by Shana Priwer
This wasn't exactly a rush job, but the contract length was short—only eight months to complete the entire painting. It was supposed to be completed prior to the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, held annually on December 8. Predictably, Leonardo ran into some trouble finishing the painting on schedule, and the work became the subject of a lengthy lawsuit. The eventual result was that two versions of the work were created—one is presently part of the Louvre's collection, while the other resides in London's National Gallery.
In addition to the missed deadline, Leonardo and de Predis apparently had a dispute with the monks about their commission. Leonardo complained to the monks that they hadn't received their full payment, and the initial amount negotiated for the entire work had barely covered the cost of the frame! Disputes and lawsuits over time and money continued for many years.
Eventually, the monks deemed the first version incomplete, thus forfeiting the rest of the money and giving Leonardo ownership of the painting. Leonardo probably gave this version as a gift to King Louis XII of France, who helped resolve the lawsuit, and this is the version that now hangs in the Louvre. Leonardo renegotiated the contract with the monks, who agreed to pay for a second version in 1506. The monks gave Leonardo and de Predis two years to complete this painting, paying them half the amount originally negotiated. This version was actually finished on time and was finally hung in the chapel on August 18, 1508. It remained there until 1781, when it passed through the hands of a number of collectors, eventually ending up in the National Gallery of London.
While Leonardo is likely the sole artist behind the Louvre version, this may not be the case with the second. The newer painting contains a few significant changes from the older version. The colors are brighter and bluer, the angel on the right is no longer pointing at St. John (who is now holding a cross), and halos have been added above the Virgin Mary and one of the angels. Leonardo probably supervised the creation of this second painting, but it is likely that other artists in his studio did the actual painting.
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The life and times of The Last Supper
One of Leonardo's signature paintings, The Last Supper is also one of the most accident-prone and least well preserved. Leonardo completed this giant wall painting in 1498. It depicts the moment at which Jesus announces that one of his disciples is going to betray him (ultimately, it is Judas).
Duke Ludovico Sforza, Leonardo's patron at the time, commissioned the painting. Sforza had selected the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie as his family chapel, and Leonardo was hired to paint a large mural of the Last Supper on one wall of the refectory (a room where meals are served). Although the work was to be done on a grand scale—thirty feet long and fourteen feet high—Leonardo was not one to turn down a challenge.
Leonardo completed The Last Supper, certainly one of his great masterpieces, in only three years. This time scale seems especially miraculous when compared to many of Leonardo's other projects, which either were never completed or dragged on for many years.
The work's design is one of Leonardo's most innovative. The perspective makes the painting appear to be a logical extension of the room, with the eye invariably drawn to the head of Christ at the center. The Apostles are crowded around the table in natural poses, in contrast to the stiff appearance of most versions of this scene during Leonardo's time.
Each Apostle has a distinctive appearance and character. Apparently, Leonardo modeled each of their faces on a particular individual. The two main figures, Judas and Christ, gave Leonardo the greatest difficulty. Christ's expression, a model of serenity, is a dramatic contrast to the Apostles' stunned and conflicted faces.
One legend tells of Leonardo's difficulty with modeling Judas, Jesus' betrayer. Supposedly, the chapel's prior complained about how long the painting was taking, and Leonardo retorted it was because he was lacking a model for Judas, but the prior seemed to him a good candidate! Leonardo got away with this slight, but luckily doesn't seem to have made a habit of it.
Leonardo worked on The Last Supper in his characteristic style. Days of frantic work, during which Leonardo worked all day without stopping, were followed by days during which Leonardo was not seen at all. After being absent for several days, he would sometimes appear, gaze silently at the painting for several hours, excitedly add a few brush strokes, and then disappear again. Leonardo did eventually finish the work, however, and the public immediately recognized it as a masterpiece.
So all was well—Leonardo finished this sacred artwork and everyone was happy. Right? Unfortunately, The Last Supper began to deteriorate almost as soon as it was finished, once again due to Leonardo's love of innovations. Instead of using the usual method of fresco painting, in which paint was applied to a wall of fresh, wet plaster, Leonardo designed a new method where he applied paint directly to dry plaster. This method let him work much more slowly and methodically and allowed a wider range of colors and tones in the paint. Unfortunately, that's where the good news stopped. This method proved unstable, and the paint began flaking off the wall during Leonardo's lifetime.
By 1586, the masterpiece had degraded to such an extent that it was hardly visible. Over the years, a number of attempts were made to restore the painting. Unfortunately, these methods often caused more harm than good, or they involved so much overpainting that little of Leonardo's masterpiece remained visible.
The work also suffered from more practical concerns in the church. At one point, workers cut a door opening through the bottom of the image—at the expense of Christ's feet, which were removed because of it. In 1796, Napoleon's troops even used the room containing the painting as a stable, of all things! After that, The Last Supper still had more than its share of disasters to endure. A flood in 1800 left it covered in a layer of green mold, and Allied bombing in 1943 blew the ceiling off the church rectory. Given this tumultuous history, it's surprising anything is left of The Last Supper at all!
