Sunday, June 29, 2008

Leonardo da Vinci (Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci)

Famous Paintings

The Last Supper
Leonardo's most famous painting of the 1490s is The Last Supper, painted in Milan. The painting represents the last meal shared by Jesus with his disciples before his capture and death. It shows specifically the moment when Jesus has said "one of you will betray me". Leonardo tells the story of the consternation that this statement caused to the twelve followers of Jesus(their believe of coz..)


Mona Lisa
Among the works created by Leonardo in the 1500s is the small portrait known as the Mona Lisa or “la Gioconda”, the laughing one. The painting is famous, in particular, for the elusive smile on the woman’s face, its mysterious quality brought about perhaps by the fact that the artist has subtly shadowed the corners of the mouth and eyes so that the exact nature of the smile cannot be determined. The shadowy quality for which the work is renowned came to be called “sfumato” or Leonardo’s smoke. Other characteristics found in this work are the unadorned dress, in which the eyes and hands have no competition from other details, the dramatic landscape background in which the world seems to be in a state of flux, the subdued colouring and the extremely smooth nature of the painterly technique, employing oils, but laid on much like tempera and blended on the surface so that the brushstrokes are indistinguishable
Other Paintings
St Jerome in the Wilderness (1480)
Virgin of the Rock (Possibly 1505-1508)
Annuciation(1475-1480, Leonardo's earliest complete work)

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