Today is the anniversary of da Vinci's death,
Da Vinci, one of the three masters of art,
His portraits were taken center stage by women.
It's these women,
Inspired him to travel to the unknown to find out,
Until the gender traits that touch the gender are natural,
It is difficult to distinguish between each other's ambiguous realms.
Let's revisit
This master's delicate and remarkable female portrait works,
And perceive those from it
Artistic implications embedded in historical narratives.
The Royal Library of Windsor Castle in England houses a large number of sketches by the Renaissance painter Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), one of which is known as "Da Vinci's most beautiful sketch": a standing woman, with an indiscernible landscape behind her, turns her face to the viewer and points her left finger beyond the picture, as if to guide us to a mysterious but extremely attractive world. For this reason, she is also known as the "Guiding Goddess".
A Woman Standing in a Landscape (aka The Guiding Goddess; c. 1513–1516)
Royal Library of Windsor, UK
This sketch, painted in the last years of Leonardo da Vinci's life, is the same as the "her" posture, the gaze of the viewer, and the sense of mystery and uncertainty that permeate the painting, which is similar to the last painting completed by Leonardo da Vinci before his death, John the Baptist (an icon of religious subjects). The woman's gaze leads us to the many female faces that Leonardo da Vinci once depicted, and they constitute the code for understanding Leonardo da Vinci's exploration of the unknown world and the world of the soul.
Women, occupying the center stage of da Vinci's portraits. During leonardo da Vinci's Renaissance, women played an important role in society: girls born into prominent Italian families, educated by the aristocratic elite, intellectual, noble, cultured, and artistic; they read Greek, Latin, were proficient in music and dance, and could even lead soldiers to war. During his lifetime, leonardo da Vinci interacted with many Renaissance women, chatting and laughing with them in the court, making them smile with anecdotes or jokes, and "sealing" them into paintings. It is also these women who inspire him to go to the unknown to explore the end, until he touches the ambiguous realm where the gender traits of the two sexes are natural and inseparable from each other.
Genevra, with her eyes looking directly at the viewer, with blonde hair tied up in a delicate web, was elegantly and simply dressed, without jewelry or ornate jewelry. She is who she is. Born in Florence in 1458 after the Medici family, Genevra has a wealth of knowledge and cultural accomplishment, loves music and poetry, and has become one of the most beloved women in Florence. After her father's death in 1473, she married Luigi di Bernardo Nicolini, who was 15 years older than herself, and had no children after the marriage. Perhaps because of the marriage, the Bench family commissioned the portrait to Leonardo da Vinci.
Portrait of Genevra de Bench (1474)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C
Ginephra's face was melancholy and pale, perhaps suffering from lovesickness because she could not love, perhaps she was devastated by illness, or perhaps some unknown suffering. Da Vinci, with his masterful skill, encompasses possibilities, forming an emotional vortex, a space that leads to infinity: only by doing his best can he get out, and then he can find the truth.
Da Vinci was sheltered at the court of Ludovico Sforza (1452-1508), Duke of Milan, and was commissioned to paint portraits of two of the Duke's lovers: Cecilia's The Woman with the Silver Sable, and Lucrecchia's The Beautiful Lady Of Felonier.
The Woman with the Silver Sable (1489-1490) the National Museum of Poland
The Beautiful Madame de Feronne (1495-1499) The Louvre Museum
The black background places Cecilia in the center of the picture, her body slightly to the left, her face facing the light source on the side of the picture, as if attracted to something and unwilling to be disturbed by anyone. The "silver sable" alludes to virtue, or to Ludovico, a lover who had recently been awarded the "Silver Sable Medal" by the King of Naples. The black pearl necklace with its neck hanging from the chest is simple in style and is the only jewel on the body. The hairstyle is chic, and the hair ornament on the forehead is a fashion symbol of the time. The posture of three-quarters of the sides shows the dynamic of looking back at the moment; the smile that looms between her lips releases temptation, making her invincible in the game of "flattery". Da Vinci's meticulous observations and emotional resonance in his interactions with the heroine make his portraits go straight to the roots of emotion, destiny and soul.
If there is a breathtaking magic in Cecilia's portrait, lucrezia exudes a mournful sentimentality and a heavy melancholy. Her face and eyes look worriedly toward the viewer. As a waitress of Ludovico's wife, a married woman who became the lover of her close husband, she could not be publicly acknowledged. In the picture, Da Vinci places her behind a railing, allowing her to focus on her own heart, away from the world, and the outside world cannot enter. Da Vinci used a small technique to make the eyes of the characters slightly off the axis, creating the effect of the person following the viewer. Still, she's far away. Apparently, Leonardo da Vinci poured different emotions into the two portraits.
