AP European History: Leonardo Da Vinci

AP European History
Period: E
Interpretive Biography

Leonardo Da Vinci is considered one of the greatest geniuses of all time. He was the epitome of the term "Renaissance Man", which means a person with many talents. During the Italian Renaissance Da Vinci's accomplishments ranged from many fields such as anatomy, engineering, mathematics, nature ,philosophy, painting, sculpting and architecture. His achievements in these fields stem from an early age, Da Vinci was an illegitimate child born of "Ser Piero, a notary, and Caterina, a peasant woman who were unmarried". At the age of 15 Da Vinci was sent to Florence to be an apprentice of an aspiring artist named Verrocchio. This is where Da Vinci's talent for painting was first seen it
is said that Verrocchio was so impressed with Leonardo's addition to Verrocchio’s painting that he break his paint brushes and said I will never paint again. According to Giorgio Vasari, Leonardo's first demonstration of his talent in painting was while he was an apprentice in Verrocchio's studio. Leonardo helped in painting Verrocchio's Baptism of Christ he painted the left handed angel, which made the other figure look His contribution, the left-hand angel, made the other figures look bland and dull. It is said by Vasari that Verrocchio was so impressed by his apprentice's painting that it was said that he took his paint brushes and snapped and said that he will never paint again since Da Vinci surpassed him. After this stage in Da Vinci's life he was accepted into the painter's guild of Florence, a guild was a medieval association of craftsmen or merchants, often having considerable power. After leaving Verrocchio's studio, Leonardo's talent became widely known throughout Florence, however gained a reputation for not completing jobs he was commissioned. A commission that he received while in Florence was The Adoration of the Magi in 1481; it was an important work for monks of San Donato from a monastery
At Scopeta Leonardo left this work undone in 1482 when he left for Milan. During his time in Milan he was commissioned another work which was from the Church of Francesco Grande which asked him to paint The Virgin of the Rocks which was not done until twenty- five years later. It was during this time period that he wrote to Duke Sforza in which he stated that he was a military inventor and engineer that could make indestructible bridges and safe chariots, at the end of the letter he also stated that he was an architect, sculptor and a painter. An excerpt from Vasari's book stated that "He also painted in Milan, for the Friars of S. Dominic, at S. Maria dell Grazie, a Last Supper, a most beautiful and marvelous thing; and to the heads of the Apostles he gave such majesty and beauty, that he left the head of Christ unfinished, not believing that he was able to give it that divine air which is essential to the image of Christ. This work, remaining thus all but finished, has ever been held by the Milanese in the greatest veneration, and also by strangers as well; for Leonardo imagined and succeeded in expressing that anxiety which had seized the Apostles in wishing to know who should betray their Master. For which reason in all their faces are seen love, fear, and wrath, or rather, sorrow, at not being able to understand the meaning of Christ;"(Vasari,1550) this showed his artistic views and how he displayed images as an art master. "Leonardo’s Last Supper, painted in Milan, is a brilliant summary of fifteenth-century trends in its organization of space and use of perspective to depict subjects three-dimensionally in a two-dimensional medium."(Spielvogel, 2009) Leonardo's importance wasn’t realized till the High Renaissance where he was represented as "a transitional figure in the shift to High Renaissance principles.
He carried on the fifteenth- century experimental tradition by studying everything and even dissecting human bodies to see more clearly how nature worked. But Leonardo stressed the need to advance beyond such realism and initiated the High Renaissance’s preoccupation with the idealization of nature, or the attempt to generalize from realistic portrayal to an ideal form. "(Spielvogel, 2009) Leonardo exhibited a period of the Renaissance where artist tried to make a realistic portrayal to an ideal portrayal. A description given by Giorgio Vasari in his biography of Leonardo Da Vinci named The Genius of Leonardo Da Vinci shows a firsthand source of how others thought of him “In the normal course of events many men and women are born with various remarkable qualities and talents; but occasionally, in a way that transcends nature, a single person is marvelously endowed by heaven with beauty, grace, and talent in such abundance that he leaves other men far behind, all his actions seem inspired, and indeed everything he does clearly comes from God rather than from human art."(Vasari, 1550) shows the respect that Leonardo received from other artist during his lifetime. Leonardo's most famous work is the Mona Lisa which was commissioned by Francesco Del Giocondo to make a portrait his wife; and after toiling over it for four
