Women's roles during the Renaissance

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"Man is the measure?" 
Women's roles during the Renaissance

Leonardo, Vitruvian Man,  Study of proportions, c1492  from Vitruvius's  De Architectura  (1st century BCE) Pen and ink, 13"x 9"  Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice Giotto di Bondone,  Virgin and Child Enthroned,  (Ognissanti Altar,) c 1310.  Tempera and gold on wood, 10'8"x6'8" Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence Leonardo, Virgin and St. Anne  with the Christ Child. 1510 Oil on wood, 168,5 x 130 cm  Musée du Louvre, Paris Jan van Eyck Arnolfini Wedding1434  oil and tempera on oak 82x60cm Albrecht Durer, Adam and Eve.1504 engraving 9"x7"  Philadelphia Museum of Art BALDUNG GRIEN, Hans Aristotle and Phyllis 1513 Woodcut, 33 x 23,6 cm

Context and Iconography: The Male GazeThe series of images at the left are almost major landmarks in understanding the Renaissance conception of the difference between male and female roles.  Images such as these and the writings of Reniassance authors, such as those by Castiglione and Christine de Pizan are in some ways representative of the "ideal" roles for each gender.  Since images like this were primarily commissioned by male patrons and made by male artists some historians have named this phenomena the "male gaze." Leonardo and his contemporaries literally believed that, "Man is the measure of all things."  In this drawing we see that Leonardo takes this idea almost quite literally and scientifically.  Leonardo, consistent with classical thinking, chooses to represent the nude male figure rather than the nude female.  This choice is quite deliberate because much of the thinking concerning classical humanism revolves around the specifically male experience of the world.  In fact, authors like Castiglione specifically look on men who have, . . .such a countenance as this is, will I have our Courtier to have, and not be so soft and womanish as many procure to have: that do not only curl the hair, and pick the brows, but also pamper themselves in every point like the most wanton and dishonest women in the world. One would think that in the way they walk, stand, and in all their gestures so tender and weak, that their limbs were ready to fall apart. Their pronunciation and language are effeminate. These men, seeing that nature has not made them women, ought not to be esteemed in place of good women, but like common Harlots to be banished, not only out of princes’ courts, but also out of the company of Gentlemen. To come therefore to the quality of the person, Catiglione, Excerpt from the "Courtier" Images of Mary can almost always be traced back to the Gothic depiction of Mary as the "Throne of Wisdom."   In most images, such as in these by Giotto and Leonardo, she not only serves as a mother but as a platform or throne for her child.  Stokstad refers to this as symbolic of the old testament references to the Lion Throne of King Solomon who is known as a wise and fair ruler and judge, but it is also a communication of the male conceived ideal of what the perfect woman should be. Even when the Renaissance artist breaks with tradition and begins to think critically about the new roles of men and women, as in the Arnolfini wedding portrait and Christine de Pizan's writings, we still can see that both support the concept that there are appropriate roles for males and females in the world. God has similarly ordained man and woman to serve Him in different offices and also to aid and comfort one another, each in their ordained task, and to each sex has given a fitting and appropriate nature and inclination to fulfill their offices. Inasmuch as the human species often errs in what it is supposed to do, God gives men strong and hardy bodies for coming and going as well as for speaking boldly. And for this reason, men with this nature learn the laws - and must do so - in order to keep the world under the rule of justice and, in case anyone does not wish to obey the statutes which have been ordained and established by reason of law, are required to make them obey with physical constraint and force of arms, a task which women could never accomplish. Nevertheless, though God has given women great understanding Christine de Pizan's The Book of the City of Ladies 1405 In the case of the Arnolfini portrait, the role is that of the good wife.  Notice that being a wife is also being a good mother and we can see this symbolically in Giovanna Cenami's swelling belly and bunched up drapery which symbolizes pregnancy according to Panofsky. Both Castiglione and de Pizan seem to warn us off of changing the male and female roles and sticking to what we know or is prescribed in the Bible.  In fact, many images of females who break out of these traditional roles, such as the biblical women, Eve, Judith, and Suzanne and the not so biblilical Phyllis are responsible for our down fall and in this case of Eve for our "original sin."