British art historian Campo identified a "portrait of a young woman" in the Sforza Family portrait album as Bianca depicted by Leonardo da Vinci and changed the title to "Beautiful Princess". Apart from the duke's eldest daughter, the aristocratic maiden left no historical information, but leonardo da Vinci allowed the "beautiful princess" to stand at the pinnacle of eternal tranquil beauty.
Portrait of Bianca Giovanna Sforza (aka The Beautiful Princess; 1496) private collection
Portraits are drawn on a sheet of parchment with pen, ink, white and red chalk. The costume is chic and simple, and a blonde hair is tied into a ponytail and slid over the beautiful shoulders. There is no ornate jewelry decoration, and the girl's calm smile exudes the natural beauty of clear water out of hibiscus.
In 1499, da Vinci left Milan for Mandoba. Isabella of the Mandoba court was a shrewd politician, an educated patron, and a "trend master". However, as her youth passed, a different kind of vanity drove her to constantly summon painters to paint portraits of her. Da Vinci stayed in Mandoba for three months, and Isabella asked Da Vinci to refer to Cecilia's portrait for a portrait of herself. Leonardo da Vinci left her a relatively complete portrait and took with him another copy of the portrait painted with charcoal on cardboard. A friend of Isabella's who saw the sketch wrote to tell her that the portrait he saw was "so beautiful and unparalleled in the world." This aroused is of great interest to Isabella, who was willing to give everything she could to get a charcoal portrait from Leonardo da Vinci. After a long and futile wait, Isabella wrote to da Vinci asking him to make good on his promise to turn the charcoal into a color portrait, or at least to replace it with a juvenile christ of about twelve years old. To this day, we still have no way of knowing whether the "world's first lady" will finally get her wish.
Portrait of Isabella de Este (1499-1500) Musée des Beaux-Arts
Isabella's obsession and love of painting and music, as well as her political and diplomatic skill, added a strong touch to the heyday of the Italian Renaissance. She diligently sought the "portrait of the soul" that had been passed down through the world. Leonardo da Vinci made a little joke about the Marquise: in a portrait of the 25-year-old Isabella's side face, a double chin was drawn on the woman who pursued a younger and more beautiful woman than herself, euphemistically suggesting that she was not worth less than ideal weight.
The Head of a Woman (1508) The National Gallery of Art, Parma
The Woman's Head is an unfinished painting. The woman in the painting has amorous and intoxicating eyes; her head is slightly hanging, avoiding the viewer's line of sight, revealing the unique reserve of a girl. A smile appears at the corner of the mouth, and the halo method renders the innocent and harmonious face; the scattered hair around it exudes the ambiguous atmosphere of carnal lust. "A woman must act self-protective, her legs must be tightly together, her arms folded, her head hanging low, and her head turned to one side at the same time." ("Finch on Painting") This is the dogma of Leonardo da Vinci and his students to express women. However, through the strong expressive style language, the picture reveals the most intimate voice of the character's personality.
Mona Lisa (1503-1519) Musée du Louvre
From 1503 onwards, Leonardo da Vinci continued to revise the mona Lisa portrait. French expert Pascal Cotter used multispectral to conduct an in-depth and detailed analysis of the Mona Lisa and found that there were at least four layered versions of the portrait, each of which had significant modifications from the previous ones. Most importantly, leonardo da Vinci never let the painting go until his death.
Any verbal depiction of the picture seems superfluous in front of the painting. Da Vinci used extraordinary painting skills to capture a moment when he tried to smile but could not hold back the rise of the corners of his mouth, and "Mona Lisa's Smile" became a legend of the pursuit of perfection by female figures, and became a representation of this era: capturing the undefinable and indescribable essence of life.
Da Vinci's favorite way of representing women, even the most prominent women, did not pay too much attention to the exterior, but consciously used the principles of visual optics, perspective and geometric proportions, and devoted themselves to the portrayal of faces and other details.
The portrait face adopts a soft chiaroscuro method, using the most intimate and delicate chiaroscuro to explore the five facial features; the halo method is used to let the boundaries erode each other, to express the unique delicate expression on the face of the character, presenting an otherworldly beauty.
Da Vinci creates a direct emotional connection with the object when painting, exploring the subtlest details of the character's inner world. "With the pen of light-chasing photography, write through the heavens and the hearts of people." Portraiture became a path for him to explore the human soul, and in fact, he did arrive at the spiritual netherworld with a shocking naturalistic approach.