Italian representative of High Renaissance art in this article.

Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci- Italian artist (painter, sculptor, architect) and scientist (anatomist, naturalist), inventor, writer, musician.

Leonardo da Vinci short biography

Was born April 15, 1452 years in the village of Anchiano, near Florence, his father was a notary, and his mother was an ordinary peasant woman.

In 1466 Leonardo da Vinci entered Verrocchio's workshop as an apprentice artist. At the age of 20, Leonardo da Vinci qualified as a master at the Guild of St. Luke.

In addition to painting, Leonardo da Vinci also studied plastic arts, architecture, mathematics, physics and mechanics, and early aroused the surprise of those around him with the rare versatility of his brilliant nature. Despite his enormous achievements in the field of exact sciences (mathematics, physics) and natural sciences, Leonardo did not find sufficient support and understanding. Only many years later his work was truly appreciated.

Fascinated by the idea of ​​​​creating an aircraft, Leonardo da Vinci first developed the simplest aircraft (Daedalus and Icarus) based on wings. His new idea was an airplane with full control. However, it was not possible to implement it due to the lack of a motor. Another famous idea of ​​Leonardo da Vinci is a vertical take-off and landing aircraft.

Studying the laws of fluid and hydraulics in general, Leonardo made significant contributions to the theory of locks and sewer ports, testing ideas in practice.

Famous paintings by Leonardo da Vinci are " last supper", "Madonna of the Ermine", " Mona Lisa"and many others. Leonardo was demanding and precise in all his affairs. Even when he became interested in painting, he insisted on fully studying the object before starting to draw.

Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci (1452 - 1519) - Italian painter, sculptor and architect, natural scientist, writer and musician, inventor and mathematician, botanist and philosopher, a prominent representative of the Renaissance.

Childhood

Not far from Italian Florence is the small town of Vinci; near it in 1452 there was the village of Anchiano, where the genius Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15.

His father, a fairly successful notary Pierrot, was 25 years old at that time. He had a love affair with a beautiful peasant woman, Katerina, as a result of which a child was born. But later the father was legally married to a noble and rich girl, and Leonardo remained to live with his mother.

After some time, it turned out that the married couple and Vicni could not have their own children, and then Piero took their common son Leonardo, who by that time was already three years old, from Katerina to raise. The baby was separated from his mother, and then all his life he diligently tried to recreate her image in his masterpieces.

In the new family, the boy began to receive from the age of 4 primary education, he was taught Latin and reading, mathematics and writing.

Youth in Florence

When Leonardo was 13 years old, his stepmother died, his father remarried and moved to Florence. Here he opened his own business, to which he tried to involve his son.

In those days, children born out of legal marriage were endowed with exactly the same rights as heirs born into an officially registered family. However, Leonardo had little interest in the laws of society, and then Piero's father decided to make his son an artist.

His teacher in painting was the representative of the Tuscan school, sculptor, bronze caster, and jeweler Andrea del Verrocchio. Leonardo was accepted into his workshop as an apprentice.

In those years, the entire intellect of Italy was concentrated in Florence, so that, in addition to painting, da Vinci here had the opportunity to study drawing, chemistry, and the humanities. Here he learned some technical skills, learned to work with materials such as metal, leather and plaster, and became interested in modeling and sculpture.

At the age of 20, Leonardo qualified as a master at the Guild of St. Luke.

The first painting masterpieces

In those days, painting workshops practiced joint painting, when the teacher completed orders with the help of one of his students.

So Verrocchio, when he received his next order, chose da Vinci as his assistant. The painting “The Baptism of Christ” was needed; the teacher instructed Leonardo to paint one of the two angels. But when the master teacher compared the angel he was painting with the work of da Vinci, he threw away his brush and never returned to painting. He realized that the student not only surpassed him, but a real genius was born.

Leonardo da Vinci mastered several painting techniques:

• Italian pencil;
• sanguine;
• silver pencil;
• feather.

Over the next five years, Leonardo worked on creating such masterpieces as “Madonna with a Vase”, “Annunciation”, “Madonna with a Flower”.

Period of life in Milan

In the spring of 1476, da Vinci and three of his friends were accused of sadism and were arrested. At that time, this was considered a terrible crime, for which the death penalty was punishable - burning at the stake. The artist’s guilt was not proven; no accusers or witnesses were found. The son of a noble Florentine nobleman was also among the suspects. These two circumstances helped da Vinci avoid punishment; the defendants were flogged and released.

After this incident, the young man did not return to Verrocchio, but opened his own painting workshop.

