The First Piece Of Art: Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci was born in Florence on April 15th in 1452. His father was an attorney and a notary. His mother was a peasant girl named Caterina, she was never married to his father. DA Vinci was only taught basic reading, writing, and math, but his father realized his artistic abilities. At the age of 14 he was trained by the leading sculptor of his time Andrea Del Verrocchio. Leonardo Da Vinci was a painter, sculptor, architect, inventor, architect, hydraulician, anatomist, geologist, mathematician, botanist, astronomer, and geographer. He was a man of many talents that got him far in life. In 1472, he was twenty years old and qualified as a master in the Guild of St. Luke. This was the guild of artists and doctors of medicine. He once

He died in Cloux in 1519 when he was 67 years old. The French Revolution nearly demolished the palace church of Saint Florentine where he was buried. It is now impossible to identify his exact gravesite due to the church being obliterated in the 1800’s.

Description

The First Piece of art by Leonardo Da Vinci that I chose to examine is the Mona Lisa. It was painted by Da Vinci sometime in 1503 through 1506. Leonardo Painted the Mona Lisa during the Renaissance with oil on a piece of wood. It is a portrait said to be of Lisa Del Giocondo. She was the wife of a Florentine merchant named Francesco di Bartolomeo Del Giocondo. Francesco was said to commission this painting from Leonardo as a celebration of his wife’s pregnancy.

This painting is 30” by 20” and hangs in the Louvre museum in Paris. The Mona Lisa is a painting of a woman sitting slightly turned in front of rocks and a river. She wears a dark green gown, her brown hair is down. She has amused brown eyes and a delicate nose. She is a very beautiful woman with defined features. Her face has a slight smile. Her hands rest on the arm of a chair. The right on top of the left, pulling her body towards the viewer.

Formal

Da Vinci used chiaroscuro which enhanced the relief of the figure. He also used sfumato around the eyes and the mouth. Found in an x-ray and microscopic exam of the picture it was revealed that Leonardo made another drawing in charcoal on the undersurface of the painting. It was also found that a window originally appeared in the right of the picture, but was later taken out. Leonardo used his finger to blend his brushwork which was discovered in an analysis of the painting.

Leonardo used a pyramidic structure in the painting, the sitter turns to the left as the small animal turns to the right. Leonardo captures the effects of movement with this technique. The right hand is captured in great detail showing all the wrinkles of her knuckles. Leo captured every strand of fur on the Ermine’s right ear perfectly.

Interpretation

The painting shows me that Leonardo took great care and time creating this painting. Everything seems to flow together in the painting to draw your eye into the woman’s face, even the Ermine seems to enhance her. The Ermine was placed in the painting to show her relationship to the Duke. The function of this piece was to show the court that Cecilia was the mistress to the Duke. The techniques used show that Leonardo took great care in making his subjects seem natural. My reaction to the Lady with an Ermine was she looks like she could jump out of