This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(November 2020) |
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.
As a teenager, Leonardo was enrolled as an apprentice in the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence by his father, Ser Piero di Antonio di Ser Piero di Ser Guido da Vinci, a wealthy notary. In 1472, Leonardo joined the Guild of St Luke and eventually, he qualified as a master by this important guild. Leonardo left the studio of del Verrocchio in late 1477 as an independent artist, working on commissions. Leonardo continued to live in the same quarters as del Verrocchio, however, and they collaborated on some projects. Leonardo's father enabled him to set up his own studio.
In 1482, Leonardo visited Milan where he stayed with Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis, Evangelista de Predis, and their four brothers, all of whom were artists of different kinds. Both Ambrogio and Evangelista are known for having collaborated with Leonardo in the painting of the Virgin of the Rocks for the altarpiece in the chapel of the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception at the Church of San Francesco Grande in Milan.
In 1490, Leonardo earned recognition and a breakthrough at the court of Ludovico Sforza, and because of the scale of works commissioned he was permitted to have assistants and pupils in his own studio.
Among Leonardo's pupils at this time were Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, Ambrogio de Predis, Bernardino de' Conti, Francesco Napoletano, Andrea Solario, Marco d'Oggiono, and Salaì (also known as Giacomo Caprotti or Andrea Salaino). In a letter to Ludovico in 1496 Leonardo claimed that he was having to maintain six people at the time. Along with these original pupils, during his second stay in Milan in 1508 Leonardo had relationships with other Milanese artists, such as Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi), Giovanni Francesco Rustici, and young Francesco Melzi, whose parents had a manor house at Vaprio, Milan. Such artists as Giampietrino, Bernardino Lanino, Cesare da Sesto, Cesare Magni, Martino Piazza da Lodi, and Bernardino Luini are also regarded as members of the circle of Leonardo, while Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, Marco d'Oggiono, Giampietrino and Cesare da Sesto are represented as pupils in the monument to Leonardo by sculptor Pietro Magni (1872) in Piazza della Scala, Milan.
During the first decades of the sixteenth century a number of Spanish painters visited Florence. Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina and Hernando de los Llanos are documented as collaborators with Leonardo on The Battle of Anghiari . [1] Both artists continued their artistic association upon returning to Spain.
In 1494–1495 and again in 1505–1507, the German artist Albrecht Dürer traveled to Venice. In Bologna Dürer was taught the principles of linear perspective (possibly by Luca Pacioli or Donato Bramante), and evidently he became familiar with Leonardo's geometrical construction of shadows technique. Several Dürer engravings show a clear interest in the works of Leonardo; for example The Small Horse is based upon the Sforza Horse by Leonardo.
During his second stay in Venice Dürer was influenced by Leonardo's cartoon of Christ among the Doctors, which was commissioned by Isabella d'Este. Dürer produced a painted version of the subject, now in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. This is the only painting of Dürer's that was directly influenced by Leonardo, however, Dürer introduced new subjects developed by Leonardo in his art (e.g. the figure of the young Saint John the Baptist in his composition of Madonna with the Siskin in 1506, which was not familiar to Venetian art at the time). Despite the regard in which he was held by the Venetians, Dürer returned to Nuremberg by mid-1507, remaining in Germany until 1520. His reputation had spread throughout Europe and he was on friendly terms and in communication with most of the major artists including Raphael, Giovanni Bellini, and—mainly through Lorenzo di Credi—Leonardo da Vinci.
It is believed that Quentin Matsys had known the work of Leonardo da Vinci in the form of prints made and circulated among northern artists. His Madonna and Child with the Lamb, inspired by Leonardo's The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne , and A Grotesque Old Woman (or The Ugly Duchess ), show the influence of Leonardo. This is regarded as evidence that Matsys was greatly influenced by Italian Renaissance artists and that he most likely travelled to Italy, at least for a brief period.
In 1516 or 1517, Leonardo joined the court of Francis I of France. Coincidentally, a Flemish portrait painter, Joos van Cleve, also was summoned to the French court, where he painted the king, queen, and other courtiers. It is thought that Joos van Cleve had spent some time in Italy as well as France on this trip. Like Quentin Massys, a fellow artist of Antwerp, Joos van Cleve appropriated some themes and techniques of Leonardo da Vinci. Often, Joos van Cleve is called the Leonardo of the North. Paintings by the Italian Renaissance artists Giampietrino (Madonna of the Cherries) and Marco d'Oggiono ( The Holy Infants Embracing ), both assistants in the workshop of Leonardo da Vinci, were a major influence on the Antwerp master. Joos van Cleve produced numerous versions of his own paintings after these models, adapting them to his own style and so creating some of the most successful compositions of the time in northern Europe. His son, Cornelis van Cleve, continued an artistic interest in Leonardo, producing several copies of his father's work and the Madonna of the Yarnwinder .
