LEONARDO DA VINCI

• SELF-PORTRAIT IN RED
CHALK,
• Leonardo di ser Piero
da Vinci was an Italian
painter, sculptor,
architect, designer,
theorist, engineer and
scientist.
• He was the founding
father of what is called
the High Renaissance
style and exercised an
enormous influence on
contemporary and later
artists.
• Among the qualities that make
Leonardo’s work unique are
• the innovative techniques that he
used in laying on the paint,
sufamato
• his detailed knowledge of
anatomy, light, botany and
geology,
• his interest in physiognomy and
the way in which humans register
emotion in expression and
gesture,
• his innovative use of the human
form in figurative composition and
his use of the subtle gradation of
tone.
• All these qualities come together
in his most famous painted works,
the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper
and the Virgin of the Rocks.[40]
• Handling of
space,
• Depiction of light
and shade,
chiaroscuro
• Representation of
landscape,
• Evocation of
character and
techniques
•
 Vitruvian Man
• Leonardo has often been
described as the
archetypeLeonardo has often
been described as the
archetype of the "Renaissance
man" Renaissance Man is a
term to describe a person who
excels, in a wide variety of
subjects or fields.[
• It is primarily as a painter that
Leonardo was and is
renowned. Two of his works,
the Mona Lisa and The Last
Supper occupy unique
positions as the most famous,
most reproduced and most
parodied portrait and religious
painting of all time
• Leonardo's drawing of the
Vitruvian Man is also iconic
Virgin of the Rocks,

• Virgin of the
Rocks, National
Gallery, London,
possibly
1505–1508,
demonstrates
Leonardo's
interest in nature.
• The Virgin of the
Rocks
(sometimes the
Madonna of the
Rocks) is the
usual title used for
both of two
different paintings
with almost
identical
compositions
• The fine brush work and
use of chiaroscuro, or
contrast between light and
dark, are considered
characteristic of many of
Leonardo's works.
• it is doubtful whether the
setting should be described
as natural.the strong
illumination is designed to
model thje figures and to
enhance the projection of
their parts. The poses are
drawn with masterful
foreshortening
• The Da Vinci Code refferd
to this piece,although art
historians are dismissive of
the "hidden meaning" there
ascribed to it.
 The Virgin and Child with St. Anne

• This is a very high

renaissance work
Madonna grew to
woman hood with her
ample proportions.
Thr figures gained
their youth and gained
monumentality
The Last Supper
Leonardo's most famous painting of the 1490s is The Last
Supper, also painted in Milan. The Last Supper specifically
portrays the reaction given by each apostle when Jesus
said one of them would betray him. All twelve apostles have
different reactions to the news, with various degrees of
anger and shock.
 Leonardo experimented with an oil-based medium,
because painting in true fresco makes areas of color
appear quite distinct. Unfortunately, his experiment was
unsuccessful; the paint did not adhere well to the wall and
now the mural is in a poor shape.
mona lisa

• Mona Lisa or “la

Gioconda”, the
laughing one. The
artist could not part
with it and possessed
it till the day he died.
No common portrait
could provoke so
much comment.
∙ The painting is
famous, in particular,
for the elusive smile
on the woman’s face,
its mysterious quality
brought about
perhaps by the fact
that the artist has
subtly shadowed the
corners of the mouth
and eyes so that the
exact nature of the
smile cannot be
determined
• The shadowy quality
for which the work is
renowned came to be
called “sfumato” or
Leonardo’s smoke. it
refers to the blending
of colours or tones so
subtly that there is no
perceptible transition.
• The blurred outlines,
graceful figure
• Chiroscuro, the
dramatic contrasts
of light and dark
Detail of the background (right side)

• subtle modeling of
forms and
atmospheric
illusionism
• the dramatic
landscape
background in which
the world seems to be
in a state of flux
• Detail of Lisa's
hands, her right
hand resting on
her left hand.
Leonardo chose
this gesture
rather than a
wedding ring to
depict Lisa as a
virtuous woman
and faithful wife.
 virgin and the child
• Drawings
• Leonardo was
not a prolific
painter, but he
was a most
prolific
draftsman,
keeping journals
full of small
sketches and
detailed
drawings.
 LEONARDO AS OBSERVER,
SCIENTIST AND INVENTOR
• In his journals there are
compositions for paintings,
studies of details and
drapery, studies of faces and
emotions, of animals,
babies, dissections, plant
studies, rock formations,
whirl pools, war machines,
helicopters and architecture.
• The Vitruvian Man a study of
the proportions of the human
body
• The notes on Vitruvian Man
image are in mirror writing.
• A page from Leonardo's
journal showing his study
of a foetus in the womb
Anatomical study of the arm,
A design for a flying machine,