An initial restoration was completed in 1954, and finally a twenty-two-year-long project was completed in 1999. The restoration attempted to remove centuries' worth of preservation and repainting, to reveal Leonardo's original intent. The process was truly painstaking, requiring restorers to reattach tiny flakes of the original paint in their original locations. Unfortunately, parts of the work are beyond repair, including the facial expressions of the Apostles. However, a number of copies exist, some dating from before the deterioration had become problematic. If you compare these views to the currently restored version, you can imagine how spectacular the original of The Last Supper must have been right after it was painted.
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There's something about Lisa
Just about everyone knows the Mona Lisa —it's the painting for which Leonardo da Vinci is, perhaps, most famous. Completed in 1506, this work of art went through a number of iterations before the design and execution were finally finished. What is it about this particular piece that has created such a lasting impact on the artistic world?
The subject of the Mona Lisa was most likely the wife of Francesco del Giocondo. A silk merchant in the late fifteenth century, Giocondo was also involved with the government in Florence, and he and his wife Lisa were probably married around 1495. The portrait poses Lisa as a pyramidal foreground to a distant, somewhat foggy landscape in the background. The glow on her chest radiates to include her face and hands, creating a softness not previously seen in Renaissance painting. This painting was much smaller than many of Leonardo's other works. It measures approximately 30" × 40" and consists of oil paint on a wooden panel.
With the Mona Lisa, Leonardo made profound use of the techniques he had developed throughout the Renaissance. The soft transitions between colors ( sfumato ) create a fully realistic three-dimensional figure with amazing modeling of the skin. Leonardo used the same techniques in the background—the sky and water complement each other perfectly. Similarly, the use of contrasting light for shade and shadow ( chiaroscuro ) creates a connection between the curves of Lisa
's face and hair, and the mountains behind her.
While it appears that the figure of Lisa is floating in front of the landscape, in the original painting she is actually standing in between two columns, probably on a porch or balcony. Because these elements were removed from the final version, viewers today cannot experience the painting as it was initially intended.
The expression on this Florentine woman's face is one of the painting's most exceptional features. Her simple, dark clothing makes her face the real focus. Her smile appears to be at once both innocent and enticing. One account describes how Leonardo had to hire musicians and mimes to amuse Lisa during the sitting—after all, three years is a long time to pose! The entertainment could provide one explanation for Lisa's slight smile. Also significant about Lisa's expression is that one eye is slightly higher than the other, increasing the sense of movement in the painting. If you've ever seen the Mona Lisa in person, you know that her eyes seem to follow you around the room. Leonardo probably created this effect on purpose. The corners of the mouth and eyes are the most expressive parts of the human face, and Leonardo did not overdefine these parts of the Mona Lisa. Instead, they are highly shadowed and almost vague, causing her expression to appear to change depending on the viewer's perspective.
Like Leonardo himself, the Mona Lisa did plenty of traveling. Leonardo carried it with him to France during his tenure under King François I. At the end of his life he either gave or sold it to the King, and it eventually ended up in the Louvre. Napoleon borrowed the painting for a period, and it was hidden during the Franco-Prussian War to ensure it wasn't stolen or damaged. In 1911, a Louvre employee named Vincenzo Peruggia stole the painting and then tried to sell it, but he was captured and the artwork was returned to the Louvre in 1913.
The Mona Lisa was hidden again during World Wars I and II. Then, it toured various countries (including the United States) during the 1960s and 1970s. Unfortunately, due to security concerns, it's unlikely that it will leave the Louvre again any time soon. At present, it resides in the museum behind bulletproof glass in a climate-controlled enclosure.
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Oldies but goodies
While his early work is probably his most famous, Leonardo made many paintings later in life that would become popular in their own right. One of Leonardo's last works, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne is one of his most celebrated. Leonardo first explored this somewhat obscure religious theme in a sketch done in 1498. The basic layout of the scene contained the Virgin Mary with her mother, Saint Anne, and the infant Christ. Although that early sketch has been lost, a later one, dubbed the “Burlington House Cartoon” (named after a former British owner's collection), shows a discarded concept for this work. In fact, this sketch is sometimes preferred over the finished painting!
During the Renaissance, a “cartoon” referred to a full-sized sketch that showed the planned layout of a painting, which the artist then transferred to the canvas or panel to be actually painted. The Burlington House Cartoon shows the infant Christ blessing a young St. John, accompanied by Mary and Anne. Leonardo abandoned this concept for unknown reasons and never actually painted it, but when the sketch was exhibited, it received major acclaim. This sketch is still celebrated as one of Leonardo's major works. The facial expressions and poses are considered much more natural than those in the completed painting.
The monks of the Florentine Santissima Annunziata commissioned the version of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne that Leonardo actually did paint as an altarpiece for their high altar. Leonardo completed the work, which dates from 1507–1513, in his typical fashion: not on time. The monks, eager for their new work, had to commission another piece. In fact, they had given the original commission to Filippino Lippi, but he rejected the project, suggesting that the monks give the commission to Leonardo (whom he considered a superior artist). When Leonardo failed to complete the work on time, Lippi took on the project, but he died before finishing his work. The monks finally got their painting when Perugino completed Lippi's work.
