Vitruvian man Leonardo da Vinci meaning. Great paintings by Leonardo da Vinci

04.01.202427.05.2017

“Vitruvian Man” is a drawing by the Italian scientist Leonardo da Vinci, which he made for the book of the Roman architect Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, who lived in the first century BC, whose works in the form of the treatise “10 Books on Architecture” occupied the minds of scientists throughout Europe throughout many centuries.

Artist, scientist, engineer - Leonardo da Vinci

The painting "Vitruvian Man" was painted in 1492. It cannot be counted among the paintings of the famous Florentine, such as “The Lady with an Ermine,” painted in 1490, shortly before the creation of “The Vitruvian Man,” or “The Last Supper,” which was published in 1498. And even more so, comparison is impossible with the brilliant “La Gioconda”, created in the period from 1505 to 1519.

Canons

Leonardo da Vinci's drawing substantively reveals the fundamental principles of the canonical proportions of a person, which in a certain way correlate with the architectural norms derived by Vitruvius. There are six in total:

Ordinatio - absolute order order or systematicity. Vitruvius describes general architectural principles, the formation of volume, the basics of dimensional relationships and proportions. Next, the scientist gives his famous triad: venustas - beauty, utilitas - benefit, firmitas - structural strength.
Dispositio - basis, local placement. A description of the principles of organizing space and the location of an object in three-dimensional format follows.
Eurythmia - determination of the most aesthetic proportions, the composition is specified.
Symmetria - this category involves the relationship of an architectural module with parts of the human body.
Decor - decorativeness and colorfulness combined with orderly rigor in the arrangement of elements.
Distributio - a description of the methods that determine the economic side of the operation of the facility.

Geometry

The painting “Vitruvian Man” by Leonardo da Vinci became an illustration for Vitruvius’ multi-volume treatise, combining scientific work and a work of art into one whole. The figure shows a person in two forms: one position - with legs and arms spread apart - inscribed in a circle, the second - with arms spread apart and legs brought together - inscribed in a square. Moreover, both geometric figures organically correlate with each other, despite the fact that they directly touch at one lower point, and at another six - only indirectly.

"Vitruvian Man" is the most famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci after "La Gioconda". The value of a drawing is determined by engineering criteria. The pose of a person “legs together, arms apart” fits into a geometric figure called the “Square of the Ancients”, and a person with legs and arms apart fits into a circle. In this case, it is a regularity that the center of the figure in both cases falls on one point, which in everyday life is called the “navel,” that is, the place where the umbilical cord leaves at the birth of a person.

Calculations

This is what the “Vitruvian Man” looks like, the significance of which cannot be overestimated, from the point of view of mathematical analysis:

The distance from the tip of the middle finger to the base of the little finger is equal to the length of the palm.
The length of the foot is equal to the width of four palms.
Six palms are equal to the length of a elbow.
The height of an average person is 4 cubits or 24 hands.
The step is equal to one elbow and one palm.
The arms span is equal to the height of a person.
The distance from the level of hair on the head to the lower edge of the chin is 1/10 of the height.
The distance from the bottom line of the chin to the top of the head is 1/8 of the height.
The distance from the top of the head to the nipples is 1/4 of the height.
Shoulder width - 1/4 height.
The length from the elbow to the fingertips is 1/4 of the height.
The distance from the elbow to the armpit is 1/8 of the height.
Arm length - 2/5 height.
The distance from the nose to the lower edge of the chin is one third of the length of the face.
From the eyebrows to the hairline - a third of the length of the face.
The vertical size of the ears is 1/3 of the length of the face.

Symbolism

Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man" is often used as a symbol of the symmetry of the human body.

A careful examination of the drawing reveals four clearly defined positions of the human body and two dominants of the composition. The first is the center of the figure located in a circle; this is the “navel” of a person, as a symbol of birth. The second - the center of the body, placed in a square, falls on the genitals and serves as a symbol of procreation.

"Vitruvian Man" is presented by Leonardo da Vinci as the personification of the Universe and is considered the forerunner of the Italian Renaissance. Later, the French architect Corbusier successfully used the theory of proportions of the human body to create his own Modulor system, which is responsible for the convenience and ergonomics of housing. In 1952, the architect built a multi-storey residential building in Marseille, following the teachings of Vitruvius and the Modulor in its practical application.

Shroud

There is also an assumption that the drawing “Vitruvian Man” is an image of Christ on the holy shroud, which Leonardo da Vinci transferred to paper during the restoration of the relic. This version has the right to life, since it is known for certain that the keepers of the shroud with the image of Christ handed it over to the scientist for restoration.

Impressed by the divine proportions appearing on the shrine, da Vinci created his masterpiece and thereby placed man as the image of God at the center of the Universe. And today the “Vitruvian Man”, the meaning of whose creation and existence goes far beyond the artistic depiction, symbolizes man in the Universe and is an example of ideal proportions for architecture.

