Leonardo da Vinci
4" x 4" on Gallery Canvas
ORIGINAL PAINTING BY SEA DEAN
MINI MASTER SERIES
Homage to Famous Artists on their birthday
To view my Gallery or purchase this painting please visit Daily Paintworks. Larger originals or prints may be available by contacting me.
Leonardo is famous for his subtle gradations, especially around the corners of the mouth and eyes, making his subject appear alive. When I saw this drawing of a young woman (probably a study for the madonna), I just knew I had to try and capture her sweet smile. It's quite intimidating to copy the great master, but I learned a lot. Perhaps one day I will attempt the Mona Lisa.
Not only is it the most famous Master's birthday, but there is a BLOOD MOON lunar eclipse tonight. See about the lunar eclipse here.
( a few details to adjust on the angel, but I didn't want to miss publishing time)
LEONARDO DA VINCI
Born 15 April 1452, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. (And I think my talents are rather scattered). Born out of wedlock to a notary, Piero da Vinci and a peasant woman, Caterina, in Vinci region of Florence, Leonardo was educated in the studio of the renowned Florentine painter, Verrocchio. Much of his earlier working life was spent in service to Ludovico il Moro in Milan. He later worked in Rome, Bologna and Venice and he spent his last years in France at the home given him by King Francis I who was in awe of the old master.
His genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance ideal. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance Man, a man of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination". He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.
Leonardo is revered for his technological ingenuity. He conceptualized flying machines, a tank, concentrated solar power, an adding machine, and the double hull, also outlining a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics. Relatively few of his designs were constructed or were even feasible during his lifetime, but some of his smaller inventions, such as an automated bobbin winder and a machine for testing the tensile strength of wire, entered the world of manufacturing unheralded. He made important discoveries in anatomy, civil engineering, optics, and hydrodynamics, but he did not publish his findings and they had no direct influence on later science.
Among his works, the Mona Lisa is the most famous and most parodied portrait and The Last Supper the most reproduced religious painting of all time, with their fame approached only by Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam. Leonardo's drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon, being reproduced on items as varied as the euro coin, textbooks, and T-shirts. Only fifteen of his paintings survive because of his constant and frequently disastrous, experimentation with new techniques and his chronic procrastination. Nevertheless, these few works, together with his notebooks, which contain drawings, scientific diagrams and his thoughts on the nature of painting, compose a contribution to later generations of artists rivaled only by that of his contemporary, Michelangelo.
According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent and "his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, the man himself mysterious and remote". Marco Rosci states that while there is much speculation about Leonardo, his vision of the world is essentially logical and the empirical methods he employed were not mysterious, merely unusual for his time.
He died 2 May 1519.
Cat # 14073 Angel Face
