Sign of a man by Leonardo da Vinci. Great paintings by Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo never intended to display his Vitruvian Man.

Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452, on April 15th. He died in 1519, on May 2. This person can certainly be considered one of the unique talents of our planet. He is known not only as one of the greatest sculptors and artists in Italy, but also as a poet, musician, philosopher, botanist, anatomist, chemist, engineer, explorer, and scientist. His discoveries and creations were ahead of their time by more than one era. We will describe the main paintings by Leonardo da Vinci with titles in this article.

"Portrait of Ginevra de Benci"

This work was completed approximately from 1474 to 1478. This early work depicts a Florentine poetess who lived in the 15th century. From there we will begin to present you with paintings by Leonardo da Vinci with names and descriptions.

Probably this work can be considered the first psychological portrait in the history of painting. It clearly expresses a mood of sadness, possibly associated with the breakdown of this girl’s relationship with Bernardo Bembo, the Venetian ambassador, her lover. Ginevra's pale face with narrow eyes and wide cheekbones stands out in contrast against the background of nature - the evening landscape. In the picture we see a juniper bush called jinepro. This is a subtle hint to the girl's name. The canvas demonstrates the artist's undoubted technical skill. With the help of sfumato, black and white modeling, the contours of the figure are softened. At the same time, the author violated the Renaissance tradition in the depiction of portraits that existed at that time. The model is turned to the right, not to the left, and the light source is positioned accordingly.

The emblem is on the back of this piece - a juniper branch placed inside a wreath of palm and laurel branches. “Beauty is the adornment of virtue,” says the Latin inscription on the ribbon entwining them.

"Saint Jerome"

We continue to describe Leonardo da Vinci's paintings with names. The following work was completed by the artist in 1482. It is kept in Unfortunately, some of the paintings of this great artist, thinker, and scientist of the Renaissance were not completed. The canvas that interests us also belongs to them. However, it is a work in which the entire author’s intention is already visible. The painting "Saint Jerome" was done at the underpainting level.

Description of the picture

It depicts Saint Jerome - translator of Latin language Bible, religious thinker, ascetic and ascetic, who retired to the desert, where he spent several years. This man is depicted as repentant. His eyes are full of prayer. He pushes aside his cloak over his shoulder with one hand and swings the other back, swinging to hit himself in the chest with a stone. The muscles of the ascetic, thin face, arms and shoulders are tense, the foot stands firmly on a large stone. Jerome is a continuous cry for forgiveness. In the foreground we see a lion, which, according to legend, has accompanied this saint since he met him in the desert and cured the beast. This wild animal submitted to the goodness and love with which God filled Jerome’s soul.

"Madonna and Child with Saint Anne"

This work, kept today in the Louvre, was completed around 1510 on a popular subject. It depicts the infant Christ with the Holy Virgin and Anna, her mother. The arrangement of the figures in this group differs from earlier compositions, which were static. Leonardo da Vinci spent the first years of the 16th century working on various versions of this plot. For example, a drawing has been preserved that shows a slightly different interpretation, including John the Baptist in his infancy.

Although St. Anna in her usual place, that is, behind the Holy Virgin, all three figures are very realistic and alive. Leonardo da Vinci, moving away from the then-existing tradition of depicting Anna as an elderly matron, painted her as unexpectedly attractive and young. She can hardly contain her glee at the sight of the baby. An allusion to the future role of the innocent victim, the lamb of God for the atonement of sins, is the lamb in the arms of Christ.

"Madonna and Child"

This painting is exhibited in the Hermitage. The years of its creation are 1490-1491. It also has a second name - "Madonna Lita" after the name of one of the owners of this painting, Leonardo da Vinci. The title of the painting “Madonna and Child” tells us the plot. Every person who looks at the canvas has a feeling of sublime peace, contemplative spiritual silence. In the image of the Madonna, da Vinci combined the earthly, sensual, spiritual and sublime into one unshakable harmonious image of beauty. Her face is serene, and, despite the fact that there is no smile on her lips, her posture and tilt of her head express endless tenderness towards the child. Madonna breastfeeds her baby. He looks absentmindedly at the viewer, holding his mother's chest with his right hand. On the left is the goldfinch bird, which is a symbol of the Christian soul.