During the Renaissance there were many brilliant sculptors, artists, musicians, and inventors. Leonardo da Vinci stands out against their background. He created musical instruments, he owned many engineering inventions, painted paintings, sculptures and much more.

His external characteristics are also amazing: tall height, angelic appearance and extraordinary strength. Let's get acquainted with the genius Leonardo da Vinci; a short biography will tell about his main achievements.

Biography facts

He was born near Florence in the small town of Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci was the illegitimate son of a famous and wealthy notary. His mother is an ordinary peasant woman. Since the father had no other children, at the age of 4 he took little Leonardo to live with him. The boy demonstrated his extraordinary intelligence and friendly character from a very early age, and he quickly became a favorite in the family.

To understand how the genius of Leonardo da Vinci developed, a brief biography can be presented as follows:

At the age of 14 he entered Verrocchio's workshop, where he studied drawing and sculpture.
In 1480 he moved to Milan, where he founded the Academy of Arts.
In 1499, he left Milan and began moving from city to city, where he built defensive structures. During this same period, his famous rivalry with Michelangelo began.
Since 1513 he has been working in Rome. Under Francis I, he becomes a court sage.

Leonardo died in 1519. As he believed, nothing he started was ever completed.

Creative path

The work of Leonardo da Vinci, whose brief biography was outlined above, can be divided into three stages.

Early period. Many works of the great painter were unfinished, such as the “Adoration of the Magi” for the monastery of San Donato. During this period, the paintings “Benois Madonna” and “Annunciation” were painted. Despite his young age, the painter already demonstrated high skill in his paintings.
Leonardo's mature period of creativity took place in Milan, where he planned to make a career as an engineer. The most popular work written at this time was The Last Supper, and at the same time he began work on the Mona Lisa.
In the late period of creativity, the painting “John the Baptist” and a series of drawings “The Flood” were created.

Painting always complemented science for Leonardo da Vinci, as he sought to capture reality.

Inventions

A short biography cannot fully convey Leonardo da Vinci's contribution to science. However, we can note the most famous and valuable discoveries of the scientist.

He made his greatest contribution to mechanics, as can be seen from his many drawings. Leonardo da Vinci studied the fall of a body, the centers of gravity of pyramids and much more.
He invented a car made of wood, which was driven by two springs. The car mechanism was equipped with a brake.
He came up with a spacesuit, fins and a submarine, as well as a way to dive to depth without using a spacesuit with a special gas mixture.
The study of dragonfly flight has led to the creation of several variants of wings for humans. The experiments were unsuccessful. However, then the scientist came up with a parachute.
He was involved in developments in the military industry. One of his proposals was chariots with cannons. He came up with a prototype of an armadillo and a tank.
Leonardo da Vinci made many developments in construction. Arch bridges, drainage machines and cranes are all his inventions.

There is no man like Leonardo da Vinci in history. That is why many consider him an alien from other worlds.

Five secrets of da Vinci

Today, many scientists are still puzzling over the legacy left by the great man of the past era. Although it’s not worth calling Leonardo da Vinci that way, he predicted a lot, and foresaw even more, creating his unique masterpieces and amazing with his breadth of knowledge and thought. We offer you five secrets of the great Master that help lift the veil of secrecy over his works.

Encryption

The master encrypted a lot in order not to present ideas openly, but to wait a little until humanity “ripened and grew up” to them. Equally good with both hands, da Vinci wrote with his left hand, in the smallest font, and even from right to left, and often in mirror image. Riddles, metaphors, puzzles - this is what is found on every line, in every work. Never signing his works, the Master left his marks, visible only to an attentive researcher. For example, after many centuries, scientists discovered that by looking closely at his paintings, you can find a symbol of a bird taking off. Or the famous “Benois Madonna,” found among traveling actors who carried the canvas as a home icon.

Sfumato

The idea of dispersion also belongs to the great mystifier. Take a closer look at the canvases, all the objects do not reveal clear edges, just like in life: the smooth flow of one image into another, blurriness, dispersion - everything breathes, lives, awakening fantasies and thoughts. By the way, the Master often advised practicing such vision, peering into water stains, mud deposits or piles of ash. Often he deliberately fumigated his work areas with smoke in order to see in the clubs what was hidden beyond the reasonable eye.

Look at the famous painting - the smile of the “Mona Lisa” from different angles, sometimes tender, sometimes slightly arrogant and even predatory. The knowledge gained through the study of many sciences gave the Master the opportunity to invent perfect mechanisms that are becoming available only now. For example, this is the effect of wave propagation, the penetrating power of light, oscillatory motion... and many things still need to be analyzed not even by us, but by our descendants.

Analogies

Analogies are the main thing in all the works of the Master. The advantage over accuracy, when a third follows from two conclusions of the mind, is the inevitability of any analogy. And Da Vinci still has no equal in his whimsicality and drawing absolutely mind-blowing parallels. One way or another, all of his works have some ideas that are not consistent with each other: the famous “golden ratio” illustration is one of them. With limbs spread and apart, a person fits into a circle, with his arms closed into a square, and with his arms slightly raised into a cross. It was this kind of “mill” that gave the Florentine magician the idea of creating churches, where the altar was placed exactly in the middle, and the worshipers stood in a circle. By the way, engineers liked this same idea - this is how the ball bearing was born.

