna” and an image of “a child of amazing beauty and grace” (not traced).

On December 31, 1514, Louis XII died, and Francis I, who succeeded him, recaptured Milan in September 1515. It is believed that Leonardo met with the king in Bologna, where the pope negotiated with him. But, perhaps, the artist saw him earlier - in Pavia, at the celebrations in honor of his entry into the city, and then he made the famous mechanical lion, from whose opening chest lilies poured out. In this case, in Bologna, Leonardo da Vinci was in the retinue of Francis, and not Leo X. Having received an offer to go to the king’s service, the master left for France in the fall of 1516 with Francesco Melzi. The last years of Leonardo da Vinci's life were spent in the small castle of Cloux, not far from Amboise. He was given a pension of 700 ecus. In the spring of 1517, in Amboise, where the king loved to be, they celebrated the baptism of the Dauphin, and then the wedding of the Duke of Urbino Lorenzo de' Medici and the daughter of the Duke of Bourbon. The celebrations were designed by Leonardo. In addition, he was involved in the design of canals and locks to improve the area, and created architectural projects, in particular a project for the reconstruction of the Romorantin castle. Perhaps the ideas of Leonardo da Vinci served as the basis for the construction of Chambord (begun in 1519). On October 18, 1516, Leonardo was visited by the secretary of Cardinal Louis of Aragon. According to him, due to the paralysis of his right hand, the artist “can no longer write with his usual tenderness... but he can still make drawings and teach others.” On April 23, 1519, the artist drew up a will, according to which manuscripts, drawings and paintings became the property of Melzi. The master died on May 2, 1519, according to legend - in the arms of the King of France. Melzi transported Leonardo da Vinci's manuscripts to Italy and kept them on his estate in Vaprio until the end of his days. The now widely known “Treatise on Painting,” which had a huge influence on European art, was compiled by Melzi based on the teacher’s notes. About seven thousand sheets of Leonardo da Vinci's manuscripts have survived. Their largest collections are in the collection of the Institute of France in Paris; in Milan - in the Ambrosian Library (Codex Atlanticus) and in the Castello Sforzesco (Codex Trivulzio); in Turin (Bird Flight Code); Windsor and Madrid. Their publication began in the 19th century. and still one of the best critical editions of Leonardo's manuscripts are two volumes of texts with commentaries published by Richter in 1883 (Richter J.P. The literary works of Leonardo da Vinci. London, 1883. Vol. 1-2). Supplemented and commented by K. Pedretti, they were published a second time in Los Angeles in 1977.

Literature:Leonardo da Vinci. A book about painting. M., 1934; Leonardo da Vinci. Selected works. L., 1935; Leonardo da Vinci. Anatomy. Ideas and drawings. M., 1965; Vasari 2001. T. 3; Seail G. Leonardo da Vinci as an artist and scientist. St. Petersburg, 1898; Volynsky A. Life of Leonardo da Vinci. St. Petersburg, 1900 (republished: St. Petersburg, 1997); Benoit A. N. History of painting of all times and peoples. St. Petersburg, 1912; Wrangel N."Benois Madonna" by Leonardo da Vinci. St. Petersburg, 1914; Lipgart E.K. Leonardo and his school. L., 1928; Dzhivelegov A.K. Leonardo da Vinci. M., 1935 (republished: M., 1969); Lazarev V. N. Leonardo da Vinci. L., 1936; Ainalov D. V. Sketches about Leonardo da Vinci. M., 1939; Gukovsky M. A. Mechanics of Leonardo da Vinci. M., 1947; Lazarev V. N. Leonardo da Vinci. M., 1952; Alpatov M. V. Leonardo da Vinci. M., 1952; Gabrichevsky A. G. Leonardo the Architect // Soviet Architecture. M., 1952. Issue. 3; Zhdanov D. A. Leonardo da Vinci - anatomist. L., 1955; Gukovsky M. A. Leonardo da Vinci: Creative biography. M.; L., 1958; Gukovsky M. A. Madonna Litta: Painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Hermitage. L.; M., 1959; Guber A. Leonardo da Vinci. M., 1960; Zubov V. P. Leonardo da Vinci. 1452-1519. M., 1961; Gukovsky M. A. Columbine. L., 1963; Rutenburg V. I. Titans of the Renaissance. L., 1976; Vipper 1977. T. 2; Nardini B. Life of Leonardo da Vinci. M., 1978; Kustodieva T.K."Benois Madonna" by Leonardo da Vinci. L., 1979; Rzepinska M. What do we know about the “Lady with an Ermine” from the Czartoryski Museum. Krakow, 1980; Gastev A. A. Leonardo da Vinci. M., 1982; Codex Leonardo from the private collection of Armand Hammer: Ext. L., 1984; Pedretti K. Leonardo. M., 1986; Smirnova I. A. Monumental painting of the Italian Renaissance. M., 1987; Batkin L. M. Leonardo da Vinci and the features of Renaissance creative thinking. M., 1990; Santi B. Leonardo da Vinci. M., 1995; Wallace R. World of Leonardo, 1452-1519. M., 1997; Kustodieva 1998; Chunky M. Leonardo da Vinci. M., 1998; Sonina T.V.“Madonna Benois” by Leonardo da Vinci // Italian collection. St. Petersburg, 1999. Issue. 3; Sonina T.V.“Madonna of the Rocks” by Leonardo da Vinci: Semantics of the image // Decree. op. St. Petersburg, 2003. Issue. 7; Leonardo da Vinci and the culture of the Renaissance: Sat. Art. M., 2004; Herzfeld M. About one sheet of Leonardo's sketches. Contribution to the characterization of the master’s image // Italian collection. St. Petersburg, 2006. Issue. 9; Clark K. Leonardo da Vinci: Creative biography. St. Petersburg, 2009.

