Artbooks Leonardo da Vinci

Artbooks da Vinci

What the art books on this page will probably all tell you is that Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) is a textbook example of the ‘uomo universale’ (Latin: homo universalis). In his time, the period of the High Renaissance, that was an ideal to be pursued. It meant that a human being should develop on all fronts. And indeed da Vinci was an all-rounder. He was active as a painter, sculptor, inventor, philosopher, writer, composer, engineer, physicist, chemist and astronomer. He reached a high level and was ahead of his time in some matters. As an artist, da Vinci was already highly regarded during his lifetime.

Leonardo da Vinci, Lady with an Ermine, 1489-1491,
oil on walnut panel, 54 x 39 cm, Czartoryski Museum, Krakau, Polen

Above, we see the world-famous portrait of Cecilia Gallerani (1473-1536), the mistress of Ludovico Sforza (1452-1508), the Duke of Milan. Sforza was an important patron and patron in Leonardo da Vinci's career. He personally commissioned da Vinci to paint her portrait. The ermine was the symbol of purity and formed part of the duke's coat of arms. Cecilia Gallerani's portrait was meant to indicate that she held an important position at the duke's court. Remarkably, the animal Gallerani is holding in her arms is not an ermine at all, but a white ferret!

Da Vinci painted several portraits that are counted among the canon of art history. These include the Portrait of Ginevra de Benci from 1474-78, which is among the masterpieces of the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Not to mention the Mona Lisa, which Da Vinci painted around 1503. It is richly represented on the covers of art books about Da Vinci! It is undoubtedly the most famous work of art from museum the Louvre in Paris

An introduction to Leonardo da Vinci

by Art Historian Sander Kletter

Portraiture by Da Vinci

Thorough training in Florence

In 1452, da Vinci was born in Tuscany in Italy, near the village of Vinci. Not much is known about his childhood, but he is said to have had home lessons in reading, arithmetic and writing and a few lessons in Latin.

Around the 1970s, he went to work as an assistant in the studio of the sculptor, painter and goldsmith Andrea del Verrocchio (c. 1435-1488), from whom he would receive a thorough training as a painter and sculptor. Verrochio was the owner of a leading art studio in Florence, where talented painters such as Pietro Perugino (c. 1446/1452-1523) and Lorenzo di Credi (1456/59-1537) were trained alongside Leonardo da Vinci. For at least four years, da Vinci worked in Verocchio's studio. The famous Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli (c. 1445-1510) also worked there. Notable in da Vinci's work from this early period of his career are the softly refined facial features of his figures, the detailed rendering of folds in robes and the precision with which he painted curls in hair. He was also extremely careful in depicting landscape and nature in his paintings.

Now we know that Leonardo would go on to surpass his teacher in art history. He is the eldest of three artists, considered the great geniuses of the Renaissance. The other two are Michelangelo (1475-1564) and Raphael (1483-1520).

Leonardo da Vinci, Madonna of the Carnation, 1475,
oil on panel, 62 x 47.5 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich

A key Da Vinci invention is the ‘sfumato’, a painting technique in which contours of figures are deliberately blurred. This blurring is done by applying several transparent layers of colour, partially overlapping each other. Literally, sfumato means ‘smoky’ or ‘misty’ in Italian. With this technique, de Vinci managed to achieve a very gradual transition from light to dark. Audiences of his time were deeply impressed by the effect he managed to achieve with his softened contours. The result looks so natural that the people he painted seem to be alive. Giorgione (c. 1473/1474-1510), an artist from Venice, also applied this technique with great success, probably following Da Vinci's example. The technique of sfumato was refined by Da Vinci from 1482, during the period when he worked at the court of Ludovic Sforza in Milan as a portrait painter. Versatile as he was, incidentally, he also worked there as an engineer, inventor and organiser.

In 1499, the duke was expelled from Milan and Da Vinci returned to Florence. There he entered the service of Cesare Borgia (1475-1507) for ten months. The following year, he received a commission to paint a mural for the Palazzo Vecchio. He worked on it for three years, finally leaving it unfinished.

Sfumato

Leonardo da Vinci, Virgin of the Rocks, ca. 1483-1494,
oil on panel, 199 x 122 cm, Louvre, Paris

The last supper

Between 1495 and 1498, Da Vinci painted the monumental fresco The Last Supper, commissioned by the monks of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. The painting was intended for a wall of the monastery's dining hall. As early as Da Vinci's time, the mural began to weather as a result of a misapplied technique. But despite its poor condition, it is considered the artist's great masterpiece.

During the period of the Italian Renaissance, the study of the representation of space on the flat surface through perspective was in full development. It aimed to increase the spatial illusion of a painting. A basic rule of perspective is that parallel lines in reality run to the same ‘flight point’ on the horizon. The perspective lines applied by da Vinci in The Last Supper show his mastery of depicting space by applying linear perspective. They also show the sophistication of his compositional ability.
The imaginary parallel lines on the two perspectively rendered sloping walls and those of the beamed ceiling do indeed, according to the ground rule, run to the same vanishing point on the horizon. In this work, this falls exactly behind Christ's head. Perspective is thus employed by da Vinci for a dual purpose. It is not only aimed at increasing the spatial illusion of the fresco, but also serves to place Christ even more convincingly at the centre of the scene. For the perspective lines utilised, see the modified image of The Last Supper below.

Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper , 1495-1498,
fresco, 460 x 880 cm, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milaan

Finally: Rome and France

As described above, Da Vinci had taken turns working in Florence and Milan for several influential patrons of nobility. In 1513, towards the end of his life, he was also summoned to Rome by his patron Giuliano de' Medici (1479-1516), the brother of Pope Leo X (1475-1521), where he met his rivals Michelangelo and Raphael, who carried out commissions for the Pope there. Unfortunately, da Vinci himself did not manage to acquire Papal commissions. During his stay in Rome, da Vinci devoted himself to natural science.

The period in Rome would eventually last only briefly. In late 1515, da Vinci was invited to France by the French king Francis I (1494-1547), who had recaptured Milan shortly before. In the last years of his life, a friendship developed between Da Vinci and the French king, who was also a great admirer of the famed artist and scientist. The king made a château and estate available to Da Vinci, the comfortable Manoir du Clos Lucé, located on the Loire. Da Vinci died there in May 1519. He left three of his last masterpieces there, Mona Lisa (about 1503-1516), John the Baptist (1513-1516) and Mary and Child and Saint Anne (1501-1519). The castle is now a fine museum dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci's life, work and inventions.

Sander Kletter, 28 February 2025

Manoir du Clos Lucé, a 1477 Renaissance castle where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last years of his life and breathed his last...