"Madonna Benois" ("Madonna and Child")

There are two paintings by Leonardo da Vinci with titles (a photo of one of them was presented above) that are similar to each other. - this is both “Madonna Benois” and “Madonna Lita”. We have already met the last one. Let's tell you about the first one. This work is also kept in the Hermitage. It was completed by the artist in 1478.

This painting is one of the iconic ones in his work. The center of the composition is a flower in the hands of Mary, to which Jesus is drawn. The master places the Madonna, dressed in the Florentine fashion that existed in the 15th century, and the baby in a room lit only by a window located in the back of the room. But a soft, different light pours from above. He brings the canvas to life with the play of chiaroscuro. This gives volume to the figures and reveals the modeling of the form. The picture has a slightly muted, dim color.

"Mona Lisa"

We continue to describe the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci with names and year. The next work that interests us is now in the Louvre. It was written between 1503 and 1505. There is not a single mention of this work in the artist’s own notes. We are talking about, perhaps, the most famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci - the painting "Mona Lisa".

Who is depicted in this picture?

There are many versions of who is actually depicted in the painting. It has been suggested that this is a self-portrait of the artist himself or his student, an image of his mother, or simply a collective female image. According to official opinion, the picture shows the wife of a Florentine merchant. The famous smile that gives her face charm and mystery is frozen on this woman’s lips. It seems that it is not the viewer who is looking at her, but she is watching him with an understanding, deep gaze.

The painting is made in unusually thin, almost transparent layers. It seems that she is alive, and not painted. The strokes are so small that neither X-rays nor a microscope detect traces of the artist’s work and cannot determine the number of layers in the painting. “La Gioconda” is unusually airy. The space of the picture is filled with a light haze. It allows diffused light to pass through.

"Annunciation"

The main paintings by Leonardo da Vinci with the titles that we presented in this article conclude with a description of the next painting. You can admire this work in It was written in 1472.

The master worked on the canvas while he was still in Verrocchio’s workshop. The artist had to complete this painting, begun by other students, and also correct their mistakes. Leonardo completed several sketches that depicted Mary's cloak, as well as the robes of the Archangel Gabriel. He rewrote the draperies based on these drawings. As a result, they lay in voluminous folds. After this, the master painted Gabriel’s head again, tilting it slightly, but did not have time to make changes to the image of Mary. Her pose does not look entirely natural. Probably, the one who worked on the canvas before Leonardo did not know the laws of perspective very well. However, in an unexpected way, all these mistakes show how difficult it was to master realistic painting.

These are the main paintings of Leonardo da Vinci with names and descriptions. We tried to briefly talk about them. Of course, the title of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings is English language sounds different, just like in Italian, the artist’s own language. However, every person, regardless of nationality, is able to be imbued with these great works. Many English people, for example, do not necessarily need to see the titles of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings in English. They already know what kind of work it is. The works of the great artist are so popular that they often do not need introduction.

Vitruvian Man- a drawing drawn by Leonardo da Vinci around 1490-92 as an illustration for a book dedicated to the works of Vitruvius, and placed in one of his journals. It depicts the figure of a naked man in two superimposed positions: with arms and legs spread to the sides, inscribed in a circle; with arms apart and legs brought together, inscribed in a square. The drawing and its explanations are sometimes called canonical proportions.

The drawing was made with pen, ink and watercolor using a metal pencil, the dimensions of the drawing are 34.3 x 24.5 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 proportions (male) human body, as described in the treatises of the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, who wrote the following about the human body:

the length from the tip of the longest to the lowest base of the four fingers is equal to the palm
the foot is three palms
a cubit is six palms
the height of a person is four cubits (and accordingly 24 palms)
a step equals four palms
the span of human arms is equal to its 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.

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.

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

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.

Notes

"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. 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. When examining the drawing, you will notice that the combination of arms and legs actually makes up four different poses. A pose with arms spread to the sides and legs not spread fits into a square (“square of the ancients”). On the other hand, a pose with arms and legs spread out to the sides fits into a circle. And although when changing poses it seems that the center of the figure is moving, in fact the navel of the figure, which is its real center, remains motionless.

Vetruvio architetto mette nelle sue opera d"architettura che le misure dell"omo…"(The architect Vetruvius incorporated human dimensions into his architecture...) Next comes a description of the relationships between various parts of the human body.

