Vitruvian ManThe Vitruvian Man measuring 34.4 cm × 25.5 cm is a world renowned drawing created by Leonardo da Vinci around 1487. It is accompanied by notes based on the work of Roman architect Vitruvius.
The drawing, which is in pen and ink on paper, depicts a nude male figure in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and simultaneously inscribed in a circle and square. The drawing and text are also known as the "Canon of Proportions" or "Proportions of Man". Encyclopaedia Britannica online states, "Leonardo envisaged the great picture chart of the human body he had produced through his anatomical drawings and Vitruvian Man as a cosmografia del minor mondo (cosmography of the microcosm). He believed the workings of the human body to be an analogy for the workings of the universe." |
The Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa or 'La Gioconda' is a half-length portrait of a woman by Leonardo da Vinci, painted in oil on a poplar panel. (76.8 x 53 cm) The Mona Lisa has been acclaimed as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about and the most parodied work of art in the world"
It is estimated to be painted between 1503 and 1506 and is now cited in the Louvre Museum, Paris, where it remains an object of pilgrimage. The identity of the portrait’s sitter is unknown, scholars and historians have speculated that she is Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo del Giocondo. Another theory was that the model may have been Leonardo’s mother, Caterina. A third suggestion was that the painting was, in fact, Leonardo’s self-portrait. The subject's expression, commonly described as 'enigmatic', the monumentality of the composition, the subtle modeling of various artistic forms, and the atmospheric illusion are features that have contributed to the continuing fascination and study of the work. The painting was among the first portraits to depict the sitter before an imaginary landscape and Leonardo da Vinci was the first painter to use aerial perspective. (Aerial persepective refers to the effect the atmosphere has on the appearance of an object as it is viewed from a distance.) The Mona Lisa is most famous for the subject's smile, which has repeatedly been a question of varying interpretations. Some have described the smile as both innocent and inviting. Often described as a 'half-smile' has puzzled people from Sigmund Freud and Harvard professors to countless observers. Many researchers have attempted to explain why the smile is seen differently between various people- the explanations range from scientific theories regarding human vision to curious supposition about Mona Lisa's identity and feelings. The Last Supper
The Last Supper is a painting by Leonardo da Vinci requested by Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan for whom he worked for. It depicts the particular religious scene of Jesus and the Apostles at the Last Supper. Leonardo Da Vinci began working on the painting in 1495, and finished in 1498.
It is renowned because the disciples are all displaying very human, identifiable emotions. Leonardo's version was the first to depict real people with lifelike actions. It is also famous for the technical perspective. It is clear each element of the painting directs one's attention to the midpoint of the composition, Christ's head. It is widely considered the greatest example of one point perspective ever created. (One point perspective uses a single vanishing point to draw an object) |