Contrapposto

The definition denotes the opposition of opposites and the creation of a certain type of movement. An example is the sculpture of a huge horse in Corte Vecchio. There, the animal’s legs are positioned precisely in the contrapposto style, forming a visual understanding of the movement.

Incompleteness

This is perhaps one of the Master’s favorite “tricks”. None of his works are finite. To complete is to kill, and da Vinci loved every one of his creations. Slow and meticulous, the hoaxer of all times could take a couple of brush strokes and go to the valleys of Lombardy to improve the landscapes there, switch to creating the next masterpiece device, or something else. Many works turned out to be spoiled by time, fire or water, but each of the creations, at least meaning something, was and is “unfinished”. By the way, it is interesting that even after the damage, Leonardo da Vinci never corrected his paintings. Having created his own paint, the artist even deliberately left a “window of incompleteness,” believing that life itself would make the necessary adjustments.

What was art before Leonardo da Vinci? Born among the rich, it fully reflected their interests, their worldview, their views on man and the world. The works of art were based on religious ideas and themes: affirmation of those views on the world that the church taught, depiction of scenes from sacred history, instilling in people a sense of reverence, admiration for the “divine” and consciousness of their own insignificance. The dominant theme also determined the form. Naturally, the image of the “saints” was very far from the images of real living people, therefore, schemes, artificiality, and staticity dominated in art. The people in these paintings were a kind of caricature of living people, the landscape is fantastic, the colors are pale and inexpressive. True, even before Leonardo, his predecessors, including his teacher Andrea Verrocchio, were no longer satisfied with the template and tried to create new images. They had already begun the search for new methods of depiction, began to study the laws of perspective, and thought a lot about the problems of achieving expressiveness in the image.

However, these searches for something new did not yield great results, primarily because these artists did not have a sufficiently clear idea of the essence and tasks of art and knowledge of the laws of painting. That is why they fell again into schematism, then into naturalism, which is equally dangerous for genuine art, copying individual phenomena of reality. The significance of the revolution made by Leonardo da Vinci in art and in particular in painting is determined primarily by the fact that he was the first to clearly, clearly and definitely establish the essence and tasks of art. Art should be deeply life-like and realistic. It must come from a deep, careful study of reality and nature. It must be deeply truthful, must depict reality as it is, without any artificiality or falsehood. Reality, nature is beautiful in itself and does not need any embellishment. The artist must carefully study nature, but not to blindly imitate it, not to simply copy it, but in order to create works, having understood the laws of nature, the laws of reality; strictly comply with these laws. To create new values, values of the real world - this is the purpose of art. This explains Leonardo's desire to connect art and science. Instead of simple, casual observation, he considered it necessary to systematically, persistently study the subject. It is known that Leonardo never parted with the album and wrote drawings and sketches in it.

They say that he loved to walk through the streets, squares, markets, noting everything interesting - people’s poses, faces, their expressions. Leonardo's second requirement for painting is the requirement for the truthfulness of the image, its vitality. The artist must strive for the most accurate representation of reality in all its richness. At the center of the world stands a living, thinking, feeling person. It is he who must be depicted in all the richness of his feelings, experiences and actions. For this purpose, it was Leonardo who studied human anatomy and physiology; for this purpose, as they say, he gathered peasants he knew in his workshop and, treating them, told them funny stories in order to see how people laugh, how the same event causes people have different impressions. If before Leonardo there was no real man in painting, now he has become dominant in the art of the Renaissance. Hundreds of Leonardo's drawings provide a gigantic gallery of types of people, their faces, and parts of their bodies. Man in all the diversity of his feelings and actions is the task of artistic depiction. And this is the strength and charm of Leonardo’s painting. Forced by the conditions of the time to paint pictures mainly on religious subjects, because his customers were the church, feudal lords and rich merchants, Leonardo powerfully subordinates these traditional subjects to his genius and creates works of universal significance. The Madonnas painted by Leonardo are, first of all, an image of one of the deeply human feelings - the feeling of motherhood, the boundless love of a mother for her baby, admiration and admiration for him. All his Madonnas are young, blooming women full of life, all the babies in his paintings are healthy, full-cheeked, playful boys, in whom there is not an ounce of “holiness.”

