Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci turns 555

Haşim Nur Gürel
 

“Since we know that painting embraces the surfaces, colours and shapes of every single thing created by nature or resulting from the fortuitous actions of men - in short, all that the eye can see- he who can only do a single thing well seems to me but a poor master.”

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

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Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452, in the town of Vinci, not far from Florence. Being an illegitimate child, Leonardo could not benefit from the educational opportunities that were granted to aristocrats, and was therefore not exposed to classical Greek manuscripts in his early years of education. Thus, with his sharp mind and endless curiosity, Leonardo began to re-discover his environment with his own observations, and with the method of “tabula rasa”(1) he found the chance to develop his own point of view on every matter…

Leonardo’s ease and talent in drawing attracted attention from his early years on and at the same time the perfection of his figures proved that he was a unique talent. According to historian Vasari, Leonardo’s father Piero showed the drawings to his close friend, artist Andrea del Verrocchio. Verrocchio was fascinated by the drawings of the young Leonardo and so at the age of 17 Leonardo began an apprenticeship in the workshop of Verrocchio.

As a general evaluation of the drawings Leonardo made from his early years on until the last years of his life, one can say that with his observations on environment, objects and living things he was in fact exploring the mysteries of life. Some of the drawings and notes in his sketchbooks show that he was the first person to make autopsies with a systematic and scientific approach. He observed the functioning of the “machinery” of humans and of all living creatures, especially birds, as well as the changes that are caused in these organisms by ageing. And so, 500 years ago, he found some cause and effect relations which are still valid today. For example he came to the conclusion that rich and heavy food cause atherosclerosis as one gets older.

Sigmund Freud emphasizes the fact that Leonardo never lost his childish and curious vision by saying, “Indeed the great Leonardo remained like a child for the whole of his life in more than one way; it is said that all great men are bound to retain some infantile part. Even as an adult he continued to play, and this was another reason why he often appeared uncanny and incomprehensible to his contemporaries.” The artist has also often used the power of his observation talent on the people around him; his piercing gaze would penetrate through the masks people use to hide behind.

This researching, relentless, curious and passionate perception has also left behind an unforgettable “gallery of types” showing various human types of Renaissance Italy. A major part of these human drawings are sketches of figures necessary for the creation of portrait and composition orders. Another part of the drawings are of citizens of Renaissance Italy, who with their striking and extraordinary physical features attracted da Vinci’s attention and so had the privilege of entering his sketchbooks. These were people from Florence, Rome, Milan, people from the artist’s social environment, employers, their wives, sketches of portraits of members of the church, and various human portraits of beautiful, ugly, old, young, females and males.

 

The Renaissance period in which Leonardo lived was a time of continuous agitation, conflict, wars and riots. When searching for sponsors, Leonardo has therefore emphasized his engineering skills –his expertise in war machinery and methods– in his letters of application.

It is no surprise that the male figures in Leonardo’s portraits stand out with their warrior, gruesome, grotesque features. It is also remarkable that the majority of the female figures he used in his religious paintings and portrait orders have an idealized beauty. Important exceptions to this conclusion are of course the “Portrait of a Grotesque Old Woman” which is thought to have been copied from Leonardo by Francesko Melzi in 1490/91 and the “Grotesque Portrait Studies” estimated to have been made in 1492. But in general one can say that the women in his paintings such as “Mona Lisa” (Portrait of Lisa del Giocondo), “The Madonna of the Carnation”, “Annunciation”, “Portrait of Ginevra de' Benci”, “Virgin of the Rocks”, “Portrait of an Unknown Woman” dated 1490, “The Virgin and Child with St Anne” and “Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani (Lady with an Ermine)” have been idealized with smooth and radiant complexions and fully symmetric and geometric facial proportions. One can also assume that the warrior rulers and other powerful men of Renaissance Italy got married to much younger women than themselves and therefore the majority of Leonardo’s models were young and beautiful women.

The inner organs of the human being in Leonardo’s anatomy drawings are more closely interconnected than they are in 0reality; this reflects his concept of the deep complexity of human nature. Leonardo believed that different parts of the body had emotional functions; for instance tears came directly from the heart, the seat of all feeling. In line with the idea that the human face is a direct reflection of an individual’s underlying character and momentary sensations, da Vinci gave expressions to the faces of the people he observed according to his opinion of them and to the role he gave them. This must also be the reason why his gallery of human portraits stands out with grotesque and caricaturized images. In his illustrations of some emotional moments in Christian mythology, the artist tends to illustrate the people he isn’t fond of uglier than they are. On the other hand, he would use all his talent to illustrate the people he is interested in or has special feelings towards -for example the noble women whose portraits he made- mysterious and emotional. His foremost work of this sort was surely the “Mona Lisa”, a painting he always carried by his side, until the day he died. da Vinci is mainly acknowledged and identified with the “Mona Lisa” portrait.

Using ink pens, Leonardo has illustrated the people he chose for his “human types gallery” in various positions -in side view, from the front and half way turned around- and with different facial expressions… We know that some of these drawings have been used for the figures in some of the few oil paintings he made on canvas. These works that complete each other are therefore a good indication of how, by using different painting materials and techniques, the same human face can have various superior and peculiar strengths of expression.

Vinci’s human illustrations take us right into the crowded streets of Renaissance Italy. The princes, priests, merchants, warriors, noblemen, women and children are the forerunner of the modern man, the individual, who has emerged in the atmosphere of freedom subsequent to the medieval.

555 years after his birth, we honor the big master Leonardo da Vinci with respect, as he is the one who has granted us this awareness by keeping a visual recollection of that period.


(1) Italian: ‘wiped board’.

Leonardo Da Vinci Painting