A Treatise on Painting (Trattato della pittura) is a collection of Leonardo da Vinci's writings entered in his notebooks under the general heading "On Painting". The manuscripts were begun in Milan while Leonardo was under the service of Ludovico Sforza and gathered together by his heir Francesco Melzi. An abridged version of the treatise was first published in France in 1651. After Melzi's manuscript was rediscovered in the Vatican Library, the treatise was published in its modern form in 1817.
The main aim of the treatise was to argue that painting was a science. [1] [2] Leonardo's keen observation of expression and character is evidenced in his comparison of laughing and weeping, about which he notes that the only difference between the two emotions in terms of the "motion of the [facial] features" is "the ruffling of the brows, which is added in weeping, but more elevated and extended in laughing." [3]
This manuscript contains the famous branching rule:
All the branches of a tree at every stage of its height when put together are equal in thickness to the trunk [below them]. [4]
The manuscripts were begun in Milan while Leonardo was under the service of Ludovico Sforza (between 1482 and 1499), being worked on substantially for the last 25 years of Leonardo's life. [5] The works later published in this collection drew from writing of Leon Battista Alberti and Cennino Cennini. Upon Leonardo's death, he left his notebooks to his pupil and heir Francesco Melzi [6] to be published, a task of overwhelming difficulty because of its scope and Leonardo's idiosyncratic writing. [7] Sometime before 1542,[ citation needed ] Melzi gathered together the papers for A Treatise on Painting from 18 of Leonardo's "books" (two-thirds of which have gone missing). [8] After Melzi's death in 1570, the collection passed to his son, the lawyer Orazio, who initially took little interest in the journals, [6] but they were later dispersed. [9] [10]
It was printed in an abridged form in French and Italian as Trattato della pittura by Raffaelo du Fresne in 1651. After Melzi's version was rediscovered in the Vatican Library, the treatise was first published in its modern form in 1817. [11]
In 1937, Max Ernst wrote in Cahiers d'Art that Leonardo's advice on the studying of stains on walls caused him an "unbearable visual obsession". [11]
All editions of the treatise are kept at the Elmer Belt Library of Vinciana at UCLA. [12]
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he also became known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and paleontology. Leonardo is widely regarded to have been a genius who epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal, and his collective works comprise a contribution to later generations of artists matched only by that of his younger contemporary, Michelangelo.
Fra. Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli was an Italian mathematician, Franciscan friar, collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci, and an early contributor to the field now known as accounting. He is referred to as the father of accounting and bookkeeping and he was the first person to publish a work on the double-entry system of book-keeping on the continent. He was also called Luca di Borgo after his birthplace, Borgo Sansepolcro, Tuscany.
The Last Supper is a mural painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1495–1498. The painting represents the scene of the Last Supper of Jesus with the Twelve Apostles, as it is told in the Gospel of John – specifically the moment after Jesus announces that one of his apostles will betray him. Its handling of space, mastery of perspective, treatment of motion and complex display of human emotion has made it one of the Western world's most recognizable paintings and among Leonardo's most celebrated works. Some commentators consider it pivotal in inaugurating the transition into what is now termed the High Renaissance.
The Vitruvian Man is a drawing by the Italian Renaissance artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1490. Inspired by the writings of the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, the drawing depicts a nude man in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and inscribed in both a circle and square. Described by the art historian Carmen C. Bambach as "justly ranked among the all-time iconic images of Western civilization", the work is a unique synthesis of artistic and scientific ideals and often considered an archetypal representation of the High Renaissance.
Francesco Melzi, or Francesco de Melzi (1491–1570), was an Italian painter born into a family of the Milanese nobility in Lombardy. He became a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci and remained as his closest professional assistant throughout his career. After da Vinci's death he became the literary executor of all da Vinci's papers, editing them into a manuscript on painting he published as Tratatto della Pittura [Treatise on Painting] or a compilation entitled the Codex Urbinas.
The Lady with an Ermine is a portrait painting widely attributed to the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. Dated to c. 1489–1491, the work is painted in oils on a panel of walnut wood. Its subject is Cecilia Gallerani, a mistress of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan; Leonardo was painter to the Sforza court in Milan at the time of its execution. It is the second of only four surviving portraits of women painted by Leonardo, the others being Ginevra de' Benci, La Belle Ferronnière and the Mona Lisa.
Gian Paolo Lomazzo was an Italian artist and writer on art. Praised as a painter, Lomazzo wrote about artistic practice and art theory after blindness compelled him to pursue a different professional path by 1571. Lomazzo's written works were especially influential to second generation Mannerism in Italian art and architecture.
The Portrait of a Musician is an unfinished painting widely attributed to the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1483–1487. Produced while Leonardo was in Milan, the work is painted in oils, and perhaps tempera, on a small panel of walnut wood. It is his only known male portrait painting, and the identity of its sitter has been closely debated among scholars.
