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Did You Know This About Leonardo
da Vinci?
Not a Prolific Painter
Leonardo left fewer than 30 paintings, and these aren’t even all
finished. But before you think you can do the same and still go
down in art history, remember he also left hundreds of drawings,
sketches, and pages of notes. His reputation isn’t just based on
his paintings.
His Own Worst Enemy
Leonardo was both a perfectionist and a procrastinator. How’s
that for a terrible combination of personality traits? It’s said
to be one of the reasons why he left so few paintings.
Where’s the Sculpture?
There are no pieces of sculpture that can definitely be
attributed to Leonardo, even though art historians know he
learned sculpture when an art apprentice in Verrocchio’s studio.
(So remember to sign your work!)
If He Hadn’t Been Illegitimate, He May Not Have Been an
Artist
Leonardo was born out of wedlock on 15 April 1452. But if he
hadn’t been, he might not have been apprenticed to the artist
Andrea del Verrocchio, as he would have more occupations open to
him. As it was, being illegitimate, his options were limited.
The only thing known for sure about his mother is that her name
was Caterina; art historians believe she probably worked in the
household of Leonardo’s father, Ser Piero da Vinci.
Expensive Paper Makes for Messy Notebooks
Paper was far more expensive and harder to get hold of in
Leonardo’s day than it is today. Which is why he made more
intensive use of it, “filling” most of every page.
A Vegetarian
Unusually for the era in which he lived, Leonardo was a
vegetarian, for humanitarian reasons. He apparently equated the
murder of animals on a par with the murder of humans. (Not that
this stopped him from dissecting humans to study anatomy and to
map out where the human soul was, nor from taking a job as a
designer of military weapons at one stage.)
One of the First Italians to Use Oil Paint
Leonardo was one of the first artists in Italy to use oil paints
instead of egg tempera, enjoying the freedom it gave him to
rework a painting. He even concocted his own recipe for oil
paints.
Lover of Experimenting
Leonardo’s great fresco, The Last Supper began to deteriorate
almost immediately. This is because Leonardo didn’t follow
traditional, tried-and-tested fresco techniques of water-based
paints applied to wet plaster, but used oil-based paint on a
surface that was a mixture of gesso, pitch, and mastic
What He Didn’t Invent
Leonardo invented, or drew up plans and sketches for a great
number of things. But the telescope wasn’t one of them. Nor
gears, ratchets, pulley systems, or screws; these already
existed. A manuscript exists that supposedly proves Leonardo
invented the bicycle; problem is, it’s drawn in pencil and
pencil lead or graphite wasn’t discovered until after his death.
Don't Call Him Da Vinci
Despite Dan Brown’s best-selling who-done-it, The Da Vinci Code,
it’s wrong to refer to Leonardo da Vinci simply as Da Vinci. If
you’re going to shorten his name, you need to call him Leonardo.
Why? Simple, Da Vinci just means “from the town of Vinci”. |