Hans Baldung Grien, Aristotle and Phyllis. 1503 pen and ink

Form:  This is a simple sketch in pen and ink that was probably a prelimionary drawing for an engraving or a painting.  The anatomy is rather stiff and less gestural than those of his contempoarry Italian counterparts.Space is created through a size scale relationship of foreground to background and a variation of marks in the nackground buildings indicates a use of atmospheric perspective. Grien uses cross contour lines (lines that literally follow the direction across the curves of the trunks) to indicate the texture of the tree and cross hatching to develop the value structure of the figures and their drapery in the foreground.  These linear techniques would have been important for a printmaker to master. Iconography:  The them of an "ill matched couple," which usually depicts a young and beautiful maiden in the company of an older man is a common them in Renaissance art of the North.  In many images the younger woman has her hand on the purse of the older man but in this case the subject matter of the image is a young beautiful woman dressed in Renaissance clothing of the Northern style riding around or taming an older man. Images like this were meant to be a warning to men of the power of inappropriate passion and a warning against the sexual powers of young woman. Context: More specifically this relates to the story of Aristotle, the Greek philosopher and Phyllis, the wife of his pupil Alexander the Great.  According to the Brittanica, "in late 343 or early 342 Aristotle, at about the age of 42, was invited by Philip II of Macedon to his capital at Pella to tutor his 13-year-old son, Alexander. As the leading intellectual figure in Greece, Aristotle was commissioned to prepare Alexander for his future role as a military leader. As it turned out, Alexander was to dominate the Greek world and defend it against the Persian Empire." This union of older philosopher master was the beginning of a nearly lifelong advisory position for Aristotle. Alexander respected the superior intellect of Aristotle in all things and felt that Aristotle represented the ideal intellectual who represented a total mastery of the intellectual over the physical self.  (Remember the Apollonian Dionysian conflict?) Phyllis questioned Aristsotles absolute control and according to legend made a bet with Alexander that she could show him that passion was stronger than reason.  She began to flirt with Aristotle.  After inflaming Aristotle with lust, he began to beg for a sexual trist.  Phyllis informed Alexander that she had the proof he sought and instructed Alexander to hide in the bushes and watch while she literally mad an "ass" out of Aristotle. In order to get what he wanted, Aristotle had to agree to do whatever Phyllis wanted.  She instructed Aristotle to get down on all fours and allow her to ride him around the courtyard.

 

BALDUNG GRIEN, Hans Aristotle and Phyllis 1513 Woodcut, 33 x 23,6 cm

Form:  In this variation of the theme, the two figures are nude and the total environment is much more worked out.  This image indicates a fairly good use of anatomy and perspective and shows more of a development of the mark making discussed in Grien's drawing.  The development of the vocabulary of marks would have been important for Grien to be able to make a high quality engraving.   Engraving In engraving, the design is cut into metal with a graver or burin. The burin is a steel rod with a square or lozenge-shaped section and a slightly bent shank. The cutting is accomplished by pushing the burin into the metal plate. The deeper it penetrates into the metal, the wider the line; variations in depth create the swelling tapering character of the engraved line. After the engraving is finished, the slight burr raised by the graver is cleaned off with a scraper. The engraved line is so sharp and clean that it asserts itself even if cut over a densely etched area. In the print, the engraved line is notable for its precision and intensity. In engraving, the hand does not move freely in any direction but pushes the graver forward in a line; a change of direction is achieved by the manipulation of the plate with the other hand. Although copper, zinc, aluminum, and magnesium plates are used--and in the past soft iron and even steel were used--the best all-around metal is copper. It has the most consistent structure and is neither too soft nor too hard. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.  Context: In the North, places like Germany, France and Holland, the art market was a bit different than in Italy.  Although the Reformation did not officially begin until 1518, there were stirrings of it earlier than that. In Northern towns and cities, there was a different distrubution of wealth and probably a larger upper middle class than in Italy.  In addition to these factors, the main patron for the arts was in Italy in the Churches of Rome, Padua and Florence.  Since individuals could afford to buy work for smaller prices many artists sought out this different market. The print market allowed artists to sell multiple copies of the same images to a larger number of people and make as much money from it as the sale of one or two paintings. This also freed some of the artists from the typical more Catholic or overtly religious iconography of much of the art of the South and allowed them to explore other kinds of imagery and subjects.