years, he left it unfinished. Leonardo had one of the greatest minds of the Italian Renaissance.
He tried to understand the inner workings of nature. Majority of his inventions and scientific ideas were ahead of its time. Leonardo was one of the first people to study the flight of birds and make an invention that modeled after how they glided in the wind. He also made drawings, schematics and designs for tanks, helicopters, and a parachute. "Leonardo's importance to art was even greater than his importance to science. He had a strong influence on many leading artists, including Raphael and Michelangelo. Leonardo's balanced compositions and idealized figures became standard features of later Renaissance art. Painters also tried to imitate Leonardo's knowledge of perspective and anatomy, and his accurate observations of nature. What most impresses people today is the wide range of Leonardo's talent and achievements. He turned his attention to many subjects and mastered nearly all. His inventiveness, versatility, and wide-ranging intellectual curiosity have made Leonardo a symbol of the Renaissance spirit.” (Bnl) Leonardo's most important successes were the two techniques that he created which were sfumato and chiaroscuro. They are both painting techniques that deal with using shades of light and dark colors. Sfuamato in "painting or drawing, the fine shading that produces soft, imperceptible transitions between colors and tones."(Britannica) Chiaroscuro is a "technique employed in the visual arts to
represent light and shadow as they define three-dimensional objects. Some evidence exists that ancient Greek and Roman artists used chiaroscuro effects, but in European painting the technique was first brought to its full potential by Leonardo Da Vinci in the late 15th century in such paintings as his Adoration of the Magi (1481)."(Britannica) Other important successes that Da Vinci made were in engineering advance defenses for Milan. While he was working on the last supper he also made plans for mortars, battering rams, scaling ladders halberds and other defenses. Leonardo had many inventions and designs that were not recognized till his notebook was found and deciphered. Da Vinci's notebooks with his diagrams of engineering have drawings of the machines and brief notes that explain them. Da Vinci was thorough in his anatomical diagrams and dissections, dissecting dead bodies were outlawed in Florence so that is why Da Vinci was only allowed to perform dissections on criminals. Leonardo was one of the best "well-rounded" people of all time. He was able to excel in all fields whether it was art or science. Leonardo's life was an example for generations because it showed future artist how to be a "Renaissance man". Leonardo's Vitruvian Man drawing is a reflection of how Leonardo da Vinci's displayed himself as a “renaissance man" the human proportions show a man that is well rounded. The meaning of it is to collaborate ideas of art, architecture, human anatomy and symmetry in one cohesive manner. "By combing text and illustration, Da Vinci evokes a meaning which could not be created through words or image alone.
Vitruvian Man's importance lies in its clear reflection of the ideas of its time. It demonstrates the enthusiasm for the theories of Vitruvius among Da Vinci and his contemporaries."("Vitruvian Man the Proportions of the Human Figure")

Biblography
1. THE GENIUS OF LEONARDO DA VINCI 361
From LIVES OF THE ARTISTS VOLUME I by Giorgio Vasari, translated by George Bull (Penguin Classics, 1965). Translation © George Bull, 1965. Reproduced by permission of Penguin Books, Ltd.
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3. "Leonardo Da Vinci(1452-1519)." The Art Gallery. N.p.. Web. 17 Oct 2012. .
4. Halsall, Paul. "Medieval Sourcebook: Giorgio Vasari: Life of Leonardo da Vinci 1550 ." The Art Gallery. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct 2012. .
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6.. "Leonardo Da Vinci's Life." Vitruvian Man The Proportions of the Human Figure. N.p.. Web. 17 Oct 2012. .
7. Spielvogel, Jackson. Western Civilization. Seventh. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learningn, 2010. Print.