His apostles in The Last Supper are living people of different ages, social status, and different characters; in appearance they are Milanese artisans, peasants, and intellectuals. Striving for truth, the artist must be able to generalize what he finds individual and must create the typical. Therefore, even when painting portraits of certain historically known people, such as Mona Lisa Gioconda, the wife of a bankrupt aristocrat, Florentine merchant Francesco del Gioconda, Leonardo gives them, along with individual portrait features, a typical feature common to many people. That is why the portraits he painted survived the people depicted in them for many centuries. Leonardo was the first who not only carefully and carefully studied the laws of painting, but also formulated them. He deeply, like no one before him, studied the laws of perspective, the placement of light and shadow. He needed all this to achieve the highest expressiveness of the picture, in order to, as he said, “become equal to nature.” For the first time, it was in the works of Leonardo that the painting as such lost its static character and became a window into the world. When you look at his painting, the feeling of what was painted, enclosed in a frame, is lost and it seems that you are looking through an open window, revealing to the viewer something new, something they have never seen. Demanding the expressiveness of the painting, Leonardo resolutely opposed the formal play of colors, against the enthusiasm for form at the expense of content, against what so clearly characterizes decadent art.

For Leonardo, form is only the shell of the idea that the artist must convey to the viewer. Leonardo pays a lot of attention to the problems of the composition of the picture, the problems of placement of figures, and individual details. Hence his favorite composition of placing figures in a triangle - the simplest geometric harmonic figure - a composition that allows the viewer to embrace the whole picture as a whole. Expressiveness, truthfulness, accessibility - these are the laws of real, truly folk art formulated by Leonardo da Vinci, laws that he himself embodied in his brilliant works. Already in his first major painting, “Madonna with a Flower,” Leonardo showed in practice what the principles of art he professed meant. What is striking about this picture is, first of all, its composition, the surprisingly harmonious distribution of all the elements of the picture that make up a single whole. The image of a young mother with a cheerful child in her arms is deeply realistic. The directly felt deep blue of the Italian sky through the window slot is incredibly skillfully conveyed. Already in this picture, Leonardo demonstrated the principle of his art - realism, the depiction of a person in the deepest accordance with his true nature, the depiction of not an abstract scheme, which was what medieval ascetic art taught and did, namely a living, feeling person.

These principles are even more clearly expressed in Leonardo’s second major painting, “The Adoration of the Magi” from 1481, in which what is significant is not the religious plot, but the masterful depiction of people, each of whom has their own, individual face, their own pose, expressing their own feeling and mood. Life truth is the law of Leonardo’s painting. The fullest possible disclosure of a person’s inner life is its goal. In “The Last Supper” the composition is brought to perfection: despite the large number of figures - 13, their placement is strictly calculated so that they all as a whole represent a kind of unity, full of great internal content. The picture is very dynamic: some terrible news communicated by Jesus struck his disciples, each of them reacts to it in their own way, hence the huge variety of expressions of inner feelings on the faces of the apostles. Compositional perfection is complemented by an unusually masterful use of colors, harmony of light and shadows. The expressiveness of the painting reaches its perfection thanks to the extraordinary variety of not only facial expressions, but the position of each of the twenty-six hands drawn in the picture.

This recording by Leonardo himself tells us about the careful preliminary work that he carried out before painting the picture. Everything in it is thought out to the smallest detail: poses, facial expressions; even details such as an overturned bowl or knife; all this in its sum forms a single whole. The richness of colors in this painting is combined with a subtle use of chiaroscuro, which emphasizes the significance of the event depicted in the painting. The subtlety of perspective, the transmission of air and color make this painting a masterpiece of world art. Leonardo successfully solved many problems facing artists at that time and opened the way for the further development of art. By the power of his genius, Leonardo overcame the medieval traditions that weighed heavily on art, broke them and discarded them; he managed to push the narrow boundaries that limited the artist’s creative power by the then ruling clique of churchmen, and show, instead of the hackneyed gospel stencil scene, a huge, purely human drama, show living people with their passions, feelings, and experiences. And in this picture the great, life-affirming optimism of the artist and thinker Leonardo again manifested itself.

Over the years of his wanderings, Leonardo painted many more paintings that received well-deserved world fame and recognition. In "La Gioconda" a deeply vital and typical image is given. It is this deep vitality, the unusually relief rendering of facial features, individual details, and costume, combined with a masterfully painted landscape, that gives this picture special expressiveness. Everything about her—from the mysterious half-smile playing on her face to her calmly folded hands—speaks of great inner content, of the great spiritual life of this woman. Leonardo's desire to convey the inner world in the external manifestations of mental movements is especially fully expressed here. An interesting painting by Leonardo is “The Battle of Anghiari”, depicting the battle of cavalry and infantry. As in his other paintings, Leonardo sought here to show a variety of faces, figures and poses. Dozens of people depicted by the artist create a complete impression of the picture precisely because they are all subordinated to a single idea underlying it. It was a desire to show the rise of all man’s strength in battle, the tension of all his feelings, brought together to achieve victory.

Vitruvian Man is the name given to the graphic image of a naked man in the famous sketch by Leonardo da Vinci. It has been studied for centuries. However, scientists are confident that not all the secrets of the drawing have been revealed.

