Leonardo da Vinci: The Mind of the Renaissance
Young Leonardo astonishes his family and friends by his precociousness and his desire for understanding. A great observer, his artistic sensitivities develop over time. He apprentices with Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence. Leonardo masters perspective and proportion of man and animals, becomes a good architect, and draws from life. He indulges in the "exploration of the true." Technical problems and philosophical considerations are intertwined in Leonardo's mind and work. At the age of twenty, Leonardo is accepted into the painters' guild, and his creative imagination serves the pomp of the Medici court well. He caricatures the faces of the men involved in the slander against him. Leonardo studies the machines of his day in order to improve them and to invent even more complex ones. As Leonardo's work progresses, he shakes off all the conventional representations of the subject of the adoration of the magi. Lorenzo de Medici sends Leonardo to the court of Milan as a musician. When he arrives, he presents himself as a military engineer armed with intricate drawings of weapons and machinery. The "Virgin on the Rocks" is rich with symbolism. Leonardo organizes entertainments and shows at the court of Milan and experiments with mechanical inventions and theatrical machinery. He soon becomes the court painter, begins his treatise on painting, and produces a four-volume treatise on flight. Leonardo develops grand urban projects for the city of Milan, recently ravaged by plague. In his quest to understand the essence of Man, Leonardo carries out dissections of the human body and records his findings in intricate drawings. Leonardo spends many hours, sometimes days, thinking about his painting without picking up a brush. To him, proportion and balance must flow from the artist's knowledge of his subjects. "Beauty and harmony are of the divine nature," writes Leonardo. Venitian officials ask Leonardo to help them design defenses for the city. In French-occupied Milan, Leonardo da Vinci is appointed chief engineer in the service of Cesare Borgia. Fifty years old, Leonardo returns to Florence in 1503. The public flocks to see his paintings in which they see earthly beings transformed into heavenly creatures such as the "Mona Lisa." In his capacity as an engineer, Leonardo designs an excavator large enough to build canals. Some of Leonardo's paintings from his later years are lost, while others exist only as copies. In 1513, Leonardo moves to the Vatican, and then at the invitation of the king of France, he moves to Amboise in 1516 to become first painter, engineer, and architect to the King. Leonardo dies in 1519 at the age of sixty-seven.
The Drawings of Michelangelo
Art students can benefit greatly from comparing Michelangelo’s preparatory drawings to his finished masterworks—but viewing them together is virtually impossible in a museum setting. This program solves that problem, closely juxtaposing the artist’s pencil and charcoal works with the painting, sculpture, and architecture that grew out of them. Studying drawings at the British Museum, the Ashmolean Museum, and other renowned institutions, the program presents detailed analysis of the Pieta, the colossal David, the Sistine Chapel ceiling, The Last Judgment, the Medici tomb, and St. Peter’s Basilica. It also provides insight into Michelangelo’s tools, techniques, stylistic evolution, and sexuality. Michelangelo's surviving drawings reveal his perfectionism and his techniques. In a studio similar to the artist's workshop of Ghirlandaio, students sketch in the manner of Michelangelo. Though Michelangelo denied the influence of Ghirlandaio in his work, comparisons reveal the similarity between the two artists. Michelangelo taught himself to sculpt. The "Pieta" is a signature piece for the great sculptor. His knowledge of human anatomy was staggering for the time. "David" is the first colossal marble sculpture to be carved in Italy since antiquity. Examination of Michelangelo’s drawings reveals emphasis on the solar plexus of human figures. Closer examination of his figures show the almost impossibility of the torque of the artist's figures, and the unnatural emphasis of underlying structure. In 1508, Angelo begins painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Many surviving drawings show the artist's preparation work for his greatest, but most difficult work. In 1516, Michelangelo was called by the Medici pope to design the Medici family church of San Lorenzo, though it ultimately became a funerary chapel and family tomb. Many of his studies for the sculptures remain and are compared to the actual pieces. The conflicting forces of Michelangelo's passionate response to the male form and his intensely felt Christian faith are the driving forces of his art. Contemplating his own death, Michelangelo creates his crucifixion drawings, exploring his conflicting feelings of hope and dread.