Richter J.P. (ed.) The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci: In 2 vols. London, 1883 (rev.: 1970); Beltrami L.(ed.) Il codice di Leonardo da Vinci della Biblioteca del Principe Trivulzio in Milano. Milano, 1891; Sabachnikoff T., Piumati G., Ravaisson-Mollien C. (eds.) I manoscritti di Leonardo da Vinci: Codice sul volo degli uccelli e varie altre materie. Paris, 1893; Piumati G. (ed.) Il Codice Atlantico di Leonardo da Vinci nella Biblioteca Ambrosiana di Milano: 35 voi. Milano, 1894-1904; Fonahn D.C.L., Hopstock H. (eds.) Quaderni d'anatomia: 6 voi. Kristiania, 1911-1916; II Codice Forster I, etc. // Reale Commissione Vinciana: 5 voi. Roma, 1930-1936; I manoscritti e i disegni di Leonardo da Vinci: II Codice A. / / Reale Commissione Vinciana. Rome, 1938; MacCurdy E. (ed.) The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci: 2 vols. London, 1938; I manoscritti e i disegni di Leonardo da Vinci: II Codice B. // Reale Commissione Vinciana. Rome, 1941; Brizio A. M. (ed.) Scritti scelti di Leonardo da Vinci. Torino, 1952; Courbeau A., De Toni N.(ed.) The Manuscripts in the Bibliotheque de l'Institut de France, Paris. Firenze, 1972; Reti L. (ed.) The Madrid Codices: 5 vols. New York, 1974.

Pacioli L. De divina proportione. Venezia, 1509; Alberimi E Memoriale di molte statue e picture che sono nella inclyta cipta di Florentia. Firenze, 1510; Giovio P. Elogia virorum illustrum (MS.; e. 1527) // Gli elogi degli uomini illustri / Ed. R. Meregazzi. Rome, 1972; II Codice Magliabechiano (MS.; e. 1540) / Ed. C. Frey. Berlin, 1892. Amoretti C. Memorie storiche su la vita, gli studi e le opere di Leonardo da Vinci. Milano, 1804; Pater W. Leonardo da Vinci (1869) // Studies in this History of this Renaissance. London, 1873; HerzfeldM. Leonardo da Vinci. Der Denker, Forscher und Poet. Jena, 1906; Solmi E. Le fonti dei manoscritti di Leonardo da Vinci. Torino, 1908; Malaguzzi Valeri E La corte di Ludovico il Moro. Milano, 1915. Voi. II: Bramante e Leonardo; Beltrami L. Documenti e memorie riguardanti la vita e le opere di Leonardo da Vinci. Milano, 1919; Calvi G. I manoscritti di Leonardo da Vinci del punto di visto cronologico, storico e biografico. Bologna, 1925; Heydenreich L. Leonardo da Vinci: 2 vols. Basel, 1954; Pomilio M., Della Chiesa A. O. L "Opera pittorica completa di Leonardo. Milano, 1967; Gould C. Leonardo: The Artist and Non-artist. London, 1975; Wasserman J. Leonardo da Vinci. New York, 1975; Chastel A. The Genius of Leonardo da Vinci: Leonardo da Vinci and their Art of the Artist. New York, 1981; Kemp M. Leonardo da Vinci: The Marvelous Works of Nature and Man. London, 1981; MaraniP. Leonardo: Cat. compi. Firenze, 1989; Turner A.R. Inventing Leonardo. New York, 1993; Lo sguardo degli angeli: Verrocchio, Leonardo e il Battesimo di Cristo / A cura di A. Natali. Firenze, 1998; Kustodieva T, PaolucciA., Pedretti C., Strinati C. Leonardo. La Madonna Litta dall "Ermitage di San Pietroburgo. Roma, 2003; Kemp M. Leonardo da Vinci. Experience, Experiment and Design. London, 2006.

Name: Leonardo da Vinci

Place of Birth: near Vinci, Florentine Republic

A place of death: Castle of Clos-Lucé, near Amboise, Duchy of Touraine, Republic of Florence

Age: 67 years old

Leonardo da Vinci - biography

Leonardo da Vinci was called a “universal man,” that is, a person whose activities and achievements were not limited to a single sphere. He was an artist, musician, writer, the most prominent representative of the art of the Renaissance. But the private, personal life of a genius is covered in secrets and mysteries. Perhaps this is due to a lack of information, or maybe it’s all about the mysterious figure of the Italian master.