Leonardo da Vinci: Vitruvian Man (Gallery Accademia, Venice, Italy)

Being one of the most mysterious and controversial figures of his era, Leonardo da Vinci left behind many secrets. Their meaning still worries scientific minds around the world. One of these mysteries is the Vitruvian Man, a pencil sketch of which has been carefully preserved for centuries. And although a lot is known about him, art experts are confident that great discoveries are yet to come.

Vitruvian Man is the official title of Leonardo's sketch. It was made by him in 1492 and was intended to illustrate a handwritten book. The drawing represents a naked man whose body is inscribed in a circle and a square. In addition, the image has duality - the human torso is depicted in two poses superimposed on each other.

As you can see by examining the drawing, the combination of hand and foot positions actually produces two different positions. The pose with arms spread to the sides and legs brought together turns out to be inscribed in a square. On the other hand, a pose with arms and legs spread out to the sides is inscribed in a circle. Upon more detailed examination, it turns out that the center of the circle is the navel of the figure, and the center of the square is the genitals.

Da Vinci's diary, for which the drawing was intended, is called the “Canon of Proportions.” The fact is that the artist believed in a certain number “phi”, calling it divine. He was confident in the presence of this number in everything created in living nature. However, da Vinci tried to achieve the “divine proportion” he derived in architecture. But this remained one of Leonardo’s unrealized ideas. But the Vitruvian Man is completely depicted in accordance with “phi”, that is, the picture shows a model of an ideal being.

According to Leonardo's accompanying notes, it was created to determine the proportions of the (male) human body, as described in the treatises of the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius; to which Leonardo wrote the following explanations:

the length from the tip of the longest to the lowest base of the four fingers is equal to the palm
the foot is four palms
a cubit is six palms
the height of a person is four cubits from the tips of the fingers (and accordingly 24 palms)
a step equals four palms
the span of human arms is equal to his height
the distance from the hairline to the chin is 1/10 of its height
the distance from the top of the head to the chin is 1/8 of its height
the distance from the top of the head to the nipples is 1/4 of its height
maximum shoulder width is 1/4 of its height
the distance from the elbow to the tip of the hand is 1/4 of its height
the distance from the elbow to the armpit is 1/8 of its height
arm length is 2/5 of its height
the distance from the chin to the nose is 1/3 of the length of his face
the distance from the hairline to the eyebrows is 1/3 of the length of his face
Ear length 1/3 face length
the navel is the center of the circle

The rediscovery of the mathematical proportions of the human body in the 15th century by da Vinci and other scientists was one of the great advances that preceded the Italian Renaissance.

Subsequently, using the same method, Corbusier created his own scale of proportionation - Modulor, which influenced the aesthetics of 20th-century architecture.

The drawing appeared as a result of the Italian master’s study of the works of Vitruvius, the outstanding architect of Ancient Rome. In his treatises, the human body was identified with architecture. However, denying this idea, da Vinci developed the idea of combining three elements in man - art, science and the divine, that is, a reflection of the Universe.

In addition to the deep philosophical message, the Vitruvian Man also has a certain symbolic meaning. The square is interpreted as the material sphere, the circle - the spiritual. The contact of the figures with the body of the depicted person is a kind of intersection at the center of the universe.

The sketch is currently kept in the Venice Museum. There is no free access to the relic - the exhibit is exhibited extremely rarely. Those who wish have the opportunity to look at it once every six months, since moving and being in direct light is destructive for the manuscript, which is almost 500 years old. Most of the structures made according to da Vinci's sketches have survived to this day. Anyone can see ancient projects and their modern implementation in Milan, at the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science, located near the Sant'Ambrogio metro station.

Interesting Facts:

The drawing itself is often used as an implicit symbol of the internal symmetry of the human body and, further, the Universe as a whole.
In 2011, Irish aerial artist John Quigley painted a giant copy of the famous “Vitruvian Man” drawing on the ice of the Arctic Ocean in order to draw humanity’s attention to the problems of environmental balance.
In 2012, reports were published that the first visual image of the “Vitruvian Man” was not drawn by Leonardo, but by his friend Giacomo Andrea da Ferrara, who studied the works of Vitruvius in detail - although his drawing is disproportionately inferior to Leonardo’s in terms of artistic merit.

Leonardo gained worldwide fame thanks to his comprehensively developed intellect. This unique man made several discoveries in the field of medicine, science, and engineering that changed the world.

And although the genius himself considered himself a scientist, and painting was just a hobby, his descendants put his contribution to art on the same level as other merits, because the artist’s paintings are truly masterpieces. However, see for yourself the photos of the original paintings posted on this page in good quality, with an enlargement of significant areas and with a description of each masterpiece of the artist.

The title of the painting, painted in 1503-1505, is translated as “Portrait of Madame Lisa Gioconda.”

The identity of the woman depicted remains a mystery to this day, although according to the most plausible version, she is the wife of a silk merchant with whom da Vinci was friends in Florence.

Mona Lisa is a girl in dark robes, half-turned towards the viewer. Every detail of the image is described in incredible detail, and the light smile that touched her lips pleasantly surprises. The portrait is considered one of the best in its genre and conveys the most sublime thoughts of the Italian Renaissance. Currently it adorns the Louvre in Paris.