In his accompanying notes, Leonardo da Vinci indicated that the drawing was created to study the proportions of the (male) human body, as described in the treatises of the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, who wrote the following about the human body:

“Nature has ordained the following proportions in the structure of the human body: the length of four fingers is equal to the length of the palm, four palms are equal to the foot, six palms are one cubit, four cubits is the height of a person. Four cubits are equal to a step, and twenty-four palms are equal to the height of a person. If you spread your legs so that the distance between them is 1/14 of a person's height, and raise your arms so that your middle fingers are level with the top of your head, then the center point of your body, equidistant from all limbs, will be your navel. The space between your spread legs and the floor forms an equilateral triangle. The length of your outstretched arms will be equal to your height. The distance from the roots of the hair to the tip of the chin is equal to one tenth of human height. The distance from the top of the chest to the top of the head is 1/6 of the height. The distance from the upper part of the chest to the roots of the hair is 1/7. The distance from the nipples to the top of the head is exactly a quarter of the height. The greatest width of the shoulders is an eighth of height. The distance from the elbow to the fingertips is 1/5 of the height, from the elbow to the armpit is 1/8. The length of the entire arm is 1/10 of the height. The beginning of the genitals is located right in the middle of the body. Foot - 1/7 of the height. The distance from the toe of the foot to the kneecap is equal to a quarter of the height, and the distance from the kneecap to the beginning of the genitals is also equal to a quarter of the height. The distance from the tip of the chin to the nose and from the roots of the hair to the eyebrows will be the same and, like the length of the ear, equal to 1/3 of the face.”

The rediscovery of the mathematical proportions of the human body in the 15th century by Leonardo da Vinci and others was one of the great achievements that preceded the Italian Renaissance. The drawing itself is often used as an implicit symbol of the internal symmetry of the human body.

Art is characterized by a desire for harmony, proportionality, and harmony. We find them in the proportions of architecture and sculpture, in the arrangement of objects and figures, the combination of colors in painting, in the alternation of rhymes and measured rhythm in poetry, in the sequence of musical sounds. These properties are not invented by people. They reflect the properties of nature itself. One of the proportions is most often found in art. It was called the “golden ratio”. The golden ratio has been known since ancient times. So in book II of Euclid’s Elements it is used in the construction of pentagons and decagons.

The term “golden ratio” was introduced by Leonardo da Vinci: “If we tie a human figure - the most perfect creation of the universe - with a belt and then measure the distance from the belt to the feet, then this value will relate to the distance from the same belt to the top of the head, as the entire height of a person relates to the length from the waist to the feet..."

Indeed, in nature and the human body there are many proportional relationships close to what Leonardo da Vinci called the golden ratio. Although not exactly embodying it. By the way, the golden ratio, preferred in many cases, is not the only ratio that is visually perceived as beautiful. These include ratios such as 1:2, 1:3. They are close to the golden ratio. In any work of art, several unequal parts, but close to the golden ratio, give the impression of the development of forms, their dynamics, and proportional complement to each other. In particular, the most common relationship is based on the golden ratio when constructing monuments.

Is it possible to talk about the golden ratio in music? It is possible if you measure a piece of music by the time it was performed. In music, the golden ratio reflects the peculiarities of human perception of temporal proportions. The golden section point serves as a guideline for formation (especially in short works); it often marks the climax. It can also be the brightest moment or the quietest, the densest place in texture or the highest pitch. But it also happens that at the point of the golden ratio a new musical theme appears.

Alleged self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci and "Vitruvian Man"

1. Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the village of Anchiano, a suburb of the town of Vinci, which is located in the vicinity of Florence, Italy. The house where he was born is now a museum.

2. Leonardo did not have a surname in the modern sense; "da Vinci" simply means "(originally) from the town of Vinci." His full name is Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, that is, “Leonardo, son of Mr. Piero from Vinci.”

The house where Leonardo lived as a child

3. Leonardo's parents were 25-year-old notary Piero and peasant woman Katerina. Leonardo spent the first years of his life with his mother. His father soon married a rich and noble girl, but this marriage turned out to be childless, and Piero took his three-year-old son to be raised.

4. In his youth, Leonardo began to study many subjects, but, having started, then abandoned them. But despite his various hobbies, he never gave up drawing and sculpting.

5. Taking into account his son’s love for drawing, Leonardo’s father selected several of his drawings and took them to his friend, the painter Andrea Verrocchio, so that he could say whether Leonardo would reach heights in this field. Verrocchio was so amazed by the enormous potential that he saw in the drawings of young Leonardo that he immediately agreed to place Leonardo in his workshop. Here he studied drawing, chemistry, metallurgy, working with metal and plaster.