In 1482, the ruler of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, invited Leonardo da Vinci to his court as the organizer of the holidays. His job was to create costumes, masks and mechanical “miracles”; the holidays turned out great. Leonardo had to simultaneously combine several positions: engineer and architect, court artist, hydraulic engineer and military engineer. Moreover, his salary was less than that of a court dwarf. But Leonardo did not despair, because in this way he had the opportunity to work for himself and develop in science and technology.

During the years of his life and work in Milan, da Vinci paid especially much attention to anatomy and architecture. He sketched several options for the central-domed temple; got hold of a human skull and made a discovery - cranial sinuses.

During the same Milanese period, while working at court, he became very interested in cooking and the art of table setting. In order to make the work of cooks easier, Leonardo invented some culinary devices.

Artistic creations of the genius da Vinci

Although his contemporaries consider Leonardo da Vinci to be a great artist, he considered himself a learned engineer. He drew rather slowly and did not devote much time to fine arts, because I was too keen on science.

Some works have been lost or severely damaged over the years and centuries; many unfinished paintings remain. For example, the large altar composition “Adoration of the Magi”. Therefore, Leonardo's artistic legacy is not so great. But what has survived to this day is truly priceless. These are paintings such as “Madonna in the Grotto”, “La Gioconda”, “The Last Supper”, “Lady with an Ermine”.

To depict so brilliantly in paintings human bodies, Leonardo was the first in the world of painting to study the structure and location of muscles, for which he dismembered corpses.

Other areas of activity of Leonardo

But he owns a huge number of discoveries in other areas and fields.
In 1485, a plague epidemic occurred in Milan. About 50,000 city residents died from this disease. Da Vinci justified such a pestilence to the Duke by the fact that in the overpopulated city dirt reigned on the narrow streets, and came up with a proposal to build a new city. He proposed a plan according to which the city, designed for 30,000 inhabitants, was divided into 10 districts, each with its own sewerage system. Leonardo also proposed calculating the width of streets based on the average height of horses. The Duke rejected his plan, as, indeed, many of da Vinci’s brilliant creations were rejected during his lifetime.

However, several centuries will pass, and State Council London will use the proportions proposed by Leonardo, call them ideal and will use them when laying out new streets.

Da Vinci was also very talented in music. His hands were responsible for the creation of a silver lyre, which was shaped like a horse's head; he could also play this lyre masterfully.

Leonardo was captivated water element, he has a lot of work related to water in one way or another. He owns the invention and description of a device for diving under water, as well as a breathing apparatus that can be used for scuba diving. All modern underwater equipment is based on da Vinci's inventions. He studied hydraulics, the laws of fluid, developed the theory of sewer ports and locks, testing his ideas in practice.

And how passionate he was about the development of an aircraft, and he created the simplest of them based on wings. These are his ideas - an airplane with full control and a device that will have vertical takeoff and landing. He didn’t have a motor and couldn’t bring his ideas to life.

Absolutely everything about the structure of man interested him; he worked very hard to study human eye.

Some interesting facts

Leonardo da Vinci had many students and friends. As for his relationships with the female sex, there is no reliable information on this matter. It is known for certain that he was not married.

Leonardo da Vinci slept very little and was a vegetarian. He did not understand at all how a person could combine the freedom he strives for with keeping animals and birds in cages. In his diaries he wrote:

“We are all walking cemeteries because we live by killing other (animals).”

Almost 5 centuries have passed without a great genius, and the world is still trying to unravel the smile of Gioconda. It was studied by specialists and scientists in Amsterdam and the USA, and even with the help of computer technology they determined the emotions that a smile conceals:

• happiness (83%);
• fear (6%);
• anger (2%);
• neglect (9%).

There is a version that when Mona Lisa posed for the master, she was entertained by jesters and musicians. And some scientists suggested that she was pregnant and smiled blissfully from the realization of this secret.

Leonardo da Vinci died on May 2, 1519, surrounded by his students. The legacy of a brilliant man included not only paintings, but also a huge library, tools, and about 50,000 sketches. The manager of all this was his friend and student Francesco Melzi.

1 191

Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519) is one of the world's greatest thinkers, artists and philosophers. Striving for perfection, he created rare masterpieces of art such as the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper.
In addition to art, Da Vinci studied all aspects of life from anatomy to mathematics and astronomy; his far-reaching research and discoveries sought to demonstrate the underlying unity of the universe. Da Vinci is considered a key person in the birth of the European Renaissance, which saw the emergence of new ideas, scientific discoveries and the creation of beautiful art.

Leonardo was born the illegitimate son of a Florentine noblewoman and a peasant woman; he grew up in Vinci, Italy. During his formative years, he developed a love of nature and began to display his remarkable academic and artistic talents from an early age.

