• HOME
  • ABOUT
  • ARTIST BIRTHDAY CALENDAR
  • SUBMISSIONS
  • CONTACT
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

Daily Art Fixx

visual arts blog, painting, drawing, sculpture, illustration and more!

  • Art History
  • Drawing
  • Illustration
  • Mixed Media
  • Painting
  • Photography
  • Sculpture
  • Video
  • ART QUOTES
  • MORE CATEGORIES
    • 5 Women Artists Series
    • Architecture
    • Art & Technology
    • Art-e-Facts
    • Body Art
    • Collage
    • Cover Art
    • Crafts
    • Design
    • Digital
    • E-Learning
    • Eco-Art
    • Group Feature
    • Mixed Media
    • Nature
    • Street Art
    • Weird Art
    • Women in Visual Arts

Leonardo da Vinci: 1452 – 1519 – Mini Bio

April 15, 2016 By Wendy Campbell

Leonardo-da-VinciIn honour of Leonardo da Vinci‘s birthday today, DAF is featuring a mini-bio from Biography.com.

“Born on April 15, 1452, in Vinci, Italy, Leonardo da Vinci was the epitome of a “Renaissance man.” Possessor of a curious mind and keen intellect, da Vinci studied the laws of science and nature, which greatly informed his work as a painter, sculptor, architect, inventor, military engineer and draftsman. His ideas and body of work—which includes “Virgin of the Rocks,” “The Last Supper” and “Mona Lisa”—have influenced countless artists and made da Vinci a leading light of the Italian Renaissance.”

Image source (Italymag.co.uk)

Filed Under: ART, Painting, Video Tagged With: Fresco Painting, Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, Renaissance Art

Art-e-Facts: 5 Random Art Facts – XXI

August 18, 2011 By Wendy Campbell

1. Considered a pioneer in modernism, Romanian artist Constantin Brâncuşi‘s sculpture “Bird in Space” was the cause of a court battle in 1926-27 when US customs officials refused to believe that bronze piece was art. They imposed the tariff for manufactured metal objects, 40% of the sale price or about $230 dollars.  Marcel Duchamp (who brought the sculptures from Europe), American photographer Edward Steichen (who was to take possession of Bird in Space), and Brâncuşi were furious. Under pressure from the press and artists, U.S. customs agreed to rethink their classification of the items, but until then released the sculptures on bond under “Kitchen Utensils and Hospital Supplies.” (Wikipedia)

2. In the movie Inception, The “Penrose Stairs” (with a woman perpetually picking up papers) is a reference to a lithograph print by the Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher. First printed in 1960, the drawing is usually called “Ascending and Descending” or “The Infinite Staircase”.  Escher is well-known for his drawings exploring optical illusions and real architectural, mathematical, and philosophical principles rendered in fantastical ways. (IMDB)

3. The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci may contain hidden code. Art historians are investigating a real life “Da Vinci Code” style mystery after discovering tiny numbers and letters painted into the eyes of the Mona Lisa. Members of Italy’s National Committee for Cultural Heritage have revealed that by magnifying high resolution images of the Mona Lisa’s eyes letters and numbers can be seen. Silvano Vinceti, president of the Committee said, “You have to remember the ­picture is almost 500 years old so it is not as sharp and clear as when first painted….From the preliminary investigations we have carried out we are confident they are not a mistake and were put there by the artist.” (Daily Mail UK)

4. The well known saying “15 Minutes of Fame” was coined by Andy Warhol. The expression is a paraphrase of a line in Warhol’s exhibition catalog for an exhibit at the Moderna Museet, in Stockholm from 1968. The catalog read, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” In 1979 Warhol stated his claim, “…my prediction from the sixties finally came true: In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.” Becoming bored with constantly being asked about this particular statement, Warhol attempted to confuse interviewers by changing the statement variously to “In the future 15 people will be famous” and “In 15 minutes everybody will be famous.” As it turns out, with the rise of celebrity culture, reality TV, YouTube, and the internet, Warhol’s statement has been quite prophetic. (Wikipedia)