"The Baptism of Christ"

6. One day Verrocchio received an order for the painting “The Baptism of Christ” and commissioned Leonardo to paint one of the two angels. This was the time when art workshops practiced painting by a teacher together with student assistants. The Little Angel Holding Robes (left), which was painted by Leonardo, demonstrated the superiority of the student over the teacher. According to the great collection “Biographies of Famous Painters, Sculptors and Architects,” the amazed Verrocchio then abandoned his brush and never returned to painting.

7. Leonardo da Vinci carefully hid his personal life, so there is no reliable information about his affairs with women.

8. During his life, Leonardo achieved brilliant results in all areas of his activity, often far ahead of his time. For example, during his life Leonardo da Vinci made thousands of notes and drawings on anatomy. According to the professor clinical anatomy Peter Abrams scientific work da Vinci was 300 years ahead of her time and in many ways superior to the famous Gray's Anatomy.

9. The most famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci “Mona Lisa” was painted on wood (poplar) and measures only 77 × 53 centimeters.

One of the inventions is a crossbow

10. It is believed that Leonardo da Vinci was a vegetarian. One of the evidence is given in a letter from researcher Andrea Corsali, addressed to the ruler of Florence, Giuliano Medici: “Between Goa and Rosegud there is a land called Gambaya, where the Indus River flows into the sea. It is inhabited by the Gudzarati people, excellent traders. Some of them dress like apostles, and some of them dress like they do in Turkey. They do not feed on anything that contains blood, and do not allow themselves to harm any living things, like our Leonardo Da Vinci. They live on rice, milk and other non-living foods.”

11. Leonardo's hobbies even included cooking and the art of serving. For 13 years, the organization of court feasts rested on his shoulders. Original dish“from Leonardo” - thinly sliced stewed meat with vegetables laid on top - was very popular at court feasts.

12. During Leonardo's lifetime, many of his inventions remained unknown to the general public. The inventor encrypted his drawings and they were published only in the 19th century. The source of our knowledge about Leonardo da Vinci's inventions is the Codex Atlanticus, a manuscript of Leonardo da Vinci compiled by Pompeo Leoni.

"Savior of the World"

13. In November 2017, Leonardo da Vinci's painting "Salvator Mundi" became the most expensive work of art in history. It was sold at Christie's for a record $400 million.

14. Leonardo da Vinci tried to avoid people and spend time alone. Nevertheless, when in society, he kept an open mind and could start a conversation on any topic.

15. The designs of a bicycle, a tank, a hang glider, a machine gun, a helicopter, a submarine, a parachute are just a small part of what Leonardo da Vinci invented or cleverly modified from his predecessors. But his only invention that received recognition during his lifetime was a wheel lock for a pistol.

16. Leonardo adored animals, all without exception. Coming to the market, he bought birds for the sole purpose of releasing them into the wild - to his delight and to the chagrin of the traders.

17. Leonardo da Vinci was equally good with his right and left hands. However, most of his works were written with his left hand from right to left, i.e. in a mirror position.

18. Realism in painting moved to a qualitatively new level thanks to the work of Leonardo da Vinci. In his canvases, he sought to soften the outlines and figures, since he was the first to realize that light is scattered in the air, so the human eye does not see clear boundaries and color contrasts. For other artists of that era, the lines in the paintings usually clearly outlined the subject, so the image often had the appearance of a painted drawing.

19. The most extensive restoration of the famous work of Leonardo da Vinci " last supper"took 21 years (1978 - 1999). The master created the fresco itself for 3 years: from 1495 to 1498.

20. The last years of his life, Leonardo da Vinci lived under the patronage of the French king Francis I in his castle of Clos Lucé. Two years before his death, the master went numb right hand, and he had difficulty moving without assistance. Last year Leonardo spent his life in bed. On April 23, 1519, he left a will, and on May 2, at the age of 67, he died surrounded by his students and his masterpieces at the Château de Clos Lucé in France.

“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 the multi-volume treatise of Vitruvius, combining treatise and a work of art into one. 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" - the most famous picture Leonardo da Vinci after La Gioconda. The value of a drawing is determined by engineering criteria. The human pose “feet together, arms apart” fits into geometric figure, which is called the “Square of the Ancients,” and a person with spread legs and arms 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.
Size ears vertically 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.