In 1466 he moved to Florence, where he entered Verrocchio's workshop. Initially his formative style reflected his teachers, but he soon developed artistic sense, which went far beyond the harsh style of its owner. His first important task was the Adoration of the Magi, commissioned by the monks of San Donato Scopeto. Although unfinished, the work was a masterpiece and introduced several new ideas. In particular, he introduced the themes of movement and drama. He also took the initiative to use Chiaroscuro; it is a method of defining shapes through the contrast of light and shadow. This would later be used to great effect in the Mona Lisa.

“Shadow is the means by which bodies display their form. The shapes of the bodies could not be understood in detail, but for the shadow." Notebooks by Leonardo da Vinci (Richter, 1888)

In 1482, Leonardo went to the court of Ludovico Sforza in Milan, where he stayed for 16 years. Here he continued to paint and also branched out into other interests such as engineering and anatomy. During this period, he wrote the famous works “Madonna of the Rocks”, as well as “The Last Supper”.

The Last Supper has been described as one of the greatest religious paintings. With Christ at the center of the picture, it represents great feeling and emotion as Christ is about to announce his imminent betrayal of Judas. The painting is held in the monastery of Santa Maria Delle Grazie, Milan, but unfortunately the quality of the original painting has deteriorated over time, despite frequent attempts at restoration.
In 1499, his patron L. Sforza was defeated by a French invasion, causing Leonardo to return to Florence. During this period he painted the frescoes of the Battle of Anghiari. This work was to have a huge influence on future artists. However, it was never completed and was subsequently destroyed. It was during this period that Leonardo completed the Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa is one of the most famous and intriguing paintings in the world. Mona Lisa is a portrait of the wife of a Florentine noble. For several days she came to Leonardo and sat for her portrait to be painted; however, she refused to smile. Leonardo even tried to hire musicians, but to no avail. Once, for a moment, she smiled slightly, and Leonardo was able to capture her. Her smile encapsulates a mystery that is both captivating and intriguing.

“That smile immortalized her, immortalized the artist and immortalized art. The artist and the art were immortalized only with a faint smile, with a smile, a mysterious touch. Even now there is a soul touch, and this soul touch has conquered the heart of the world” (1).

In the Mona Lisa, Leonardo masters the techniques of sfumato and chiaroscuro. Sfumato provides a gradual transition between colors - allowing you to create delicate and expressive images. In Mona Lisa the use of chiaroscuro is evident in the contrast between her face and the dark background.

During this period, Leonardo also continued his studies in engineering, science and other subjects. It seemed that his interests did not end there. He took copious notes in his complex mirror handwriting, much of which had not been deciphered in his lifetime. He also drew elaborate models of cars; in particular, he was fascinated by flight. He used to buy birds so he could free himself and watch them fly away. Da Vinci also tried to build a flying object himself. The machines he drew on paper, such as helicopters, became reality many centuries later. If his medicinal research had been published, it would have revolutionized science, as he was one of the first to understand the circulation of blood in the body. He also realized that the earth revolves around the sun, anticipating future job Copernicus and Galileo. Da Vinci was called to reflect on all aspects of life and the world, and he left with a great love and fascination for the universe.

In various fields, Da Vinci sought to see an underlying unity in the universe and with an optimistic view of human potential.

“Individual things must be united and acquire such virtue that they restore to man his lost memory.”

This is a drawing of human proportions. Da Vinci used earlier work and notes from the Roman architect Vitruvius. The painting combines art, man and science - illustrating the beauty of geometric proportions and the human form. It symbolizes Da Vinci's work and the revived Renaissance to combine these art forms into one diagram. There are many things in the simplicity of line drawing various factors; it has become an iconic image.

Da Vinci's fame grew during his lifetime, although he was not a wealthy man and had to rely on the patronage of his patrons. This included strong people, such as Cesare Borgia, who in the early 1500s demanded the development of Da Vinci's instruments of war. Da Vinci developed a crossbow, prototype tanks and a "machine gun".

Personal life of Da Vinci

Leonardo remained united throughout his life. He did not marry and had no children. He kept his personal life private and shared few details. He was close to his students Szalay and Melzi, but seems to have been mainly absorbed in his far-reaching research, work and paintings. At one time, contemporary reports indicated that Da Vinci was a unique person with physical beauty, dignified presence and strong moral character. Da Vinci expresses his love for truth:

“To lie so vile that, even if he spoke well of godly things, it would take something away from God's grace; and Truth is so excellent that if it praises but small things, they become noble."

His first biographer, Giorgio Vasari, writes about Da Vinci in 1550.

“.. Besides the beauty of the body, never extolled, there was infinite grace in all his actions; and so great was his genius and such his stature that, despite the difficulties that he changed his mind, he easily dealt with them"

A notable characteristic of Da Vinci was his widespread respect and reverence for truth, life and living beings. He adopted a vegetarian diet and bought caged birds so he could set them free. He quotes:

“The time will come when people like me will look at the killing of animals as they now look at the killing of people.”

