Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci

Artist and Inventor
1452 - 1519
"Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant waterloses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind."
—Leonardo—
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A large portion of the Italian Renaissance was an obsession with finding order in everything in the universe. Its primary actors sought to show nature as orderly and fundamentally simple. Leonardo Da Vinci, the epitome of the Renaissance Man, was not the first to apply these ideas of geometric order and patterns to art, but he may be the most well known. Da Vinci used mathematical concepts like linear perspective, proportion and geometry in much of his artwork.

Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452 in Vinci, a town 50 kilometers west of Florence in what is now Italy. The illegitimate son of a notary, he grew to become one of the most renowned and influential men in the fields of art, engineering, architecture, mathematics and natural science. The world was just awakening from the Dark Ages. Sigmund Freud once wrote, “He was like a man who awoke too early in the darkness, while others were still asleep” (Brizio, 7). Much of his work was lost because of the time period he lived in. The primary artifacts of his work remaining today are the many paintings he did and the numerous notebooks filled with detailed diagrams of everything from human anatomy to theoretical inventions. They are filled with detailed descriptions and explanations scribbled right to left so only those intelligent enough could read them

Leonardo did intensive studies on linear perspective. He applied this method to much of his work. According to the Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Art Terms, linear perspective is “the method of representing a 3-D object or a particular volume of space on a flat surface.” By making all of the lines in the painting converge on an single, invisible point on the horizon, a flat painting can appear to have depth. The Last Supper is a mural Da Vinci painted in the refectory of the church, Santa Maria delle Grazie. By using this method, Da Vinci made the painting appear to be an extension of the room itself (Brizio, 52). It should be noted that The Last Supper is his final piece showing evidence of linear perspective. It was completed in 1498. Of the 14 paintings attributed to Da Vinci before 1500, only four use linear perspective (Zwijnenberg, 130-5). So it is clear he was not bound by any one method, just as he was not bound by any one field of study.

Leonardo’s most famous painting by far is the Mona Lisa. It is a simple portrait of a young woman whose identity is unknown. She is sitting in front of a mountainous nature scene dressed in the clothing of the time. The most captivating aspect of the mysterious young woman is her very subtle smile. Not only is this a beautiful painting superficially, but also it is filled with many puzzles that art historians have been studying for years. One of the most interesting is the mismatch in the horizon of the background. The left side is significantly lower than the right. So if the observer focuses on the left side of the painting, she appears to be much taller and more erect than if he focuses on the right (WebMuseum). Da Vinci was a master of using perspective to trick the eyes of the observer

Mona Lisa, Leonardo Da Vinci, c. 1506

Leonardo Da Vinci, like other artists of his time, paid particular attention to proportion. In The Last Supper, he sought to create a perfect harmonic balance between the placement of the characters and the background. He did intensive studies on how the characters should be arranged at the table. Also, and it was not discovered until recently, he used a complex formula based on the relationship 12:6:4:3. According to Turner, the entire piece measures 6 by 12 units. The wall in the back is equal to 4 units. The windows are 3 units and the recession of the tapestries on the side walls is 12:6:4:3. These ratios are also very present in music. 3:4 is the interval of one fourth, 4:6 is a fifth, and 6:12 is an octave. It makes sense that Leonardo did this, he once noted on “the resonance between visual and aural harmonies.” He thought making use of this ratio would “offer praise to the harmonies of the universe” (Turner, 213). The image below is somewhat distorted and is not the complete mural, so it is difficult to fully appreciate the harmonic proportion. But this is an excellent example of linear perspective.

The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci, c. 1498

Da Vinci elaborated on the relationship between painting and geometry in the first five sections of Paragone, a book written sometime between 1500 and 1505. He said, “the point is the first principle of geometry and no other thing can exist in nature or in the human mind from which the point can originate.” He said the other principles of geometry are the line, the surface and the “body clothed by these surfaces” (Zwijnenberg, 50-1). The Virgin of the Rocks, another very well known Da Vinci piece, incorporates geometry in a more concrete fashion. The arrangement of the four characters (the baby Jesus, Mary, an angel and the infant John the Baptist) is a triangle. The triangle can be interpreted in more than one-way, but once noticed, appears to be in stark contrast to the rich, organic background (Turner, 211).

Virgin of the Rocks, Leonardo Da Vinci, c. 1486

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Michelangelo

Michelangelo

Renaissance Artist
1475 -1564
"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."
-Michelangelo-

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Michelangelo Buonarroti was born on March 6, 1475 in the village of Caprese, Italy. He was one of the most important artists of the Italian Renaissance, a period when the arts and sciences flourished. Michelangelo became an apprentice to prominent Florentine painter, Domenico Ghirlandaio at the age of 12, but soon began to study sculpture instead. He attracted the attention and patronage of Lorenzo de Medici, who was ruler of Florence until 1492.

At age 23, Michelangelo completed his magnificent Pieta, a marble statue that shows the Virgin Mary grieving over the dead Jesus. He began work on the colossal figure of "David" in 1501, and by 1504 the sculpture (standing at 4.34m/14 ft 3 in tall) was in place outside the Palazzo Vecchio. The statue became a symbol for the new republic that had replaced Medici rule.

Michelangelo portrayed David partly as the ideal man, partly as an adolescent youth. Unlike predesessors by other sculptors which depict David with the grissly head of the giant under his foot, Michalangelo poses David at the moment he faces the giant, with the deed before him. He believed this was the moment of David's greatest courage.