Leonardo da Vinci - childhood

Leonardo da Vinci, whose biography is of great interest to fans of this greatest artist, was born on April 15, 1452, not far from the city, whose name today is associated primarily with the names of great painters.

The future artist was born near Florence, in the middle of the 15th century. His father was a notary, and his mother was a peasant. Such a misalliance could not exist, and soon Leonardo’s father found himself a more suitable wife - a girl from a noble family. Until the age of three, the child lived with his mother, and after that his father took him into his family. All subsequent years, the painter tried to recreate the image of his mother on canvas.

For some time, his father fiercely sought to instill in Leonardo a love for the family business. But his efforts were fruitless: his son was not interested in the laws of society.

At the age of fourteen, Leonardo went to Florence and became an apprentice to the sculptor and painter Andrea del Verrocchio. In those days, Florence was the intellectual center of Italy, which allowed the young man to combine work with study. He learned the basics of drawing and chemistry. But most of all he was interested in drawing, sculpture and modeling.

The main feature of the masterpieces of the Renaissance is a return to the ideals of Antiquity. During this era, the ancient Greek canons received new life. Students and seasoned masters discussed and argued about revolutionary events in culture and art. Leonardo did not take part in these disputes. He worked more and more, spending days in the workshop.

It would be unfair to miss one of the important facts in the biography of Leonardo da Vinci. One day his teacher received an order. The painting “The Baptism of Christ” was to be painted. According to the traditions of that time, he entrusted two fragments to his young student. Leonardo was commissioned to depict the angels.

When the painting was ready, Verrocchio looked at the canvas and threw down his brush in anger. Some fragments clearly indicated that the student had significantly outgrown the teacher in his skill. From then until the last hour of his life, Andrea del Verrocchio did not return to painting.

In the 15th century, there was an association of artists in Italy called the Guild of St. Luke. Membership in this guild allowed local artists to open their own workshops and sell their works on the official market. In addition, all members of the association were provided with financial and social support. As a rule, these were experienced and mature artists, sculptors and printers. Leonardo da Vinci joined the guild at the age of twenty.

Leonardo da Vinci - personal life

Little is known about the personal life of the titanic figure of the Renaissance. There are sources that talk about accusations of sodomy, that is, deviant sexual behavior. The accusation was based on an anonymous denunciation. But in those days in Florence, denunciation and slander flourished with violent force. The artist was arrested, kept in prison and released two months later due to lack of testimony.

In Florence, during the time of da Vinci, there was an organization called the “Officers of the Night.” The servants of this organization zealously monitored the moral character of the townspeople and actively fought against sodomists. For some time the painter was under the supervision of these fighters for morality. But this is according to one version.

And according to another, da Vinci was not accused of anything like that at all, and he was present at the trial solely as a witness. There is a third version, whose adherents claim that the sexual preferences of the great master were far from the generally accepted norm; the power and influence of his father allowed him to avoid imprisonment.

But be that as it may, there is no information in the biography about the painter’s relationships with women. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, he lived with young people for a long time. Sigmund Freud also did not stand aside from the debate about the sex life of the genius and conducted his own investigation. The famous psychotherapist was sure of Da Vinci's homosexuality.

For almost thirty years, Gian Giacomo Caprotti, better known today as Salai, lived in the maestro’s workshop. When Leonardo da Vinci was already a fully accomplished master, a boy of angelic beauty appeared in his house. His image is present in many masterpieces. But he was not just a model. Officially, he is considered a student. Salai's paintings were not widely known.

But according to the entries in da Vinci’s diary, the aspiring artist was not distinguished by honesty and, at times, behaved like the last scoundrel. What made the great painter keep this man next to him is not known. But these were hardly paternal feelings or admiration for the young talent. Da Vinci's student did not write anything great, and he was not an orphan. All that remains is guesswork.

More than one painter emerged from the studio of Leonardo da Vinci. The master devoted a lot of time, first of all, to training young people. According to his methodology, the aspiring artist had to first study the shapes of objects, learn to copy the works of the master, examine the creations of other experienced authors, and only then begin to create his own work.

What kind of relationship a genius had with his followers in his free time from teaching is not so important. The important thing is that the master’s lessons were not in vain, and they subsequently managed to create a new image of the male body, sensuality and love.

The end of the life of Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vicci died on May 2, 1519 at the age of 67 years. His body was interred in a place near Ambauze. All his drawings and tools were transferred to his favorite student Francesco Melzi. All the paintings were inherited by his other student, Salai.

LEONARDO DA VINCI(Leonardo da Vinci) (1452–1519) - the greatest figure, multifaceted genius of the Renaissance, founder of the High Renaissance. Known as an artist, scientist, engineer, inventor.

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the town of Anchiano near the city of Vinci, located near Florence. His father was Piero da Vinci, a notary who came from a prominent family in the city of Vinci. According to one version, the mother was a peasant woman, according to another, a tavern owner known as Katerina. At about the age of 4.5 years, Leonardo was taken into his father's house, and in documents of that time he is named as the illegitimate son of Piero. In 1469 he entered the workshop of the famous artist, sculptor and jeweler Andrea del Verrocchio (1435/36–1488). Here Leonardo went through his entire apprenticeship: from rubbing paints to working as an apprentice. According to the stories of contemporaries, he painted the left figure of the angel in Verrocchio's painting Baptism(c. 1476, Uffizi Gallery, Florence), which immediately attracted attention. The naturalness of movement, the smoothness of lines, the softness of chiaroscuro - distinguishes the figure of an angel from Verrocchio’s more rigid writing. Leonardo lived in the master's house even after he was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke, a guild of painters, in 1472.