Leonardo's painting of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, completed well past the monks' deadline, shows Mary seated on her mother Anne's lap. Mary is leaning over to her infant son, who is holding a lamb. (The lamb represents a symbol of what Jesus would become: a sacrifice.) Anne's face is peaceful and serene, while Mary's suggests resignation, as if she realizes the fate for which her infant son is destined. She almost restrains Christ from embracing the lamb, and therefore his destiny, yet she also seems to have accepted his role.
The painting's composition is balanced and fluid, although some critics have remarked that the poses seem awkward. Leonardo positioned Mary and Jesus' arms like links on a chain, links that span multiple generations. The background of the painting includes a typically Leonardo-esque wilderness, complete with hazy, impassible mountain peaks, and meandering rivers. The tree in the near background is more earthly than the misty background, but rendered with Leonardo's signature botanical precision.
Like so many of Leonardo's paintings, Leonardo left The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne unfinished. Careful examination of the painting has suggested that Leonardo himself painted the background and the three figures, while it's likely that one of Leonardo's students completed the rest of the painting, including the lamb and the drapery covering the Virgin's legs. Unlike many of Leonardo's paintings, which he worked and reworked, the paint on this one is of variable thickness, and the sketch lines beneath the paint are visible in places.
Leonardo painted his final work, St. John the Baptist, during his last years in Rome, between approximately 1509 and 1516. It's quite an unusual treatment of the subject. Scripture portrays St. John the Baptist as a gaunt creature living in the wilderness. The way Leonardo painted him, however, St. John looks almost womanly. He has Leonardo's signature long, flowing, curly locks, a demurely bent arm, and an enigmatic smile quite similar to Mona Lisa's.
Unlike most of Leonardo's paintings, there is no mystical background behind St. John. Rather, the painting shows a mysterious darkness from which a glowing figure emerges. A different artist likely painted the cross that St. John holds and the animal skin he wears, and it's possible that the same unknown artist darkened the background as well. St. John the Baptist was widely copied by Leonardo's students, and a number of these copies exist with questionable attributions.
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Building the Renaissance
Leonardo da Vinci was not a practicing architect, though he spent years studying mathematics, urban design, and civil engineering. He designed military structures, buildings, and other architectural objects. Even though none of his designs were constructed during his lifetime, he was amazingly prolific. Leonardo's voluminous drawings, sketches, writings, paintings, and other artwork reveal his architectural achievements.
Though not trained in architecture, Leonardo was familiar with architectural drawings.
In addition to learning the language of architects, Leonardo used the perspective techniques he developed in painting to represent his designs for palaces, churches, cityscapes, and other projects. Particularly with landscapes, Leonardo was fond of drawing “bird's-eye perspectives.” While typical eye-level perspectives were drawn as someone on the ground would see them, aerial views showed a project in its entirety, including the surrounding areas. Along with Michelangelo and Raphael, Leonardo was one of the first Renaissance architects to make use of this technique.
Fillippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446) provided an early architectural model, one that Leonardo continued into the Renaissance. Brunelleschi was one of the first architects to seize upon classical foundations in the creation of a modern architecture that could rival that of its ancestors. He designed churches such as San Lorenzo and San Spirito, which were based on Roman ideals of balance, harmony, and proportion. Leonardo took those ideas under advisement in many of his own architectural designs.
Genius doesn't simply appear out of thin air; even masters such as Leonardo had to build their
experience (and reputation!) on the success of others. Leonardo's main sources of architectural inspiration were probably Alberti, Bramante, and Raphael. Leon Batista Alberti (1406–1472), an architect, artist, composer, and author, was responsible for writing the Renaissance's first treatise on architecture. He based his designs on classical architecture, and it is likely that Leonardo studied Alberti's designs during his apprenticeship to Verrocchio. Donato Bramante (1444–1514) was another primary Renaissance architect. As an official architect for Pope Julius II, he created masterpieces in the style of Greek and Roman classics, interpreting them in light of Renaissance Christian teachings. Raphael (1483–1520) followed in Bramante's footsteps by becoming the next papal architect. He was known for adhering to a fairly strict system of classical spatial organization. Raphael was also a distinguished artist. As you can see, there was clearly no lack of architectural talent during the Renaissance!
While synthesis of form and structure can be a goal for many architects, it is not a given. As both an artist and a student of mathematics, however, Leonardo had the distinct advantage of being able to conceptualize a project in its entirety. He was interested in appearance, as well as structure and construction. Leonardo's talent for encompassing both areas in his studies set him apart from many of his predecessors and paved the way for more modern ways of thinking about architectural design.
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The Milan dome
During his major period in Milan (1482–1499), Leonardo was busy with assignments from his patron Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan. His major artistic accomplishments during this time include The Virgin of the Rocks and The Last Supper, paintings that earned an esteemed place in history for their beauty, innovation, and highly skilled production. This was also a time of major experimentation for Leonardo—he produced paintings, sketches of military equipment, sculptures, machinery prototypes, and architectural designs.