Daily Art Fixx

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

Leonardo da Vinci: 1452 – 1519 – Mini Bio

By

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)

Art-e-Facts: 5 Random Art Facts – XX

By

1. When the Mona Lisa was stolen in August 1911, French poet Guillaume Apollinaire, who had once called for the Louvre to be “burnt down,” came under suspicion; he was arrested and put in jail. Apollinaire tried to implicate his friend Pablo Picasso, who was also brought in for questioning, but both were later exonerated. The real thief – Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia was discovered 2 years later and only served six months in jail for the crime. (Wikipedia)

2. Salvador Dali had a peculiar way of napping.  Daily after his lunch, he would sit down with his arms extending beyond the chair’s arms. In one hand he would grasp a key between thumb and forefinger. After he fell asleep, his fingers would relax, the key would fall to the floor, the clatter would wake him up, and he would harvest the wild associations common to the first few minutes of sleep. (Washington Post)

3. The art market experiences similar bubbles to the stock market. For example, the art market soared in 1985 to 1990, when the compound annual return of the art market was 30%. It subsequently tanked in 1991-1995, losing 65% of its value. Art experienced another bubble in 2003 through 2007, during which the art index had at CAR of 20%. This bubble too burst with the collapse of the stock market 23.5%. For the past 10 and five year periods however, the Moses Mei All Art Index outperformed the stock market, returning a CAR of 5.5% and 3.3% respectively, compared with stock returns of -1.3% and -0.1%. (Pamela J. Black – On Wall Street)

4. Natural Ultramarine which is found in nature as a component of the semi precious stone lapis lazuli, is the most difficult pigment to grind by hand, and for all except the highest quality of mineral sheer grinding and washing produces only a pale grayish blue powder. The oldest use of lapis lazuli as a pigment can be seen in the 6th- and 7th-century AD cave paintings in Afghanistani, Zoroastrian and Buddhist temples, near the source of the mineral. The pigment was most extensively used during the 14th through 15th centuries, as its brilliance complemented the vermilion and gold of illuminated manuscripts and Italian panel paintings. Synthetic versions of ultramarine have been around since 1928 though it is not as vivid or permanent. (Wikipedia)

5. Tachisme, derived from the French word tache–stain,  is a French style of abstract painting popular in the 1940s and 1950s. It is often considered to be the European equivalent to abstract expressionism. It was part of a larger postwar movement known as Art Informel which abandoned geometric abstraction in favour of a more intuitive form of expression, similar to action painting. (Wikipedia)

Happy Birthday Da Vinci!

By

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.