One of the few dated drawings by Leonardo was created in August 1473. View of the Arno Valley from a height it was made with a pen with quick strokes, conveying vibrations of light and air, which suggests that the drawing was made from life (Uffizi Gallery, Florence).

The first painting attributed to Leonardo, although its authorship is disputed by many experts, is Annunciation(c. 1472, Uffizi Gallery, Florence). Unfortunately, the unknown author made later corrections, which significantly deteriorated the quality of the work.

Portrait of Ginevra de Benci(1473–1474, National Gallery, Washington) is permeated with a melancholy mood. Part of the picture at the bottom is cropped: probably, the hands of the model were depicted there. The contours of the figure are softened using the sfumato effect, created even before Leonardo, but it was he who became the genius of this technique. Sfumato (Italian sfumato - foggy, smoky) is a technique developed in the Renaissance in painting and graphics, which allows you to convey the softness of modeling, the elusiveness of object outlines, and the feeling of an airy environment.

Between 1476 and 1478 Leonardo opens his workshop. This period dates back to Madonna with a flower, so-called Madonna Benoit(c. 1478, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg). The smiling Madonna addresses the baby Jesus sitting on her lap; the movements of the figures are natural and flexible. This painting exhibits Leonardo's characteristic interest in showing the inner world.

An unfinished painting is also an early work. Adoration of the Magi(1481–1482, Uffizi Gallery, Florence). The central place is occupied by the group of Madonna and Child and the Magi placed in the foreground.

In 1482, Leonardo left for Milan, the richest city of that time, under the patronage of Ludovico Sforza (1452–1508), who maintained an army and spent huge amounts of money on magnificent festivities and the purchase of works of art. Introducing himself to his future patron, Leonardo talks about himself as a musician, military expert, inventor of weapons, war chariots, cars, and only then talks about himself as an artist. Leonardo lived in Milan until 1498, and this period of his life was the most fruitful.

The first commission Leonardo received was to create an equestrian statue in honor of Francesco Sforza (1401–1466), father of Lodovico Sforza. Working on it for 16 years, Leonardo created many drawings, as well as an eight-meter clay model. In an effort to surpass all existing equestrian statues, Leonardo wanted to make a grandiose sculpture, to show a horse rearing up. But when faced with technical difficulties, Leonardo changed his plan and decided to depict a walking horse. In November 1493 model Horse without a rider was put on public display, and it was this event that made Leonardo da Vinci famous. About 90 tons of bronze were required to cast the sculpture. The collection of metal that had begun was interrupted, and the equestrian statue was never cast. In 1499 Milan was captured by the French, who used the sculpture as a target. After some time it collapsed. Horse- a grandiose, but never completed project - one of the significant works of monumental sculpture of the 16th century. and, according to Vasari, “those who have seen the huge clay model ... claim that they have never seen a more beautiful and majestic work,” called the monument “a great colossus.”

At the Sforza court, Leonardo also worked as a decorative artist for many festivities, creating previously unseen decorations and mechanisms, and making costumes for allegorical figures.

Unfinished canvas Saint Jerome(1481, Vatican Museum, Rome) shows the saint in a moment of penance in an elaborate turn with a lion at his feet. The picture was painted in black and white colors. But after covering it with varnish in the 19th century. the colors turned olive and golden.

Madonna of the Rocks(1483–1484, Louvre, Paris) is a famous painting by Leonardo, painted in Milan. The image of the Madonna, baby Jesus, little John the Baptist and an angel in a landscape is a new motif in Italian painting of that time. Through the opening of the rock one can see a landscape to which sublimely ideal features are given, and in which the achievements of linear and aerial perspective are shown. Although the cave is dimly lit, the picture is not dark, faces and figures softly emerge from the shadows. The finest chiaroscuro (sfumato) creates the impression of dim diffused light, modeling faces and hands. Leonardo connects the figures not only by a common mood, but also by the unity of space.

Lady with an ermine(1484, Czartoryski Museum, Krakow) is one of Leonardo’s first works as a court portrait painter. The painting depicts Lodovic's favorite Cecilia Gallerani with the emblem of the Sforza family, an ermine. The complex turn of the head and the exquisite bend of the lady’s hand, the curved pose of the animal - everything speaks of the authorship of Leonardo. The background was rewritten by another artist.

Portrait of a musician(1484, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan). Only the young man's face is completed, the rest of the picture is not painted. The type of face is close to the faces of Leonardo's angels, only executed more courageously.

Another unique work was created by Leonardo in one of the halls of the Sforza Palace, which is called Donkey. On the vaults and walls of this hall he painted crowns of willows, whose branches are intricately intertwined and tied with decorative ropes. Subsequently, part of the paint layer fell off, but a significant part was preserved and restored.