Between 1506-1510 Leonardo spent time in Milan working on behalf of the benevolent French King Lois XII. In 1513 he went to the Vatican, Rome, where he enjoyed the patronage of the new Pope, Leo X. Here Da Vinci worked in close proximity to contemporaries such as the great Masters Michelangelo and Raphael. However, a strong rivalry soon arose between the young Michelangelo and Da Vinci.

Leonardo da Vinci can safely be attributed to the unique people of our planet... After all, he is known not only as one of greatest artists and sculptors of Italy, as well as the greatest scientist, explorer, engineer, chemist, anatomist, botanist, philosopher, musician and poet. His creations, discoveries and research were several epochs ahead of their time.

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 near Florence, in the city of Vinci (Italy). Quite a bit of information is known about da Vinci’s mother, only that she was a peasant, was not married to Leonardo’s father, and raised her son in the village until he was 4 years old, after which he was sent to his father’s family. But Leonardo’s father, Piero Vinci, was a fairly wealthy citizen, worked as a notary, and also owned land and the title of Messer.

Leonardo da Vinci received his primary education, which included the ability to write, read, and basic mathematics and Latin, at home. For many, his manner of writing in mirror image from left to right was interesting. Although, if necessary, he could write traditionally without much difficulty. In 1469, the son and his father moved to Florence, where Leonardo began to study the profession of an artist, which was not the most revered at that time, although Piero had a desire for his son to inherit the profession of a notary. But at that time, an illegitimate child could not be a doctor or a lawyer. And already in 1472 Leonardo was accepted into the guild of painters of Florence, and in 1473 the very first dated work of Leonardo da Vinci was written. This landscape depicted a sketch of a river valley.

Already in 1481 - 1482. Leonardo was accepted into the service of the ruler of Milan at that time, Lodovico Moro, where he served as the organizer of court holidays, and part-time as a military engineer and hydraulic engineer. Being engaged in architecture, da Vinci had a huge influence on the architecture of Italy. In his works, he developed various options for a modern ideal city, as well as projects for a central domed temple.

At this time, Leonardo da Vinci tried himself in various scientific directions and achieved unprecedented positive results almost everywhere, but could not find the favorable environment he needed so much in Italy at that time. Therefore, with great pleasure, in 1517 he accepted the invitation of the French king Francis I to the position of court painter and arrived in France. During this period, the French court tried to actively join the culture of the Italian Renaissance, so the artist was surrounded by universal veneration, although, according to the testimony of many historians, this veneration was rather ostentatious and of an external nature. The artist’s weakened strength was at its limit and after two years, on May 2, 1519, Leonardo da Vinci died in, near Amboise, in France. But despite the short life path Leonardo da Vinci became a recognized symbol of the Renaissance.

>Biographies of artists

Brief biography of Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci - the greatest painter, sculptor and architect of the Renaissance; Italian artist, scientist, musician and writer. They often say about him “the man who wanted to know everything,” as he was comprehensively educated and developed. Da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the village. Anchiano near Florence. Leonardo's father was a successful notary, and his mother was a simple peasant woman. The boy was separated from his mother early, which is why he tried to recreate her image in his thoughts. His stepmother died when he was 13, after which his father remarried.

Leonardo did not have his own last name, as he was an illegitimate child. Translated, "da Vinci" simply means that he was from the area around the city of Vinci. From an early age he was raised by his father, hoping that he would follow in his footsteps and become a lawyer. However, the public sphere did not seem interesting to Leonardo. When his father moved to Florence in 1469, he became an apprentice to the talented painter Andrea del Verrocchio. Young artist had an interest in various sciences. He was interested in astronomy, architecture, and physics at the same time.

It is known that since 1472 he was a member of the Guild of Florentine Artists. Biographers date the artist’s first painting to 1473. A few years later he already had his own workshop and created masterpiece after masterpiece. Canvases “Annunciation”, “Adoration of the Magi”, “ Madonna Benoit"brought him unprecedented success. In search of creative assignments, he agreed to work in various cities. In the 1480s he worked in Milan as a painter for Duke L. Sforza. He lived in this glorious Italian city until 1499. Three years later, he was noticed and invited to work by prominent politician Cesare Borgia. In 1503 the artist returned to Florence. His most famous painting, the portrait of the Mona Lisa, is usually attributed to this period.

IN different times his work was patronized by Louis XII, the Medici family and other influential houses. In January 1516, at the invitation of Francis I, he went to France, where he served as the first royal painter. He could have created many more masterpieces, but two years after the move he became seriously ill. The great painter died in May 1519 at the age of 67, surrounded by students in the French castle of Amboise.