La Primavera
For centuries, Botticelli's "La Primavera" is subject to numerous interpretations about its meaning. On display in the Uffizi Gallery, its size and grandeur command visitors' attention. Nine identifiable figures stand in a lush and fertile meadow. Botticelli apprentices under Fra Filippo Lippi from whom he learned the art of depicting female movement through drapery techniques. Botticelli may have depicted his patron, Lorenzo II, in the figure of Mercury. Though it is a secular painting, "La Primavera" evokes religious sentiments. Venus and Cupid can be seen in the same light as the Virgin and Child, the most popular painting motif of the time. Historians speculate that the painting was originally commissioned for the marriage of Lorenzo's nephew and his young bride. It hung thereafter above their bed in a Florentine townhouse. The theme of rape and violence is somewhat common in paintings commissioned for the newly married. "La Primavera" shows that adversity ends in a happy marriage, a suitable message for young married couples. Botticelli paints with egg tempura, a technique that gives his paintings their peculiar ethereal magic. The translucent qualities of tempura lend themselves to painting flesh tones. Lead white adds fine details and illusory qualities to his work. Critics propose that understanding the painting means finding the key that links all nine figures, a task that engages not only the eye, but the mind. The painting is aesthetically and intellectually beautiful. Botanists identify the verdant features "La Primavera." The flowers are painted with photographic accuracy. An art historian explains which flowers are associated with marriage. In 1743 the last Medici dies and bequeaths the painting to the city of Florence. When it is displayed in the early nineteenth century, it causes a sensation. Later, the Pre-Raphaelites impose their melancholy sensibilities on the painting. Pre-Raphaelite Simeon Solomon's response to "La Primavera" has a strong sense of sadness in the expression of the artist's sexuality. This "apprehension" about sexuality culminates in the spectacle of Oscar Wilde. The growth of interest in "La Primavera" coincides with the earliest mass-produced art. Fine art reproductions are in high demand, especially "La Primavera" and its seductive overtones. The painting is also mocked in many ways. Flora proves to be the most enigmatic figure in the painting. Though modeled after a beautiful Florentine, she also defies interpretation. Is she a fusion of the male and female characters in the painting?
Velazquez
Velazquez spends his life as a court painter to his friend King Phillip IV of Spain. His timeless paintings capture the moment as seen in his painting of Prince Don Carlos. Velazquez is influenced by the Italian masters. Much of his work is based on an earlier age, and the work of another artist. "Surrender of Breda" is an example of Velazquez' "artlessness." Dona Juana Pacheco remains at Velazquez side for life. Revelations of their private life are found in the few remaining possessions they left behind. His portrait of her is also called Sybil. Prince Baltazar Carlos on horseback reveals a childhood vulnerability and fundamental truth for which Velazquez is famous. He expresses abstract ideals in his paintings of the hunt. Velazquez is an idealist from a vantage point above reality. He uses his mind's eye to capture the essence of a king personality characterized by stasis, but full of inner movement and emotion. Velazquez paints the palace jesters for the pleasure of king, but reveals a grandeur locked in the body of a deformed person. He accomplishes this through the balance of light and color. Velazquez paints these pictures of deformed individuals with great sympathy and insight that reveal an artistic and psychological breakthrough. In the portrait of sculptor Juan Martinez Montanez, Velazquez paints with little interest in color. His few religious paintings outclass the religious painters with a simple message revealed in simple colors. Paintings of the Villa Medici in Rome reveal a tactile reality and roots of Impressionism. Returning to Spain, Velazquez paints his finest works like "Las Meninas" and "Phillip IV." Las Hilanderas, painted over a long period of time, is an interpretation of the myth of Minerva and Arachne. Velazquez is miraculous at painting the truth with his technical expertise.
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