In 1495 Leonardo began work on Last Supper(area 4.5 × 8.6 m). The fresco is located on the wall of the refectory of the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, at a height of 3 m from the floor and occupies the entire end wall of the room. Leonardo oriented the perspective of the fresco towards the viewer, thereby it organically entered into the interior of the refectory: the perspective reduction of the side walls depicted in the fresco continues the real space of the refectory. Thirteen people are sitting at a table parallel to the wall. In the center is Jesus Christ, to his left and right are his disciples. The dramatic moment of exposure and condemnation of betrayal is shown, the moment when Christ has just uttered the words: “One of you will betray Me,” and the different emotional reactions of the apostles to these words. The composition is built on a strictly verified mathematical calculation: in the center is Christ, depicted against the background of the middle, largest opening of the rear wall, the vanishing point of perspective coincides with his head. The twelve apostles are divided into four groups of three figures each. Each is given a vivid characterization through expressive gestures and movements. The main task was to show Judas, to separate him from the rest of the apostles. By placing him on the same line of the table as all the apostles, Leonardo psychologically separated him by loneliness. Creation last supper became a notable event in the artistic life of Italy at that time. As a true innovator and experimenter, Leonardo abandoned the fresco technique. He covered the wall with a special composition of resin and mastic, and painted with tempera. These experiments led to the greatest tragedy: the refectory, which was hastily repaired by order of Sforza, the picturesque innovations of Leonardo, the lowland in which the refectory was located - all this served a sad service to the preservation last supper. The paints began to peel off, as Vasari already mentioned in 1556. Secret supper It was restored several times in the 17th and 18th centuries, but the restorations were unskilled (paint layers were simply reapplied). By the mid-20th century, when last supper fell into a deplorable state, they began scientific restoration: first the entire paint layer was fixed, then later layers were removed, and Leonardo’s tempera painting was revealed. And although the work was severely damaged, these restoration works made it possible to say that this Renaissance masterpiece was saved. Working on the fresco for three years, Leonardo created the greatest creation of the Renaissance.

After the fall of Sforza's power in 1499, Leonardo travels to Florence, stopping at Mantua and Venice along the way. In Mantua he creates cardboard with Portrait of Isabella d'Este(1500, Louvre, Paris), made with black chalk, charcoal and pastel.

In the spring of 1500, Leonardo arrived in Florence, where he soon received an order to paint an altar painting in the Monastery of the Annunciation. The order was never completed, but one of the options is considered to be the so-called. Burlington House Cardboard(1499, National Gallery, London).

One of the significant commissions received by Leonardo in 1502 to decorate the wall of the meeting room of the Signoria in Florence was Battle of Anghiari(not preserved). Another wall for decoration was given to Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), who painted a painting there Battle of Kashin. Leonardo's sketches, now lost, showed a panorama of the battle, in the center of which a fight for the banner took place. Cartons by Leonardo and Michelangelo, exhibited in 1505, were a huge success. As is the case with Last Supper, Leonardo experimented with paints, as a result of which the paint layer gradually crumbled. But preparatory drawings and copies have survived, which partly give an idea of ​​the scale of this work. In particular, a drawing by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) has survived, showing the central scene of the composition (c. 1615, Louvre, Paris). For the first time in the history of battle painting, Leonardo showed the drama and fury of battle.

Mona Lisa- the most famous work of Leonardo da Vinci (1503–1506, Louvre, Paris). Mona Lisa (short for Madonna Lisa) was the third wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo dele Giocondo. Now the picture has been slightly changed: originally columns were drawn on the left and right, now cut off. The small-sized painting makes a monumental impression: the Mona Lisa is shown against the backdrop of a landscape where the depth of space and airy haze are conveyed with the greatest perfection. Leonardo’s famous sfumato technique is here brought to unprecedented heights: the thinnest, as if melting, haze of chiaroscuro, enveloping the figure, softens the contours and shadows. There is something elusive, bewitching and attractive in a light smile, in the liveliness of facial expression, in the majestic calm of the pose, in the stillness of the smooth lines of the hands.

In 1506 Leonardo received an invitation to Milan from Louis XII of France (1462-1515). Having given Leonardo complete freedom of action and regularly paying him, the new patrons did not require specific work from him. Leonardo is interested in scientific research, sometimes turning to painting. Then the second version was written Madonnas of the Rocks(1506–1508, British National Gallery, London).

St. Anne with Mary and the Christ Child(1500–1510, Louvre, Paris) is one of the themes of Leonardo’s work, to which he repeatedly addressed. The last development of this topic remained unfinished.

In 1513 Leonardo travels to Rome, to the Vatican, to the court of Pope Leo X (1513–1521), but soon loses the pope's favor. He studies plants in the botanical garden, draws up plans for draining the Pontine swamps, and writes notes for a treatise on the structure of the human voice. At this time he created the only Self-portrait(1514, Bibliotheca Reale, Turin), executed in sanguine, showing a gray-haired old man with a long beard and a gaze.

Leonardo's last painting was also painted in Rome - Saint John the Baptist(1515, Louvre, Paris). St. John is shown as pampered with a seductive smile and feminine gestures.