Giovanni Magenta was an Italian architect. He designed the cathedral of San Pietro at Bologna (1605). It was later modified by Alfonso Torreggiani (1765). He designed the church of San Salvatore in Bologna (1605–1623) and San Paolo.
The Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) left thousands of pages of writings and drawings, but rarely made any references to his personal life. The resulting uncertainty, combined with mythologized anecdotes from his lifetime, has resulted in much speculation and interest in Leonardo's personal life. Particularly, his personal relationships, philosophy, religion, vegetarianism, left-handedness and appearance.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1520) was an Italian polymath, regarded as the epitome of the "Renaissance Man", displaying skills in numerous diverse areas of study. Whilst most famous for his paintings such as the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper, Leonardo is also renowned in the fields of civil engineering, chemistry, geology, geometry, hydrodynamics, mathematics, mechanical engineering, optics, physics, pyrotechnics, and zoology.
Panagiotis Doxaras (1662–1729) also known as Panayiotis Doxaras, was an author and painter. He was a prolific member of the Heptanese School. He was influenced by early members of the movement namely: Elias Moskos, Theodoros Poulakis, Stephanos Tzangarolas, Spyridon Sperantzas and Victor. The Heptanese School evolved during the Baroque period and continued into the Late Baroque or Rococo. Doxaras’s son Nikolaos Doxaras continued the artistic movement into the Neoclassical era. Both Panagiotis and his son Nikolaos Doxaras refined the school. The school was heavily influenced by the Venetian Style. The Heptanese School also influenced Italian painting. Other artists Doxaras influenced were Nikolaos Kantounis. Panagioti’s teacher was famous painter Leos Moskos. He studied with him while he was in Venice. Doxaras painted notable portraits of Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg. He introduced Maniera Italiana to the Heptanese School drastically changing the style from the Maniera Greca. He is considered the father of the Greek Rococo and the Modern Greek Enlightenment in art.
The Codex Atlanticus is a 12-volume, bound set of drawings and writings by Leonardo da Vinci, the largest single set. Its name indicates the large paper used to preserve original Leonardo notebook pages, which was used for atlases. It comprises 1,119 leaves dating from 1478 to 1519, the contents covering a great variety of subjects, from flight to weaponry to musical instruments and from mathematics to botany. This codex was gathered in the late 16th century by the sculptor Pompeo Leoni, who dismembered some of Leonardo's notebooks in its formation. It is now in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan.
Divina proportione, later also called De divina proportione is a book on mathematics written by Luca Pacioli and illustrated by Leonardo da Vinci, completed by February 9th, 1498 in Milan and first printed in 1509. Its subject was mathematical proportions and their applications to geometry, to visual art through perspective, and to architecture. The clarity of the written material and Leonardo's excellent diagrams helped the book to achieve an impact beyond mathematical circles, popularizing contemporary geometric concepts and images.
La Vita di Leonardo Da Vinci — in English, The Life of Leonardo da Vinci — is a 1971 Italian television miniseries dramatizing the life of the Italian Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519).
Leonardo's Horse is a project for a bronze sculpture that was commissioned from Leonardo da Vinci in 1482 by the Duke of Milan Ludovico il Moro, but never completed. It was intended to be the largest equestrian statue in the world, a monument to the duke's father Francesco Sforza. Leonardo did extensive preparatory work for it but produced only a large clay model, which was later destroyed.
Leonardo's crossbow designs are a series of shooting weapon schematics designed by Leonardo da Vinci that are in the Codex Atlanticus. One version, a self-spanning infantry weapon called the Rapid Fire Crossbow, is found on sheets 143r, 153r and 155r. The other is the Giant Crossbow design intended to be a mounted siege weapon found on sheet 149a in the Codex.
The Portrait of Luca Pacioli is a painting attributed to the Italian Renaissance artist Jacopo de' Barbari, dating to around 1500 and housed in the Capodimonte Museum, Naples, southern Italy. The painting portrays the Renaissance mathematician Luca Pacioli and may have been painted by his collaborator Leonardo da Vinci. The person on the right has not been identified conclusively, but could be the German painter Albrecht Dürer, whom Barbari met between 1495 and 1500.
The Leonardeschi were the large group of artists who worked in the studio of, or under the influence of, Leonardo da Vinci. They were artists of Italian Renaissance painting, although his influence extended to many countries within Europe.
The Elmer Belt Library of Vinciana is a special collection at the University of California, Los Angeles which focuses on Leonardo da Vinci-- life, art, thought, and enduring cultural influence. It is the most extensive research collection concerning Leonardo in the United States. It was donated to UCLA in several installments between 1961 and 1966 by Dr. Elmer Belt (1893-1980), an internationally recognized urologist; a pioneer in gender affirmation surgery; a strong supporter in the founding of the UCLA School of Medicine; an important public health advocate; and a lifelong bibliophile and book collector.