Da Vinci's painting entitled "Isleworth Mona Lisa"

The portrait is still the same Mrs. Lisa, but with a different background, the presence of columns and less careful drawing of details. There are disputes regarding the time of its writing.

Some historians claim that this is a later version of La Gioconda, while others are sure that this is its first version.

The painting was sold to the collector Blaker, who placed it in his own studio, located in Isleworth - west London. This area gave the “name” to the legendary portrait.

Artwork - “Madonna Litta”

The Littas are a Milanese family that kept the Madonna together with other paintings in their collection throughout the 19th century. Today the painting belongs to the State Hermitage Museum. It was painted in 1490-1491 and depicts a woman feeding a baby.

The girl’s gaze, thoughtful and full of tenderness, is fixed on the child. The baby looks at the viewer, holding his mother’s chest with one hand and holding the goldfinch in the other.

"Madonna Benoit"

The painting was painted in 1478-1480 and was not completed. Today it belongs to the Imperial Hermitage.

Da Vinci placed the Madonna and baby Jesus in a dimly lit room illuminated by light from an open window.

There is a special play of light and shapes in the work. The girl smiles sincerely, and the well-fed, serious kid looks at the cruciferous flower with enthusiasm.

"Madonna of the Rocks"

Under this title there are two almost identical paintings. The Louvre exhibits a version painted around 1483-1486, and the National Gallery in London displays a slightly later version.

The canvas depicts the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, an angel and the baby Jesus. Overall, it has a peaceful atmosphere, imbued with tenderness. The steep cliffs that form the landscape backdrop create an exclusive contrast.

"Madonna and Child and Saint Anne"

This painting is often confused with Da Vinci's painting "St. Anne with the Madonna and Child Christ." “Madonna and Child with Saint Anne” is by the German artist Albrecht Durer. It was written in 1519 and has nothing to do with the world famous genius.

"Madonna of the Carnation"

The painting was not known until 1889, when it ended up in the Alte Pinakothek museum.

It depicts a calm Madonna with the baby Jesus in her arms, looking at the child with undisguised tenderness. The child is active, as if he is playing, stretching out his hands to the invisible butterfly.

“Saint Anne with the Madonna and Child Christ” unfinished painting

This unfinished masterpiece is today in the Louvre in Paris. To create it, da Vinci used a well-known plot in Italy, in which the Madonna is on the lap of her mother Anna, holding her own son Jesus in her arms.

The effect is called mise en abyme. The estimated date of writing is 1508-1510.

"Lady with an Ermine"

The painting, created in 1489-1490, is stored in Poland. It is believed that the portrait depicts Cecilia Gallerani, the mistress of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan.

The girl is described in detail and realistically. The presence of ermine has many versions. According to the most common theory, this animal symbolizes purity and chastity. It is placed in the picture to convey these features of Cecilia, to point out her extramarital relationship with the Duke, which does not stain the beauty’s reputation, but is a manifestation of sincere love.

“Ginevra de Benci” - an artistic depiction of the poetess

She was a famous poet and platonic lover of Bernardo Bembo, who, according to historians, is the person who commissioned the portrait.

Da Vinci worked on it from 1474 to 1476.

The girl on the canvas does not smile, she is thoughtful and calm, dressed in a simple, no-frills dress. She is decorated only with a scarf and a small pearl on her neck. The painting is currently on view at the Washington National Gallery of Art.

"Ginevra de Benci" (reverse side)

On the back of the portrait of Ginevra de Benci, an emblem is painted by Leonardo da Vinci: a vertical branch of juniper, framed by a wreath of laurel and palm branches, which are intertwined with a ribbon with the Latin phrase: “Virtutem forma decorat”.

Translated, the saying sounds no less luxurious: “Beauty is the adornment of virtue.”

The palm branch and laurel represent virtue, and the juniper represents the poetic component. The background imitates a slab of porphyry, symbolizing rare and unchanging perfection.

“Leda and the Swan” - a copy of the artist’s painting

This painting is now lost, but copies of it painted by other artists, preliminary sketches by da Vinci, and mentions in historical documents have been preserved. The estimated time of writing is 1508.

The canvas depicted Leda standing at full height and hugging the neck of a swan. The girl looked at the children playing in the grass. Judging by the shells lying nearby, the babies were born from large eggs.

"Isabella d'Este"

Isabella d'Este is called the "diva of the Renaissance."

She was a great connoisseur of art and one of the most famous girls in Italy. Isabella was friends with da Vinci and repeatedly asked to create her portrait, but the genius took it on only once.

Alas, after creating a pencil sketch, which the artist completed in 1499, he abandoned his creation.

“The Baptism of Christ” - painting by da Vinci and Andrei Verrocchio

This painting was painted by da Vinci in collaboration with his teacher Andrea Verrocchio in 1475.

