Today, people have lifted Leonardo da Vinci to heaven and worship him as the first of the three renaissance masters. But if we go back to the time when they lived, we will find that Leonardo da Vinci is the most undesirable of the three masters.
Both Raphael and Michelangelo had the opportunity to shine on the main stage of the Renaissance in Rome, but Leonardo da Vinci was sent to Milan and was depressed for life. Why is that?
In order to illustrate this issue, we will ask another painter, Botticelli, who was introduced in the previous issue, to compare him.
Although Leonardo da Vinci and Policelli were both Lorenzo Medici's doormen, the treatment of the two was too bad. One of the most important reasons is that Leonardo da Vinci did not conform to the wishes of his employer, the Medici family, as Botticelli did.
The Medici family gave Botticelli many very important orders, such as this painting "The Three Doctors Come to the Dynasty".
Botticelli Dr. Three came to the Adoration of the Magi 1475-1476
On the surface, it tells a biblical story that after Christ was born in the stables, three sages from afar in the East came to worship.
But in fact, this is a family portrait of the Medici family. As a Florentine painter, painting a family portrait of the Medici family is the most proud and proud thing to do.
Leonardo da Vinci, on the other hand, although he kept him at home, never gave him any orders. Why is that? There are two reasons for this.
Why da Vinci is not pleasing to employers
The first reason is that Da Vinci was an unpleasant personality.
Da Vinci was born in 1452 in the town of Vinci in the countryside of Florence, with the name "The Leonardo born in the town of Vinci".
He was an illegitimate child. When Da Vinci was 14 years old, his father brought him to the city and asked him to apprentice to the famous painter Verrocchio.
Leonardo da Vinci soon showed great talent for painting. According to Vasari, the painting "Baptism of Christ", the two cherubs in the lower left corner of the picture, the master Verrocchio painted one, da Vinci painted the one holding the robe.
Verozzio Andrea del Verrocchio Baptism of Christ 1475-1476
After painting, the master said that you can paint better than me, so I will quit painting. Since then, he has specialized in sculpture and no longer has animation pens.
Vasari was a well-known satirist, and his words were not necessarily credible. But it is obvious that these two little angels are compared together, and the apprentice draws better than the master.
Leonardo da Vinci painted on the left and Verozzio on the right
Although Da Vinci is talented and intelligent, after all, he grew up in the countryside, does not understand geometry, does not understand Latin, does not understand mathematics, has a poor foundation, speaks with a country accent, and is born of an illegitimate child, and his natural personality is relatively isolated.
Leonardo da Vinci was not popular with employers, and more importantly, the second reason was that his creative path did not match the ideas promoted by the Medici family.
Or look back at Botticelli. Lorenzo and his literati disciples are archetypals today, tomorrow the concept is, Botticelli will closely paint "Spring", paint "The Birth of Venus", Lorenzo and his small circle of literati engaged in Neoplatonism, Botticelli will follow all kinds of closely, all kinds of echoes. How could Lorenzo and his literati not like such a tone? SuMisha shared WeChat jnztxy beware of N hand group resale, so as not to break the change. Leonardo da Vinci, on the other hand, is not like that. Others chatted hotly, and his stinky face secretly wrote in his notes: "My research is based on practical experience, not on what others say... I see experience as my mistress and turn to her for help in all respects. ”
What this idea and that idea, I just want to paint like. Da Vinci argued that "the mirror is the painter of painters". The painter's task is to reproduce the objective world like a mirror.
One should be painted beautifully, and the other should be painted like. Botticelli and Da Vinci are well represented in the conceptual struggle between Plato and Aristotle in the concept of painting.
Differences in styles between Botticelli and Da Vinci
Because of the different creative concepts, the painting styles of the two people have a great difference.
Take portraiture, for example. In this portrait of a woman, in order to highlight the lines, Botticelli deliberately used dark door frames to set off the lines of the facial features more sharply and accurately.
Portrait of a young woman 1475
But Da Vinci's "Ginevela Banchi" is trying to cover up the lines. The contour lines are hinted at by the light and dark changes of the hue.
Leonardo da Vinci Ginevira Banchi Ginevra de' Benci 1474-1478
The painting is very well painted. Although Da Vinci and Michelangelo were very weak, Vasari was michelangelo's student. But Vasari was fair: Da Vinci was definitely the first person to paint like him.
Why did Da Vinci erase the lines? Because the lines are too sharp, the three-dimensional sense is gone.
In order to solve this contradiction, starting from Cimabue and Giotto, when the painters painted, they used almost transparent colors and very small curved brushstrokes to express the "reflective effect" of the lines, so that the lines showed a certain ambiguity. This is known as the "hood dyeing method".
But when we look at Leonardo da Vinci, he avoided lines as much as possible during the sketching phase, and instead shaped the body with shadows and reflections.
Da Vinci Female head female head 1508
Alberti said: "Lines should not be seen in painting. ”
Leonardo da Vinci went even further, arguing that there were no lines in nature. What our eyes see is nothing but reflection and shadow, a change in the tone of light and shade.