Leonardo again receives an offer from the French king, this time from Francis I (1494–1547), successor of Louis XII: to move to France, to an estate near the royal castle of Amboise. In 1516 or 1517 Leonardo arrives in France, where he is given apartments at the Cloux estate. Surrounded by the king's respectful admiration, he receives the title "First Artist, Engineer and Architect of the King." Leonardo, despite his age and illness, is engaged in drawing canals in the Loire River valley and takes part in the preparation of court festivities.

Leonardo da Vinci died on May 2, 1519, leaving his drawings and papers in his will to Francesco Melzi, a student who kept them throughout his life. But after his death, all the countless papers were distributed all over the world, some were lost, some are stored in different cities, in museums around the world.

A scientist by vocation, Leonardo even now amazes with the breadth and variety of his scientific interests. His research in the field of aircraft design is unique. He studied the flight, gliding of birds, the structure of their wings, and created the so-called. ornithopter, a flying machine with flapping wings, never realized. He created a pyramidal parachute, a model of a helical propeller (a variant of a modern propeller). Observing nature, he became an expert in the field of botany: he was the first to describe the laws of phyllotaxy (laws governing the arrangement of leaves on the stem), heliotropism and geotropism (laws of the influence of the sun and gravity on plants), and discovered a way to determine the age of trees by annual rings. He was an expert in the field of anatomy: he was the first to describe the valve of the right ventricle of the heart, demonstrated anatomy, etc. He created a system of drawings that now help students understand the structure of the human body: he showed the object in four views to examine it from all sides, created an image system organs and bodies in cross section. His research in the field of geology is interesting: he gave descriptions of sedimentary rocks and explanations of marine deposits in the mountains of Italy. As an optical scientist, he knew that visual images are projected upside down on the cornea of ​​the eye. He was probably the first to use a camera obscura (from Latin camera - room, obscurus - dark) - a closed box with a small hole in one of the walls - for sketching landscapes; rays of light are reflected on the frosted glass on the other side of the box and create an inverted color image, used by 18th century landscape painters. for accurate reproduction of views). In Leonardo's drawings there is a design for an instrument for measuring the intensity of light, a photometer, which was brought to life only three centuries later. He designed canals, locks, and dams. Among his ideas you can see: lightweight shoes for walking on water, a lifebuoy, webbed gloves for swimming, a device for underwater movement, similar to a modern spacesuit, machines for making rope, grinding machines and much more. Talking to mathematician Luca Pacioli, who wrote the textbook About Divine Proportion, Leonardo became interested in this science and created illustrations for this textbook.

Leonardo also acted as an architect, but none of his projects were ever brought to life. He participated in a competition to design the central dome of the Milan Cathedral, created a design for a mausoleum for members of the royal family in the Egyptian style, and a project he proposed to the Turkish Sultan for the construction of a huge bridge across the Bosphorus Strait, under which ships could pass.

There are a large number of Leonardo's drawings left, made with sanguine, colored crayons, pastels (Leonardo is credited with the invention of pastels), silver pencil, and chalk.

In Milan Leonardo begins to paint Treatise on Painting, work on which continued throughout his life, but was never completed. In this multi-volume reference book, Leonardo wrote about how to recreate the world around him on canvas, about linear and aerial perspective, proportions, anatomy, geometry, mechanics, optics, the interaction of colors, and reflexes.

The life and work of Leonardo da Vinci left a colossal mark not only in art, but also in science and technology. Painter, sculptor, architect - he was a natural scientist, mechanic, engineer, mathematician, and made many discoveries for subsequent generations. This was the greatest personality of the Renaissance.

Nina Bayor

Leonardo da Vinci is a scientist, engineer and thinker. But many people know him as an artist, the author of such paintings as “Mona Lisa”, “John the Baptist” and “The Last Supper”. Thirteen works by the artist have survived, eight more are attributed to him, several works have been lost. Of course, his contribution to art is significant: he was the first to blur the contours of a drawing and showed what diffused light and haze could be like. The art of the Italian Renaissance received an impetus for its development and a galaxy of brilliant artists, including Michelangelo and Raphael.

Leonardo lived a long life at court and had influential patrons. However, he called himself a scientist. Although throughout his life he was presented in different ways, even as a musician. After his death, he left paintings and manuscripts to two of his students.

He never had a family, and history has preserved only minor documents about his novels. And scandalous ones: with his students and sometimes with his models. In general, there have always been many secrets and rumors around his name. And even five hundred years later, humanity continues to unravel the secret signs that the seer hid not only in his paintings, but also in manuscripts dedicated to scientific and research works.

Firstborn

He was born out of great love and an illicit affair in 1452 near Florence. His father Pierrot was from a noble family, and his mother Katerina was a peasant. At that time, such a misalliance could not exist. Father soon found his match. The couple had no children, so at the age of three Leonardo’s father took him, deciding that he could give the child a good upbringing and education.

Ten years later, the stepmother died, and a year later, 14-year-old Leonardo left his father’s house to study science and work as an apprentice with Andrea del Verrocchio. He had a famous studio in Florence, where he carried out commissions for sculpture and rarely painting for the house of the ruling Medici clan.

