Some
of the drawings and notes in his sketchbooks show that he was the first person
to make autopsies with a systematic and scientific approach. He observed the
functioning of the “machinery” of humans and of all living creatures, especially
birds, as well as the changes that are caused in these organisms by ageing. And
so, 500 years ago, he found some cause and effect relations which are still
valid today. For example he came to the conclusion that rich and heavy food
cause atherosclerosis as one gets older. Sigmund Freud emphasizes the fact that
Leonardo never lost his childish and curious vision by saying, “Indeed the great
Leonardo remained like a child for the whole of his life in more than one way;
it is said that all great men are bound to retain some infantile part. Even as
an adult he continued to play, and this was another reason why he often appeared
uncanny and incomprehensible to his contemporaries.”
The artist has also often used the power of his
observation talent on the people around him; his piercing gaze would penetrate
through the masks people use to hide behind. This researching, relentless,
curious and passionate perception has also left behind an unforgettable “gallery
of types” showing various human types of Renaissance Italy.
A major part of these human drawings are sketches
of figures necessary for the creation of portrait and composition orders.
Another part of the drawings are of citizens of Renaissance Italy, who with
their striking and extraordinary physical features attracted da Vinci’s
attention and so had the privilege of entering his sketchbooks. These were
people from Florence, Rome, Milan, people from the artist’s social environment,
employers, their wives, sketches of portraits of members of the church, and
various human portraits of beautiful, ugly, old, young, females and males.
The Renaissance period in which Leonardo lived
was a time of continuous agitation, conflict, wars and riots. When searching for
sponsors, Leonardo has therefore emphasized his engineering skills –his
expertise in war machinery and methods– in his letters of application. It is no
surprise that the male figures in Leonardo’s portraits stand out with their
warrior, gruesome, grotesque features. It is also remarkable that the majority
of the female figures he used in his religious paintings and portrait orders
have an idealized beauty. Important exceptions to this conclusion are of course
the “Portrait of a Grotesque Old Woman” which is thought to have been copied
from Leonardo by Francesko Melzi in 1490/91 and the “Grotesque Portrait Studies”
estimated to have been made in 1492.
But in general one can say that the women in his
paintings such as “Mona Lisa” (Portrait of Lisa del Giocondo), “The Madonna of
the Carnation”, “Annunciation”, “Portrait of Ginevra de' Benci”, “Virgin of the
Rocks”, “Portrait of an Unknown Woman” dated 1490, “The Virgin and Child with St
Anne” and “Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani (Lady with an Ermine)” have been
idealized with smooth and radiant complexions and fully symmetric and geometric
facial proportions. One can also assume that the warrior rulers and other
powerful men of Renaissance Italy got married to much younger women than
themselves and therefore the majority of Leonardo’s models were young and
beautiful women.
The inner organs of the human being in Leonardo’s anatomy drawings are more
closely interconnected than they are in 0reality; this reflects his concept of
the deep complexity of human nature. Leonardo believed that different parts of
the body had emotional functions; for instance tears came directly from the
heart, the seat of all feeling. In line with the idea that the human face is a
direct reflection of an individual’s underlying character and momentary
sensations, da Vinci gave expressions to the faces of the people he observed
according to his opinion of them and to the role he gave them.
This must also be the reason why his gallery of
human portraits stands out with grotesque and caricaturized images. In his
illustrations of some emotional moments in Christian mythology, the artist tends
to illustrate the people he isn’t fond of uglier than they are. On Leonardo da
Vinci The Last Supperthe other hand, he would use all his talent to illustrate
the people he is interested in or has special feelings towards -for example the
noble women whose portraits he made- mysterious and emotional. His foremost work
of this sort was surely the “Mona Lisa”, a painting he always carried by his
side, until the day he died. da Vinci is mainly acknowledged and identified with
the “Mona Lisa” portrait.
Using ink pens, Leonardo has illustrated the people he chose for his “human
types gallery” in various positions -in side view, from the front and half way
turned around- and with different facial expressions… We know that some of these
drawings have been used for the figures in some of the few oil paintings he made
on canvas. These works that complete each other are therefore a good indication
of how, by using different painting materials and techniques, the same human
face can have various superior and peculiar strengths of expression.
Vinci’s human illustrations take us right into the crowded streets of
Renaissance Italy. The princes, priests, merchants, warriors, noblemen, women
and children are the forerunner of the modern man, the individual, who has
emerged in the atmosphere of freedom subsequent to the medieval.
555 years after his birth, we honor the big master Leonardo da Vinci with
respect, as he is the one who has granted us this awareness by keeping a visual
recollection of that period.
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