From 1508 until 1512 Michelangelo worked on his most famous project, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. He had always considered himself a sculptor and resisted painting the Sistine with characteristic vehemence: "I cannot live under pressures from patrons, let alone paint." Only the power of the Pope Julius II forced him into the reluctant achievement of the world's greatest single fresco. He covered the ceiling with paintings done on wet plaster, showing nine scenes from the Old Testament. Michelangelo later painted "The Last Judgment" on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel.

Toward the end of his life, Michelangelo became more involved in architecture and poetry. In 1546 he was made chief architect of the partly finished St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, where the Pieta is now kept.

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The Creation of Adam. Michelangelo. 1508-1512..jpg

Study for Libyan SibylMichelangelored chalk drawing1510-11

Vincent Willem van Gogh

Movement, Style, School or Period:
Post-impressionism > Expressionism

Date and Place of Birth:
March 30, 1853, Groot-Zundert, Netherlands

Early Life:
Vincent was the son of a Dutch Protestant minister, and grew up believing that his calling, too, lay in serving his fellow man. Unfortunately, his nature was such that anything he attempted was doomed to failure. He wasn't inattentive to career moves but, rather, threw himself into endeavors with such ferocity that he quickly exhausted his body, followed by his mind. By the time he was 27, van Gogh had been a theology student, a semi-trained evangelist in the slums of London and the mines of Wasmes (in Belgium), a French tutor, an unsuccessful art salesman and spurned by love.

Body of Work:
During his time with the miners, van Gogh painted the rough, miserable lives of the peasants with which he lived. One of these works, The Potato Eaters (1885), is acknowledged as his early

masterpiece.
In 1886, Vincent moved to Paris, where his devoted brother, Theo, was an art dealer. He quickly launched himself into study of the Impressionists and Japanese prints and emerged, after two years, with a highly original palette. He relocated himself to Arles, in Provence, where he began a frenzy of painting (sometimes going through a canvas per day) that showed his love for the town, countryside and sunlight of the area. Better known works from his time in Arles include Bedroom at Arles (1888), The Night Café (1888) and Starry Night (1889). His painting increasingly showed a lack of brushwork as he, in his haste to capture it, spread the color he saw in life thickly on to the canvas with his palette knife - and even straight from the tube.
In the last two years of his life, van Gogh also executed a number of self-portraits, had a brief, turbulent friendship with Gauguin (they were roommates until one final argument took place), veered in and out of madness (institutionalizing himself from time to time) and continued to have a disastrous love life. In a bungled suicide attempt, he shot himself on July 27th, 1890, but didn't die until two days later. Vincent van Gogh died having sold one painting in his lifetime.

Date and Place of Death:
July 29, 1890, Auvers-sur-Oise, France

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Paul Gauguin

Paul Gauguin

Post-Impressionist Artist
1848 - 1903
"Life is merely a fraction of a second.An infinitely small amount of time to fulfillour desires, our dreams, our passions."
-Paul Gauguin-

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Paul (Eugéne-Henri) Gauguin was born on June 7, 1848 in Paris. Gauguin is considered one of the leading painters of the Postimpressionist period

In 1849 his jounalist father's political activities forced the family into exile. The Gauguin family set off for Peru. His father died during the crossing from France. Gauguin's mother, of Peruvian descent on her mother's side, and her two children moved in with a great grand uncle and his family in Lima.

At the age of 17 Gauguin joined the French merchant navy, travelling around the world for six years. After the death of his mother in 1867, he settled down with his wealthy guardian, Gustave Arosa, who had a large art collection that included works by Delacroix. This period in time shaped Gauguin's interest in the arts. He started collecting Impressionist paintings, and became an amateur painter.

Gauguin began his career as a stockbroker in Paris in 1872. He attended the Impressionist's first exhibition in 1874, and was captivated by the impressionist style. He purchased works by Monet, Pissarro, Renoir and others. His exposure to the Impressionists reinforced his desire to become a painter.

In 1883 the bank that employed Gauguin experienced financial difficulties, and he found himself free to paint full-time. Much of his work during this period was influenced by the Impressionists, especially Pissarro. In 1884 Gauguin went to paint at the artists haven of Pont-Aven. Influenced during this period by van Gogh, Seurat, and Degas, he began to adopt his own independent style.

In 1887, Gauguin left France for Panama. For a short time he worked as a labourer for the Panama Canal Company. He soon left Panama for Martinique, where he continued his development as an artist. In 1888 he returned to Brittany. His experience in Martinique broadened his vision and enabled him to develop original interpretations of scenes in Brittany.

In October, 1888 he travelled to Vincent van Gogh's home in Arles, France. His stay was both traumatic and fruitfull for both artists. They learned a great deal from each other but were often at odds. Gauguin returned to Paris in December after Van Gogh's "ear incident."

Gauguin's break with the Impressionists came when he painted "Vision after the Sermon," where he tried to depict the inner feelings of his subjects. This painting also marked the start of a new painting style that came to be known as "Symbolism."

Although this period had been highly productive for Gauguin, he was deeply depressed and in 1891 abandoned his family to seek an idyllic life in the South Pacific Islands. He stayed briefly in Tahiti's capital, Papeete, and then relocated to a remote part of the island.

He lived in Tahiti from 1891 to 1893, and again from 1895 until his death. In Tahiti his painting style evolved to reflect the Pacific Islands' primitive forms and brilliant colors. His striking images of Polynesian women rank among the most beautiful paintings of the modern age. On May 9th, 1903, Gauguin, dissipated by drug-addiction, died of a heart attack on Hiva Oa Island in the Marquesas in French Polynesia.

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