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François 1 & Wilmington Charter : A New Look
8 avril 2021

2nde 1 et 2nde 2 : Renaissance

LEONARDO DA VINCI, an artist, a scientist and an inventor

 

Introduction

 

PQ: Why was Leonardo da Vinci a genius?

 

I) A fabulous career

A°) From Vinci to France

B°) As a painter

Case study: Mona Lisa

 

II) But also a scientist and an inventor

A°) Fond of anatomy, astronomy, mathematics…

B°) and an inventor

 

Conclusion

 

Vocabulary :  Index Book

 

Method : How to comment upon a painting?

 

Homework

Interpreter un tableau : “L’Annonciation” de L. de Vinci, 1472 – 1475, Galerie des Offices, Florence (Italie)

 

 

LEARN MORE :

 

- www.mos.org/leonardo/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LEONARDO DA VINCI, an artist, a scientist and an inventor

 

Introduction : 

 

Renaissance means ‘rebirth’. This rebirth refers to the fact that artists and scientists rediscovered the knowledge of ancient Greece and Rome, which had been lost to them for thousands years. They applied their classical knowledge to their own investigations of the natural world and of human kind. L. da Vinci (1452 – 1519) was often described as the archetype of the Renaissance Man, a man of ‘unquenchable curiosity’ and ‘feverishly inventive imagination’

 

I) A fabulous career

A°) From Vinci to Cloux (France)

 

Born the illegitimate son of a notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant woman, at Vinci near Florence. He was educated in the studio of the renowned painter : Verrochio.

Much of his working life was spent in the service of powerful patrons. The dukes of Milan : Il Moro and Sforza. But also in Bologna, Rome and Venice. He spent his last years in France at the home awarded by Francis I along the river Loire.

He always considered himself as a persecuted and unloved artist.

 

B°) As a painter

 Mona Lisa

 

 

Unknown-2

 

Introduction: 

It was painted in Florence between 1503 and 1506. It may have been the picture of a rich merchant’s wife: Francisco del Giocondo. This portrait is in Le Louvre (Paris). It is an oil painting on wood. Its size is rather large for that kind of subject at that time: 77 x 53 cm. 

Portraits of all kinds are very fashionable at that time.

 

Analysis:

 

What do we know about that woman ? She married Francesco del Giocondo in 1495. She had 2 children : a girl (dead) and a boy. 

The woman is sitting in a loggia that overtakes a landscape.That's a 'veduta'. It is a 3/4th half portrait. The structure is based on a pyramid which gives either a strong and still movement or a kind of taking off. There is a circular movement from the body to the look which is perpendicular to the painting.There is an echo of that movement in the path on the left side. 

Sitting on the loggia, she nearly seems to be out of it that is to say with us – the audience. There is an opposition between the far away landscape and the focus it creates on her face. The landscape highlights the lady. To finish with there is an opposition between the lady who is still and the landscape with the running water, wind… 

There are many echoes between the figure and the landscape. For instance her dress and the rock on the right side. Her hair and the path. In fact the same light is used either for the lady and the landscape. It creates a unity of the whole.  The top of her head is the sky and her look appeals our look and stabilizes it. The hands balance the portrait but also dig a gap with foreigners. That's an example of the rules of polite society.

 But there is an analogy between water = the blood and rocks = skeleton. 

The bridge is the symbol of changes in her soul from happiness to quietness. Jucundus in latin means calm. There are movements in her body and in her soul.

 That composition is not brand new, but what is new is the harmony of both.

 The atmospheric perspective comes from the Flemish painters. And Leonardo used the 'sfumato' to shadow the outlines of the figure.

 The portrait is a model of elegance, natural, and balance composition.. Her smile expresses the time that goes by.

 

L'Annonciation  (1473 - 1475)

 

images-1

 

  1. Introduce the source. 
  2. What is the topic of that painting?
  3. Describe it. (Characters, scenery, behaviors, feelings…)
  4. Focus on the technique. (perspective, colors, light, brushes…)
  5. What are the errors in the painting that you can notice?

 

 

II) but also a scientist and an inventor

A°) Fond of anatomy, astronomy, mathematics…

 - Leonardo da Vinci was one of the few Renaissance figures who thought scientifically. As he grew older he became more and more interested in science, mathematics and technology, and less in painting.

- Most of his scientific work is in his notebooks which show that he was always asking questions about human beings and the world in which they lived. He observed closely and drew not only beautifully but with great accuracy. 

- Watching the flight of birds made him think about nature of flight and try, without success, to design a flying machine.

  • His interest in anatomy started from his need as a painter to show the human body as realistically as possible, but he pursued his anatomical studies far beyond his artistic needs. He dissected animals as well as humans (= 30 corpses,  different age and sex) and drew exactly what he found. The heart particularly interested him and he seems to have got close to discovering how blood circulates through the body.

 

He tackles different parts : muscles, bones, tendons…His knowledge comes from Antiquity and sometimes was wrong because of it.

 

Leonardo's problem was that he was ahead of this time. He lived among and worked for people who thought of him mainly as an artist. His scientific ideas were written in his mirror-writing in his private notebooks and never published.

 

B°) And an inventor

- Evidence A

Leonard de Vinci - char a faux

 

 

Questions :

1. What do you think is shown in evidence A,

2. Describe how you think it worked.

3. In fact, what are most of Leonardo's ideas about?

 

 

Conclusion :

Leonardo was renowned primarily as a painter. Some of is works became cultural icons, such as Mona Lisa, or the Vitruvian Man. Leonardo is also revered for his technological ingenuity. As a scientist, he made important discoveries in anatomy, civil engineering, optics, and hydrodynamics.

 

 

 

Renaissance - Vocabulary - Index Book : Letter L

 

Renaissance means "rebirth". This rebirth refers to the fact that artists and scientists rediscovered the knowledge of ancient Greece and Rome, which had been lost to them for thousands years. they applied their classical knowledge to their own investigations on the natural world and on the human kind.

 

Leonardo da Vinci :

- apprentice

- horizon line 

- vanishing point

- orthogonal lines

- aerial perspective

- mirror-image 

- atmospheric effects

- mechanics

- anatomy

- a parodied portrait

- the main outlines : les lignes de construction

- the depth : la profounder

- the colors can be warm, cold, bright, vivid, pale, soft…

- the main source of light

- the play of light and shade…

- a trompe-l'oeil painting : une peinture en trompe l'oeil

- a coffered ceiling : plafond à caissons

- a tapestry : une tapisserie

- the Eucharist

- workshop

- technical skills

- workshop

- engineer

- a patron

- apprenticeship

- fresco (es) 

- sfumato : technique of shading

- dissections / to dissect

- helicopters

- war machines

- tendons / muscles / anatomical features

- skeleton / vascular system

- fetus in utero

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