It was ordered by the Benedictine Vallombrosian monastery of San Salvia, which kept the painting until 1530, after which it transferred it to the Florentine Uffizi Gallery.

Fragment of the painting “The Baptism of Christ” - a personal work of Leonardo

Connoisseurs of da Vinci's work can enjoy a fragment of the "Baptism of Christ" made personally by Leonardo.

Part of the painting depicts individual elements of a landscape and two angels - the one on the left is the work of a genius. According to legend, Verrocchio was so impressed by the student’s skill that he abandoned art, considering himself unworthy of it.

"Adoration of the Magi"

The painting was begun by order of the Augustinian monks from the monastery of San Donato in 1481, but was not completed due to the fact that the artist had to leave for Milan. Today the work is kept in the Uffizi Gallery.

In the background you can see the ruins of a palace or, presumably, a pagan temple, riders on horses, and rocks. In the center of the canvas is Mary with the newborn Jesus. She was surrounded by pilgrims who wanted to worship the son of God.

Historians believe that da Vinci painted the guy on the far right from his own life.

"John the Baptist"

The painting in the classical style, distinguished from others by the absence of a landscape and a blank background, was created in 1514-1516. Today it can be seen in the Louvre in Paris.

The figure of John the Baptist is equipped with traditional symbols:

thin reed cross;
woolen clothes;
long hair.

The raised finger of the right hand is also a traditional gesture that often appears in Da Vinci's paintings. Perhaps in this way the artist wanted to convey something important. The image of John is gentle, he has a soft smile and an amazing look, as if penetrating the viewer’s soul.

“Saint Jerome” - an unfinished painting by the author

The painting was commissioned by the church authorities in Florence in 1481, but da Vinci had to leave for Milan, so it was not completed. The condition in which it has survived to this day is critical - it was assembled practically in pieces, so it is kept in the Vatican Pinacoteca under careful and careful supervision.

The sketch shows Saint Jerome, whose pose indicates that the man is repenting. A lion, Jerome’s eternal companion, is resting nearby.

Painting entitled - “The Last Supper”

The painting was commissioned by Duke Lodovico Sforza and his wife Beatrice d'Este in 1495. The painting, depicting the scene of Christ's last meal with his disciples, was completed in 1498. The Sforza family coat of arms can be seen on the lunettes formed by the three-arched ceiling. Today the work is kept in the monastery of Milan.

“Annunciation” - an angelic work by the artist

Leonardo da Vinci painted this painting in 1475. The part of the Gospel that tells about the announcement of the future birth of the Savior was chosen as the plot.

The winged archangel Gabriel is kneeling, holding in his left hand a white lily, personifying purity. With his right hand he blesses Mary. Near the girl there is a marble stand, decorated with relief, on which lies the Bible. The work is exhibited at the Uffizi Museum.

"Annunciation - landscape"

The landscape of the Annunciation, located in the background of the picture, is worth special attention. Leonardo da Vinci placed on it a river receding into the distance with visible masts of ships, carved silhouettes of trees, walls and towers of a port city, which is shrouded in the pale haze of a mountain top.

"Musician"

This portrait was rewritten by the great Italian artist almost beyond recognition in 1490-1492. He then left his work unfinished. Today the painting is kept in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan.

In the 19th century it was generally accepted that the painting depicted Duke Lodovico Sforzo. But in XX, during restoration work, it was possible to make out the words on the paper held in the hands of the guy depicted. They turned out to be the initial letters of the words Cantum Angelicum, which in translation sounds like “angelic song.” Notes are drawn nearby. Thanks to this discovery, they began to look at the work differently, giving it an appropriate name.

Leonardo da Vinci's last painting is on display at the Louvre

In front of you in the photograph is Leonardo’s latest creation - “Saint Anne and Mary with the Child.” The painter worked on this painting for 20 years. It is currently on display in the Louvre.

Continuation of the exhibition. . .

Leonardo da Vinci and his Vitruavian Man

Vitruvian Man is a drawing made by Leonardo Da Vinci around 1490-1492, as an illustration for a book dedicated to the works of Vitruvius. The drawing is accompanied by explanatory notes in one of his journals. It depicts the figure of a naked man in two superimposed positions: with his arms spread to the sides, describing a circle and a square. The drawing and text are sometimes called canonical proportions.

1. Leonardo never intended to show off his Vitruvian Man.

Self-portrait. After 1512
Paper, sanguine. 33.3 × 21.6 cm
Royal Library, Turin. Wikimedia Commons

The sketch was discovered in one of the personal notebooks of the Renaissance master. In fact, Leonardo drew the sketch for his own research and did not even suspect that he would one day be admired. However, today "Vitruvian Man" is one of the artist's most famous works, along with "The Last Supper" and "Mona Lisa".

The drawing and its explanations are sometimes called “canonical proportions.” The drawing was done in pen, ink and watercolor using a metal pencil; the dimensions of the drawing are 24.5 × 34.3 centimeters. Currently in the collection of the Accademia Gallery in Venice. The drawing is both a work of science and a work of art, and also exemplifies Leonardo's interest in proportion.