Historians do not rule out that his student Leonardo posed for him for the bronze sculpture of David: curls, head held high and the look of a winner. Anatomy and modeling of the human body were interesting to Leonardo from then until the end of his life. Later, he would devote more than one of his works to this direction, creating the most famous drawing “The Vitruvian Man” to illustrate the book of the encyclopedist Vitruvius. Ideal proportions are what Leonardo was looking for, having been infected by the idea of ​​his brilliant teacher. His sculptures still form the “golden fund” of the Renaissance.

Students were released into independent life after six years. While he was studying, his father found a new stepmother for his first-born son. In total, Pierrot had four marriages and a dozen children, of whom only his illegitimate son became one of the greatest minds. Pierrot died at the age of 77, when his son had already crossed the half-century mark, and he had already created the Mona Lisa.

He knew nothing about the fate of his mother for forty long years, but many researchers of the life of Leonardo da Vinci are inclined to claim that he tried to embody her image more than once on his canvases. The fact that she was a beauty, abandoned by her loved one and given in marriage to an unloved one - there is information about this. There is also evidence that she tried to see her son, came and watched him walk for a long time. Leonardo learned that Katerina was his mother as an adult.

At the age of 20 he qualified as a master. By this time, he managed to work on the “Annunciation” with other students and fulfill the teacher’s instructions to paint an angel for the large-scale painting “The Baptism of Christ,” which became a stepping stone into great art. Such assistance was common practice. The talented student completed the order, but the teacher was shocked to such an extent that he recognized Leonardo’s superiority and threw the brush into the far corner for the rest of his days.

Universal man

Leonardo could write for hours without interrupting for food, rest or other matters. This is how his student, who would accompany him to the end, remembered the master. Francesco Melzi will also become his heir. They will meet when he is 15 and Leonardo is 26 years old. At this time, he opened his own workshop and soon received a large order from the monks. The painting “Adoration of the Magi” remained unfinished, but in it the author supposedly depicted himself. On the right, in the corner, with his head turned, stands a curly-haired young man. He does not look at the center, where Mary is sitting with the baby, and where the gazes of all the people depicted are directed, as if he is the only one who sees something in the distance. He began writing it in 1481, but soon left for Milan and never returned to it.

In the Vatican, another work this year is also unfinished: “Saint Jerome,” which suffered a sad fate. After the death of the painter, it was cut in half, and the lower part was used as a tabletop. One of the cardinals discovered it in a shop quite by accident 150 years later, and the Pope bought it for 2.5 million francs.

Leonardo was distracted from these works by another order: Lorenzo Medici himself, the head of the Florentine Republic, an art connoisseur and philanthropist, asked him to go to Milan, supposedly on a peacekeeping mission. At that time, the regions of Italy were in conflict, and the turbulent Venice was to blame.

Knowing Duke Louis Moreau's love for music, Leonardo gave him a lyre as a gift, the lower deck of which was decorated with a silver shield in the shape of a horse's head. He himself performed a cantata on it; it was Leonardo’s favorite instrument, which he played masterfully. The artistic addition was not only decoration, it also enhanced the sound. The cantata, performed by a Florentine, extolled the Duke and the Sforza dynasty, and most of all the regent Moro. It also marked the beginning of a friendship between the nobility and Leonardo. It is known that he painted portraits of both of the duke’s favorites: Cecilia is depicted in the painting “Lady with an Ermine” (this animal is on the Sforza coat of arms), and Lucrezia posed for him for the portrait of “The Beautiful Ferroniere”. By the way, the first portrait is kept in Poland - the only one of four female portraits painted by da Vinci.

At the same time, work began on the Duke’s order to create a monument to Sforza on horseback. The original clay version was damaged when the French captured Milan and the rulers had to abandon it. So this is how it came to the bronze version.

The Milan period was fruitful for the 30-year-old Leonardo. He was very handsome, witty, and interesting, so it is not surprising that historians attribute to him an affair with one of the Duke’s mistresses. Was it platonic or quite real - this is another secret of the great da Vinci, about whose personal life there is practically no documentary data preserved. Some considered him a homosexual, but many considered him a virgin.

On that first trip to Milan, Leonardo brought with him not only the lyre, but also a letter offering military services. He writes that he has several unique recipes against enemies. For example, he knows how to sink a ship and build spinguards - weapons for destroying walls. He liked his engineering talent and Moreau enlisted him in the staff of the ducal engineers. Leonardo zealously set to work: he began to strengthen and decorate the facade of the castle, design passages and a door that closes with a counterweight.

Drawings have been preserved, where Leonard's architectural and engineering thought speaks of his excellent knowledge of fortification and his advanced ideas in the field of defense.

In addition to these concerns, he was involved in the construction of the Milan Cathedral, around which there were confrontations between German and Italian masters. Sketches from that time show how persistently da Vinci worked to solve the problem of placing the domes. He even managed to receive a fee for the project, but another Florentine architect continued the centuries-long construction of the Gothic Duomo.

Nevertheless, among the drawings left by Leonardo, there are several dedicated to the architecture of churches and cathedrals, sketches of strengthening foundations and the stability of decorative elements. And at the request of the Duke, he began to write a “Treatise on Painting” in order to draw a line under their dispute - which is more important of all the arts.

