Painting genius Da Vinci
For art, most people feel far away from their own lives, and reading "The Last Supper" will find that art has always been around us. Let's play a psychological game, and the following painting is Da Vinci's famous work The Last Supper, which we have all heard, seen, and know is a story about whistleblowers.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > find out who the whistleblower is? </h1>
From a psychological point of view, by analyzing the movements and expressions of the characters, can you find out which one is the whistleblower? Let's briefly analyze the painting, which shows thirteen people, one jesus and twelve of his disciples. We divide this painting, except for Jesus in the middle, into four groups from left to right, in groups of three.
The first group of figures from the left all looked in the direction of Jesus, the first of whom tiptoed up with both hands on the table, the second put his hand on the shoulder of the third person, and the third person put his palms outward and posed in a "NO" posture, indicating that it was definitely not me. The three of them were almost snuggled together, which could be understood as an ally.
The second group of characters is a bit more complicated, the first person holds a knife in his hand, the handle of the knife is pointed at the back of the bearded youth, the body leans forward, the head forms a cross with the bearded youth, and tries to listen to the conversation across from the person opposite. The bearded young man held a money bag in his hand, leaned back slightly, and the man with long curly hair behind him had a melancholy expression.
Jesus in the middle, knowing that he was going to die, hung his head in despair.
The three characters in the third group are more abundant in hand movements, and one person has raised his index finger, which means that if I let me know who did it, I will not let him go. The man with his hands outstretched looked surprised, he couldn't believe who could do such a thing! The man in red put his hands on his chest, anxious to show loyalty, and it was certainly not me.
The characters in the fourth group were the most thoughtful and confident, and they didn't worry about being suspected at all, but instead they were discussing who the whistleblower might be.
It is not difficult to see that in the four sets of pictures, the characters in the second group are the most dramatic, some people take knives, some people take money, these two things appear at the same time, which has demonstrated a kind of drama of seeking wealth and killing people. Then who is the informant who takes the knife and the one who takes the money, look carefully at their physical tendencies, the body of the person who takes the knife leans forward, it is the direction of Jesus with the handle of the knife, the body of the person who takes the money leans backwards, a little bit of the meaning of taking the money to escape, in front of everyone, the person who is a thief in front of justice is somewhat weak-minded, and it is his natural choice to escape.
In this way, we find the informant, Judas with the money in his hand, and you stand up!
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > inheritance and originality standing on the shoulders of giants</h1>
The Last Supper is profoundly allegorical, and in the strict sense of the word it is a fresco painted on the wall of the refectory of the Grecci Monastery in Milan, Italy. The most famous story in the Bible begins with Jesus' utterance, "Some of you have betrayed me," and each disciple in the picture immediately reacts reflexively, from the expressions of the characters to their movements, conveying the psychological activities of the characters.
The Last Supper by Peter Cook van Ulster
But this is not the real reason why this painting is famous, in terms of subject matter, "The Last Supper" is an ancient traditional painting subject. Before Leonardo da Vinci, countless painters had painted the subject, and the important reason that attracted Leonardo da Vinci to accept this order was probably because of his self-confidence that he could create that unique and unforgettable dinner. In fact, it is true that on this mural, he has done a lot of groundbreaking creations.
First, in the choice of pigments, he discarded the pigments of the traditional frescoes that had been widely used since the Middle Ages, and replaced them with a new type of pigment made from oil and tempera, which is said to have been added with eggs and milk. But this new, self-created pigment had the fatal disadvantage of being so limited that only 50 years later, the monastery began to tinker with the painting.
The Last Supper by Cosimo Rosselli
Secondly, purely from the composition point of view, there is no problem, but if combined with real life, you will immediately find the problem, who will empty one side of the table for dinner, all squeezed to the other side? If you eat according to normal Western etiquette, the host and guest should sit at both ends of the rectangular table, and the rest of the people should sit on both sides of the table, which is a normal dining order.