According to Leonardo's accompanying notes, it was created to determine the proportions of the (male) human body, as described in the treatise of the ancient architect Vitruvius On Architecture (Book III, Chapter I):

* the length from the tip of the longest to the lowest base of the four fingers is equal to the length of the palm;
* the foot is four palms;
* a cubit is six palms;
* the height of a person is four cubits from the tips of the fingers (and accordingly 24 palms);
* a step is equal to four palms;
* the span of human arms is equal to his height;
* the distance from the hairline to the chin is 1/10 of its height;
* the distance from the top of the head to the chin is 1/8 of its height;
* the distance from the top of the head to the nipples is 1/4 of its height;
* maximum shoulder width is 1/4 of its height;
* the distance from the elbow to the tip of the hand is 1/4 of its height;
* the distance from the elbow to the armpit is 1/8 of its height;
* arm length is 2/5 of its height;
* the distance from the chin to the nose is 1/3 of the length of his face;
* the distance from the hairline to the eyebrows is 1/3 of the length of his face;
* ear length 1/3 of face length;
* The navel is the center of the circle.

2. Combining art and science

Leonardo da Vinci. Vitruvian Man. 1490
Homo vitruviano
34.3 × 24.5 cm
Accademia Gallery, Venice. Wikimedia Commons

A true representative of the Renaissance, Leonardo was not only a painter, sculptor and writer, but also an inventor, architect, engineer, mathematician and anatomy expert. This ink drawing was the result of Leonardo's study of theories about human proportions described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius.

3. Leonardo wasn’t the first to try to illustrate Vitruvius’ theories.

Modern scholars believe that in the 15th century and subsequent decades there were many people who tried to express this idea in visual form.

4. Perhaps the drawing was not only made by Leonardo himself

In 2012, Italian architectural historian Claudio Sgarbi published findings that Leonardo's research into the proportions of the human body was prompted by similar research done by his friend and fellow architect Giacomo Andrea de Ferrara. It is still unclear whether they worked together. Even if this theory is incorrect, historians agree that Leonardo improved on the shortcomings of Giacomo's work.

5. Circle and square have their own hidden meaning

In their mathematical studies, Vitruvius and Leonardo described not only the proportions of man, but also the proportions of all creation. In a notebook from 1492, Leonardo's note was found: "Ancient man was the world in miniature. Since man consists of earth, water, air and fire, his body resembles a microcosm of the Universe."

6. "The Vitruvian Man" is just one of many sketches

In order to improve his art and better understand how the world around him worked, Leonardo painted many people to form an idea of ideal proportions.

7. The Vitruvian Man is the ideal man

Who served as the model will remain a mystery, but art historians believe that Leonardo took some liberties in his drawing. This work was not so much a portrait as a faithful depiction of the ideal male form from a mathematical point of view.

8. It could be a self-portrait

Since there are no descriptions of the model from which this sketch was drawn, some art historians believe that Leonardo drew the “Vitruvian Man” from himself.

9. The Vitruvian Man Had a Hernia

Imperial College London surgeon Hutan Ashrafyan, 521 years after the creation of the famous drawing, established that the man depicted in the sketch had an inguinal hernia, which could lead to his death.

10. To understand the full meaning of the drawing, you need to read the notes to it

When the sketch was originally discovered in Lernardo's notebook, next to it were the artist's notes on human proportions, which read: "The architect Vitruvius states in his work on architecture that the dimensions of the human body are distributed according to the following principle: the width of 4 fingers is equal to 1 palm, foot is 4 palms, a cubit is 6 palms, the full height of a person is 4 cubits or 24 palms... Vitruvius used the same measurements in the construction of his buildings."

11. The body is drawn with measuring lines

If you look closely at the chest, arms and face of the person in the drawing, you will notice straight lines marking the proportions that Leonardo wrote about in his notes. For example, the part of the face from the bottom of the nose to the eyebrows makes up a third of the face, as does the part of the face from the bottom of the nose to the chin and from the eyebrows to the line where the hair begins to grow.

12. The sketch has other, less esoteric names

The sketch is also called the "Canon of Proportions" or "Proportions of a Man".

13. Vitruvian Man poses 16 poses at once

At first glance, you can see only two poses: a standing person with his legs together and his arms outstretched, and a standing person with his legs apart and his arms raised. But part of the genius of Leonardo's depiction is that there are 16 poses depicted simultaneously in one drawing.

14. Leonardo da Vinci's creation was used to depict modern problems

Irish artist John Quigley used the iconic image to illustrate the issue of global warming. To do this, he depicted a many times enlarged copy of the Vitruvian Man on the ice in the Arctic Ocean.

15. The original sketch rarely appears in public

Copies can be found literally everywhere, but the original is too fragile to be displayed in public. The Vitruvian Man is usually kept under lock and key in the Galleria dell'Accademia in Venice.