But this work has become much broader, although like his other projects. In total, he wrote thirteen works about art. He treated it with a precise scientific approach: the same observations, research, experiments. He read and studied a lot in order to bring new things to the technique of painting.

He painted “Madonna in the Grotto” and “Portrait of a Musician” and began work on the fresco “The Last Supper.” This large-scale work will be with him for almost three years. He will finish it by the age of 46. In total, he will spend seventeen years at the court of the Duke of Milan, occasionally leaving him on business to other cities.

At the same time, he conducts engineering activities. Studies, drawings and drawings dedicated to aviation appear in his manuscripts. He invented a mechanism reminiscent of a helicopter and a prototype of the future modern parachute.

He had not been to Florence for a long time. He returned home following his fame. But here everything changed, Lorenzo Medici left, the new rulers were far from art, he did not receive large orders.

The only significant proposal from church representatives was the painting “St. Anne with the Madonna and Child,” on which he would work for 10 years. He also proposed to the authorities the project of the Florence-Pisa canal, but the rulers of these cities were constantly at odds, and Leonardo’s engineering talent was out of work.

But in Romagna, a region of Italy, where the new ruler, the young Duke Cesare Borgia, tried to unite small feudal lands into one state, his knowledge of science came in handy. He gladly responded to the Duke's invitation. The task is to connect the town of Cesena with a canal to the Adriatic port. However, life there was very hectic due to military conflicts and assassination attempts on the Duke. Leonardo abandoned the project and went to Constantinople to build the bridge.

He wrote to the Turkish authorities, offering his various services, and then received an invitation. The Turkish story also turned out to be short: he abandoned his calculations and went to Florence, where they nevertheless decided to build a canal. The hydraulic structure from Florence to Pisa is described in detail in the Codex Atlanticus. He competently approaches details and calculations, studies the structure of the earth and thinks about strengthening.

But he doesn’t give up painting either. This time he reflected the horrors of war in the canvas “The Battle of Anghiari”. The fresco has not survived.

The creation of his most mysterious work dates back to this period: the portrait of the Mona Lisa. It still remains unknown who this woman is and what her secret is. With this work he goes to Florence, and only after some time he paints the background of the picture. The artist never parted with it, and there are many versions of such care, which, in general, is not characteristic of Leonardo.

He spent the next seven years, from the summer of 1506, in Milan at the invitation of the French governor. The city is under his control, the once powerful Sforza clan was partially destroyed, someone survived by fleeing. During this period, his father dies, business calls for him to go to Florence, where several unpleasant months await him. The funeral is overshadowed by family squabbles due to the lack of a will. The division of property took place behind the scenes between half-brothers and sisters, who did not take Leonardo into account in this matter. The eldest son, and even an illegitimate one, was not part of their plans. Uncle Francesco soon died, leaving both a will and a share of the inheritance for his nephew. The brothers went to extreme measures, trying to forge the document. So there was no way around the trial. By the way, he won the case, and there was something to fight for: his father owned several plots of land, capital and real estate.

But he did not hold his grudge against his brothers for long: before his death, he left them his savings. He did not consider money to be something valuable, unlike paintings and manuscripts - this is absolute wealth, and the family did not get it.

In 1509, he began building a gateway that would protect Milan from floods. But it was not completed, citing lack of funding.

Many useful engineering works remained only on paper, as well as a dozen sculptures that were not embodied in marble and bronze. The last major sculpture project that Leonardo worked on at the age of 60 remained in the form of sketches: a statue of Marshal Trivulzio on a horse. This time circumstances interfered: Milan was captured by the French, who held power in the city for more than a year. The return of the Sforzes did not bode well for da Vinci; he fell into disgrace as a man who was in the service of the French. Therefore, he was glad to be invited to Rome, where a new pope from the Medici family, who always favored the genius, came to power. But even there they put a spoke in his wheels. Leonardo left a record of how he was prevented from conducting anatomical research, which he had been passionate about for the last few years. There was a stream of denunciations directed at him that he was working with corpses; they saw this as an unhealthy interest. Meanwhile, he left behind research, having studied in detail the structure of all the muscles of the human body, which was in demand not only by sculptors, but also by doctors.

The Louvre also houses the master’s last artistic work, “John the Baptist,” which he painted in Rome. He hoped to get the job to paint the Sistine Chapel, but it was given to younger colleagues. Michelangelo, Raphael and many other talented artists were already breathing at the back of the elderly creator.

Last refuge

When the king of France offered tempting conditions for activity and life, Leonardo immediately agreed. At 63, my health was failing, and no one was waiting for me at home. With his student, with whom he had not parted for almost 30 years, he set off on his last journey.

They received him with honors and gave him the title of “first painter and architect” under the king. They provided mansions in the castle, an income of seven hundred gold crowns a year. From the bedroom window he saw the patron's amazing castle and made a drawing. Tourists can see it among some things, the environment in which the creator died.

His hand was not moving well, and for the last year he practically did not get out of bed. He died at the age of 68 in a calm atmosphere, in the care and attention of his disciples.

His heir, Francesco Melzi, kept paintings and a mountain of manuscripts on a variety of topics all his life, of which only a third has survived.