However, we see that in this painting, the seating of the meal is modified, presenting a unique arrangement in the composition. In order to give each disciple the opportunity to fully expose his heart, leonardo da Vinci made an unreasonable arrangement for the rationality that he had become accustomed to in life, and achieved unexpected results.
The Last Supper by Kierlandajo
So, is this compositional idea the originality of Leonardo da Vinci? It can be said that it can be said that it is not. Let's look at the painting below, the Last Supper by the 15th-century Italian painter Vla Angelico, created around 1440-1441.
Fla Angelico, The Last Supper
In this painting, the rectangular table has a corner, and behind the table are eight people, and three people kneeling on the ground cannot see their expressions. There was no food on the table, and the purpose was to better complement the expressions of the eight people. Such compositions were already innovative at the time.
In 1450, another Italian painter, Andrea del Castanno, also created a painting of the Last Supper. In this painting we have seen eleven disciples lined up, and they maintain a frontal angle with the viewer, so that the viewer's expression of the eleven disciples is unobstructed, while the betrayer Judas is isolated on the other side of the white rectangular dining table, and the painter seems to be intentionally hinting to us that the eleven disciples have drawn a line with Judas.
Andrea del Castano, The Last Supper
Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper was created between about 1494 and 1498, later in time than the two predecessors above, that is, da Vinci inherited the style of his predecessors in the composition of The Last Supper, but also had his own originality.
The greatest manifestation of his originality is that he mixes informers with other disciples, and the enemy and I are the most reflective of the life situation of good and evil in real life, which is a very modern creation.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > legendary use of perspective rules in painting</h1>
Perspective is closely linked to composition, and perspective is the cornerstone of composition. As we ordinary people to understand the perspective method is a bit abstract, from a popular point of view, you can look at a painting with a three-dimensional eye. The painting we see is flat to the touch, and the role of perspective is to show a painting with a sense of layering, three-dimensionality, just like geometric figures. But the three-dimensional sense of the picture is a whole, and has its center of gravity, through the law of perspective, the shape and color are connected together, dominating and adjusting the relationship between people and things, and finally presenting a magical three-dimensional effect.
Centered on Jesus
Let's see how The Last Supper applies the law of perspective. And look at Jesus in the middle, everything is centered on Him, and the emotions of the characters are concentrated on him. There is a door and two windows behind him, and his head is located right in the middle of the door, and the bright light behind his head reveals the focus of perspective and also sets off his image.
The table, the walls, doors, windows, and ceilings are parallel perspective, and the house is an abstract frame, and the visual disappearance is exactly on the head of Jesus, which is also the center of the picture. The rectangles arranged in parallel on the wall, the parallel squares on the ceiling, the size, distance and placement of each object on the table, such as food, meals, utensils, etc., are all positions obtained by precise calculation of geometry.
Three-dimensional sense of space
Not only that, but we also found that there are five colors in this painting, namely red, yellow, blue, green and white, which use color to strengthen the movement of the body, connecting the colors and each object in the picture to form a perspective composition that is concentrated from top to bottom, left and right.
Before Leonardo da Vinci, the method of pictorial perspective had been used, but never before had a painter applied mathematical perspective to such a degree of precision and complexity. The purpose of all compositions is to better depict the posture of each figure moving or static, so as to capture the psychological changes of the characters and finally present the allegorical connotation of the painting.
This is one of the reasons why Da Vinci's version of The Last Supper is recognized as an unprecedented work.
Mona Lisa
Write at the end:
The world is known for his masterpieces, mainly from his Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, in fact, painting is just one way for Leonardo da Vinci to study the world. He was able to achieve such great achievements in painting because of his erudition. He dabbled in a large number of disciplines in his life, mathematics, physics, biology, art, etc. are within the scope of his research, due to the constant pursuit of his own inspiration and the perfection of his works, he can give birth to such a masterpiece as "The Last Supper", and he himself is also known as the most perfect representative of the Renaissance, admired by the world.