Therefore, da Vinci not only paints differently from others, but also paints his works differently.
Instead of mask dyeing, he dilutes the pigment with a lot of oil, allowing the thin pigment to penetrate freely around and further dissolve the lines. This method of da Vinci is called the "halo method".
It is not enough to create a three-dimensional sense of the character. The painter also needs to create a unified, realistic sense of space.
After the invention of perspective, painters immediately realized that light would decay in the air. Distant objects are not only generally pale in color, but also blue because of differences in wavelength absorption.
This method of representing the attenuation of light in the air is called air perspective.
In addition, distant objects are not only small, but also unclear. If you want to paint like it, these questions must be taken into account.
Therefore, da Vinci did not use this kind of perspective, near and far, but a variety of perspectives. For example, the method of intensity and distance, the method of color perspective, the method of shadow perspective and the method of fading perspective, and so on.
Although none of these techniques were pioneered by Leonardo da Vinci, in terms of actual results, Leonardo da Vinci was the first person to do so.
Let's look at two works by D'Vinci's Mona Lisa and Botticelli's The Herald of our Lady.
The background of the Mona Lisa faithfully reflects what the eye sees, that is, the farther away the object is, the more blurred the outline, the lighter the color, and the bluer, thus creating a unified and believable sense of space.
Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa Mona Lisa 1502-1506
In Botticelli's "The Virgin Of the Reprimes", the scenery has no air perspective effect at all. No matter how far away the object, it is also angular and delicate. It's very dull and unreal.
Our Lady of Botticelli received the Annunciation in 1489
Today, we will no doubt all stand da Vinci. But at that time, Lorenzo and his literati disciples did not think so.
In the world of ideas and archetypes, there should be no ambiguity, there should be no decay. Let the angels and the Virgin live in the pure ether, which is what the painter should do.
You da Vinci is dizzy and air perspective, looking quite similar, but the price is that the whole picture appears to be dull, hazy, and even a little dirty. This is a testament to the vile and clumsiness of the real world.
So the more da Vinci painted, the less Lorenzo's taste.
Why didn't da Vinci go to Rome
In 1480, pope Sisto IV at the time began the great project to rebuild Rome, and the Renaissance movement officially began.
Lorenzo recommended to the Pope painters such as Porticelli, Verrocchio, and Girandoyo, and florentine painters with heads and faces went to Rome to serve the Pope. However, Lorenzo did not recommend Leonardo da Vinci.
Why not recommend Leonardo da Vinci? In addition to the aforementioned bad personality and the wrong number of works, there are two other reasons.
First in 1476, da Vinci was arrested for sodomy.
At that time, there was rumor in Florence that Lorenzo and his small circle of literati were engaged in homosexuality. Now that there is a hammer, this makes Lorenzo very annoyed and taboo.
Although Lorenzo used his connections to fish him out, he was immediately estranged from him.
Secondly, Da Vinci is famous for the grinding.
You let him slowly suck it up, and Da Vinci can paint very well. But what you want to paint at the Pope is a mural.
The mural needs to be painted with eggs, and then a layer of wet mud ash is applied to the wall, and the painting must be completed before the mud is dry, so that the paint can be firmly combined with the wall.
Da Vinci at that time, many mural orders, explicitly asked for tempera. This drawing method requires very high speed. Da Vinci's way of slowly rubbing with oil-blended pigments can't be straightened out.
Everyone went to Rome and left Leonardo da Vinci behind, but he was depressed.
In 1482, Lorenzo recommended leonardo da Vinci to the Duke of Milan in order to establish good relations with the Duchy of Milan. Leonardo da Vinci spent 17 years in Milan and only completed a total of 6 paintings. It's not an ordinary grind.
However, these six paintings are all fine works, including "The Woman Holding the Sable" and "The Last Supper".
Da Vinci Lady with an Ermine 1489-1490
The Last Supper 1494-1498
"The Last Supper" also exposed Da Vinci's shortcomings, that is, the speed is not good. He couldn't control the speed of his painting, so he used oil to tone it and painted it directly on the wall.
Decades later, the picture became blurry and peeled off in large areas. But before the problem, the painting was stunning.
In 1513, King François I of France attacked Milan and praised the Last Supper, threatening to move the entire wall back to France. But at that time, the French engineers could not think of a way, so they gave up.
But then the king got his wish and invited Leonardo da Vinci to France. This is really fate's best arrangement.
Because the Impulse of Italian Painters to Seek Truth stems from the impact and influence of Gothic art. And leonardo da Vinci, as the best realist painter in Italy, finally died in the birthplace of gothic wind, which can also be regarded as a good thing.
It is said that Leonardo da Vinci died in the arms of the King of France, but this glory came too late. During leonardo da Vinci's lifetime, Italy did not give him the recognition he deserved. According to the French art historian Alass, he was able to carry the Mona Lisa with him when he went to France, because Party A did not think it was good and refused to receive the goods.