The Virgin of the Rocks, sometimes the Madonna of the Rocks, is the name of two paintings by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, of the same subject, with a composition which is identical except for several significant details. The version generally considered the prime version, the earlier of the two, is unrestored and hangs in the Louvre in Paris. The other, which was restored between 2008 and 2010, hangs in the National Gallery, London. The works are often known as the Louvre Virgin of the Rocks and London Virgin of the Rocks respectively. The paintings are both nearly 2 metres high and are painted in oils. Both were originally painted on wooden panels, but the Louvre version has been transferred to canvas.
Bernardino Luini was a north Italian painter from Leonardo's circle during the High Renaissance. Both Luini and Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio were said to have worked with Leonardo directly; he was described as having taken "as much from Leonardo as his native roots enabled him to comprehend". Consequently, many of his works were attributed to Leonardo. He was known especially for his graceful female figures with elongated eyes, called Luinesque by Vladimir Nabokov.
The Madonna Litta is a late 15th-century painting, traditionally attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg. It depicts the Virgin Mary breastfeeding the Christ child, a devotional subject known as the Madonna lactans. The figures are set in a dark interior with two arched openings, as in Leonardo's earlier Madonna of the Carnation, and a mountainous landscape in aerial perspective can be seen beyond. In his left hand Christ holds a goldfinch, which is symbolic of his future Passion.
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.
Saint John the Baptist is a High Renaissance oil painting on walnut wood by Leonardo da Vinci. Likely to have been completed between 1513 and 1516, it is believed to be his final painting. Its original size was 69 by 57 centimetres.
Bacchus, originally Saint John the Baptist, is a painting in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, France, based on a drawing by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. It is presumed to have been executed by an unknown follower, perhaps in Leonardo's workshop. Sydney J. Freedberg assigns the drawing to Leonardo's second Milan period. Among the Lombard painters who have been suggested as possible authors are Cesare da Sesto, Marco d'Oggiono, Francesco Melzi, and Cesare Bernazzano. The painting shows a male figure with garlanded head and leopard skin, seated in an idyllic landscape. He points with his right hand off to his left, and with his left hand grasps his thyrsus and also points down to earth.
Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio was an Italian painter of the High Renaissance from Lombardy, who worked in the studio of Leonardo da Vinci. Boltraffio and Bernardino Luini are the strongest artistic personalities to emerge from Leonardo's studio. According to Giorgio Vasari, he was of an aristocratic family and was born in Milan.
Cesare da Sesto (1477–1523) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance active in Milan and elsewhere in Italy.
Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis was an Italian Renaissance painter, illuminator and designer of coins active in Milan. Ambrogio gained a reputation as a portraitist, including as a painter of miniatures, at the court of Ludovico Sforza.
The Holy Infants Embracing is a lost painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. It represents the infant Christ embracing his cousin John the Baptist. The subject matter relates to the two paintings of the Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo and numerous other Renaissance works by Raphael and others of the meeting of the two children on the road to Egypt while escaping the Massacre of the Innocents.
The decade of the 1490s in art involved some significant events.
The decade of the 1480s in art involved some significant events.
The decade of the 1470s in art involved some significant events.
The decade of the 1460s in art involved some significant events.
Giampietrino, probably Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli, was a north Italian painter of the Lombard school and Leonardo's circle, succinctly characterized by S. J. Freedberg as an "exploiter of Leonardo's repertory."
The story of Leda and the Swan was the subject of two compositions by Leonardo da Vinci from perhaps 1503–1510. Neither survive as paintings by Leonardo, but there are a number of drawings for both by him, and copies in oils, especially of the second composition, where Leda stands.
Flora is a painting by Francesco Melzi, completed circa 1520. It depicts the Roman mythological figure Flora, the goddess of springtime and flowers, a popular subject among Renaissance artists. The painting was in the collection of Maria de’ Medici in 1649 and has been in the collection of Hermitage Museum since 1850.
The monument to Leonardo da Vinci is a commemorative sculptural group placed in Milan's Piazza della Scala and unveiled in 1872. On the top is a statue of Leonardo da Vinci while the base depicts four of his pupils as full-length figures, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio, Marco d'Oggiono, Cesare da Sesto, and Gian Giacomo Caprotti.