Famous artists of the last

centuries
Contents
Introduction
1. Life and creative work of
Salvador Dali
2. Leonardo da Vinci-the most
famous Italian artist of the XV
century
 Personal life
 Professional life
 Selected works and
masterpieces
3. Sir William Orchardson, the
representative of Victorian Art
in Britain
Summary
Bibliography
 Introduction
The topic which I have chosen for
the investigation is very actual even
nowadays. It is no wonder that people
want to know everything about the culture
in the past. There is a proverb “If you do
not know your past, you cannot know
your future”.
Life and creative work of Salvador
Dali
Salvador Dali was born in
Spain in 1904.
 Best masterpieces of Salvador Dali
He began to draw and paint at an early age.
But while he was growing his
talent was growing too.
Leonardo da Vinci-the most famous
Italian artist of the XV century
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (April 15,
1452 – May 2, 1519) was an Italian
polymath: architect, anatomist, sculptor,
engineer, inventor, mathematician,
musician, scientist, and painter.
 He has been
described as the
archetype of the
"Renaissance man", a
man infinitely curious and
equally inventive. He is
widely considered to be
one of the greatest
painters of all time, and
perhaps the most
intelligent and capable
man to ever have lived.
 "... among those models there was
one, with which he repeatedly showed to
some capable citizens, who at that time
held government posts in Florence, how
he would raise the S.Giovanni baptistry
and insert steps underneath without
ruining it, and he persuaded them with
such strong arguments that it appeared
feasible, although after he left everyone
recognised by himself the impossibility of
such an endeavour."
From Giorgio Vasari's "Life of
Leonardo da Vinci"
Personal life
Leonardo's
alleged love of boys
was a topic of
discussion even in the
sixteenth century.
A lot of his
works were dedicated
to young handsome
boys.
 Professional life
Renaissance humanism saw no
mutually exclusive polarities between the
sciences and the arts, and Leonardo's
approach to science was an observational
one: he tried to understand a
phenomenon by describing and depicting
it in utmost detail, and did not emphasize
experiments or theoretical explanation.
 His study of
human anatomy also
led to the design of
the first known robot
in recorded history.
The design, which has
come to be called
Leonardo's robot, was
probably made around
the year 1495 but was
rediscovered only in
the 1950s.
 In 1502, Leonardo da Vinci produced a
drawing of a single span 720-foot (240 m) bridge
as part of a civil engineering project for Ottoman
Sultan Beyazid II of Istanbul. The bridge was
intended to span an inlet at the mouth of the
Bosphorus known as the Golden Horn.
 Leonardo died at
Clos Lucé, France, on 2nd
May, 1519 (Romantic
legend said that he died in
François' arms). According
to his wish, 60 beggars
followed his casket. He was
buried in the Chapel of
Saint-Hubert in the castle of
Amboise. Although Melzi
was his principal heir and
executor, Salai was not
forgotten; he received half
of Leonardo's vineyards.
Selected works and masterpieces

Artist’s best
works are:The
Madonna of the
Rocks, Last Supper,
St. John the Baptist,
The Madonna of the
Rocks or The Virgin of
the Rocks, Mona Lisa
or La Gioconda and
others.
 Sir William Orchardson, the
representative of Victorian Art in
Britain
William Orchardson was born in
Edinburgh in 1835, and commenced his
artistic training at the Trustees Academy in
1850. Amongst his fellow students was
Thomas Faed (1826-1900), later a fellow
Academician. From around this time he also
exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy.
 As Orchardson’s career developed he
created a speciality of portraying upper class
drawing room psychological dramas, an example
of which is his famous painting “A Marriage of
Convenience.”
His painting “Master Baby,” of 1886 is a
charming picture of his wife Ellen and infant son
Gordon and, of course very much to Victorian
taste.
His painting “Napoleon on board the
Bellerophon,” showing the brooding Emperor’s
voyage to exile on St Helena is a justly famous
example of the painters historical works.
 In 1907 Orchardson was knighted.
Sir William Orchardson died on the 13th
April 1910, and worked to the last. Shortly
before his death, he left his sick bed to
complete his portrait of Lord Blyth, which was
exhibited at the RA that year.
Charles Orchardson, son of Sir William
was a well-known painter of portraits and
landscapes, who died of wounds received in
the First World War in 1917.
 Nowadays there is a growing interest in
art especially paintings created by the famous
artists of the last centuries. In our essay project
we have investigated different currents in art,
characterized political and social factors
influencing the development of art at various
historical periods: Surrealism, Revival and the
break of the XIX and the XX centuries of
Victorian Art.
 Bibliography
 Дживелегов А. Леонардо да Винчи. М. „Искусство”. 1974. 200с.
 Дмитриева Н.А. Краткая история искусств. Вып. 1: От
древнейшых времен по ХVI век. Очерки. 1985.- 319с., ил.
 Основные направления модернизма//Ильина Т. В. – М. 1983. –
317с.
 Итальянское Возраждение//Ильина Т. В. – М. 1983. – с.86, 93-
99, 105, 106, 110, 128, 134.
 Липатов В. С. Краски времен. – М.//Тайна сдержанного сердца.
С. 8-16.
 Pavlychko, S. – Discourse on Modernism in Spanish and Britain
Art, Kyiv. – 1999, p. 395.
 htth://www.myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=Orchardson 2006
 htth://coloquio.com/famosos/dali.htm
 htth://www.b-link.co.uk/ckn/famouspaintings/Leonardo.htm