da Vinci, Leonardo (圖)

The Age of Renaissance 1420-1600

The Last Supper c.1498/ Mona Lisa c. 1503-1506

Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan / Louvre, Paris

A Florentine painter, scientist and inventor and the supreme genius of the Renaissance. Leonardo da Vinci was the illegitimate son of a notary and probably trained under Verrocchio. In 1482 he moved to Milan, where he worked for the Sforzas. His chief work from this period was a majestic version of The Last Supper. The composition dazzled contemporaries, but da Vinci’s experimental frescoes technique failed and the picture deteriorated rapidly. This was symptomatic of his attitude to painting: the intellectual challenge of creation fascinated him, but the execution was a chore and many of his artistic projects were left unfinished. Da Vinci returned to Florence in 1500, where he produced some of his most famous pictures, most notably the Mona Lisa. These were particularly remarkable for their sfumatoa blending of tones so exquisite that the forms seem to have to lines or borders. He spent a second period in Milan, before ending his days in France. Da Vinci’s genius lay in the breadth of his interest and his infinite curiosity. In addition to his art, his notebooks display a fascination for aeronautics, engineering, mathematics and the natural world.