5. Paul Cézanne rarely considered his paintings finished. His friend and dealer Ambroise Vollard observed that “when Cézanne laid a canvas aside, it was almost always with the intention of taking it up again, in the hope of bringing it to perfection.” One consequence of this was that Cézanne rarely signed his or dated his works making it difficult to determine the chronology of his works. (Princeton)

Filed Under: ART, Art History, Art-e-Facts, Drawing, Sculpture Tagged With: Andy Warhol, Constantin Brancusi, Inception Movie, Leonardo da Vinci, MC Escher, Paul Cézanne, Penrose Stairs

Leonardo da Vinci: 1452 – 1519

April 15, 2011 By Wendy Campbell

In honour of the great Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday (April 15, 1452), DAF is replaying this interesting Ted Talk by Siegfried Woldhek on the “True Face of Leonardo”.  A full biography of da Vinci is on the way – stay tuned.

Filed Under: ART, Art History, Drawing, Video Tagged With: Italian Art, Leonardo da Vinci

Happy Birthday Da Vinci!

April 15, 2009 By Wendy Campbell

One of the most famous artists of all time, Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, was born on April 15, 1452 at Vinci in the region of Florence.  While he is perhaps most famous as a painter, Da Vinci was known to have an unyielding curiosity that persisted up until the end of his life in 1519.  Da Vinci was a polymath and  besides his career as an artist, he was also an inventor, mathematician, architect, musician,  engineer, botanist, writer, and an anatomist.(1)

At the age of 14, Da Vinci was apprenticed to successful artist Andrea di Cione (aka Verrocchio) where he learned a large variety of skills as well as drawing, painting, sculpting, and modeling. During his professional life, Da Vinci worked in Florence, Milan, Rome, and in 1516 – 1519 in France under the service of Francis I.  Leonardo Da Vinci died on May 2, 1519 at Clos Lucé in France.(1)

The Mona Lisa (La Gioconda , La Jaconde, 1503-1506) is a small painting (2’6” x 1’8”) that continues to be a source of fascination and debate.  The dark and wild landscape brought together with the serene beauty, smile and liveliness of the sitter creates a sense of mystery and an improbable merging of two opposing worlds.(2)

The Mona Lisa is on display at the Louvre and around 6 million people view the painting ever year. I saw her last summer while in Paris and have to admit my disappointment.  The huge crowd of visitors meant that one could only stop briefly to examine it, through a bullet-proof glass enclosure, from a distance as we were herded quickly through the line.  Next time, I’ll go in winter.

To view more paintings by Da Vinci check out the Web Gallery of Art.  The Notebooks of Leonardo Davinci can be downloaded free from Project Gutenberg.

Filed Under: ART, Art History, Painting Tagged With: Italian Artists, Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa

The Last Supper

April 13, 2009 By Wendy Campbell

Well it’s Easter so what better day to post representations of the Last Supper in art.  I am too full of Easter chocolate to provide any coherent, meaningful comparison or analysis, so here simply, are three images depicting the last meal of Jesus and his Apostles.  The first, probably the most famous by Leonardo da Vinci; the second, Salvador Dali’s The Sacrement of the Last Supper; and third, an artist I like, known only as Arum1966 or Mark from Deviant Art.  Enjoy and Happy Easter!

Leonardo da Vinci - The Last Supper

Leonardo da Vinci - The Last Supper


The Sacrament of the Last Supper - Salvador Dali

The Sacrament of the Last Supper - Salvador Dali


The Last Supper - Arum1966 (Mark)

The Last Supper - Arum1966 (Mark)

Filed Under: ART, Art History, Deviant Art Tagged With: Leonardo da Vinci, Salvador Dali, The Last Supper

GET DAF'S MONTHLY E-NEWS!

Categories

Archives by Date

Privacy Policy ✪ Copyright © 2023 Daily Art Fixx