Hans Baldung Grien. Stupified Groom. (Bewitched Groom) 1544.  Woodcut 13"x 7"  State Museum of Berlin

Iconography:  Stokstad describes the iconography of this image as a "moral lesson on the power of evil" but more than that, Stokstad discusses the use of images of witches in his images as an expression of evil.  It is interesting that this is one of the roles that older, perhaps unattractive woman were accused of during the Renaissance and well into the 1800's.  In some ways, the depiction of witches in the art of the Renaissance represents the anti-ideal for a woman.  In this way, woman are still provided with a role model of what not to become.  Form and Context: Woodcut is the technique of printing designs from planks of wood. . . It is one of the oldest methods of making prints from a relief surface, having been used in China to decorate textiles since the 5th century AD. In Europe, printing from wood blocks on textiles was known from the early 14th century, but it had little development until paper began to be manufactured in France and Germany at the end of the 14th century. . . In Bavaria, Austria, and Bohemia, religious images and playing cards were first made from wood blocks in the early 15th century, and the development of printing from movable type led to widespread use of woodcut illustrations in the Netherlands and in Italy. With the 16th century, black-line woodcut reached its greatest perfection with Albrecht Dürer and his followers Lucas Cranach and Hans Holbein. In the Netherlands Lucas van Leyden and in Italy Jacopo de' Barbari and Domenico Campagnola, who were, like Dürer, engravers on copper, also made woodcuts.As wood is a natural material, its structure varies enormously and this exercises a strong influence on the cutting. Wood blocks are cut plankwise. The woods most often used are pear, rose, pine, apple, and beech. The old masters preferred fine-grained hardwoods because they allow finer detail work than softwoods, but modern printmakers value the coarse grain of softwoods and often incorporate it into the design. The printing of woodcuts is a relatively simple process because it does not require great pressure. Although presses are used, even hand rubbing with a wooden spoon can produce a good print. The ink used to print woodcuts must be fairly solid and sticky, so that it lies on the surface without flowing into the hollows. The printing ink can be deposited on the relief either with dabbers or with rollers. Thinner papers are particularly suitable for woodcuts because they make rich prints without heavy pressure. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

 
TIZIANO Vecellio (Titian) The Venus of Urbino 1538 Oil on canvas, 119 x 165 cm 
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italian Renaissance
In the background of Titian’s painting entitled "The Venus of Urbino" (1538) are two women looking inside or placing things inside a chest. This chest or cassone is most likely a dowry chest, in which case the women are then preparing the chest with gifts for the upcoming nuptials. Venus, the goddess of beauty, nude in the foreground, presides over the event, but there’s something wrong with this picture. Venus is really the Duke of Urbino’s courtesan (mistress) and the title of the painting is just a disguise to make a nearly pornographic portrait palatable. This kind of double meaning in a painting is common during the Renaissance especially in portrayals of women.
What is also interesting about this images is that the artist chose to juxtapose the eroticized female form with commodities or luxury items.  By playing the textures and body of the female against expensive fabrics, fur, fruit, and dowery chest containing the family jewels and porcelain, the artist is also making the human female form another commodity which can be bought and sold.  In this way, the wealth of the patron is also eroticized.  This device is played off again and again throughout the history of art.
The cassone is a familiar object in the upper class Renaissance home. Provided by the bride’s family and kept throughout her life the chest is symbol of her marriage. The decorations on the chest are designed to educate the woman who owns it. The images that adorn cassoni relate familiar classical and biblical narratives concerning the lives of great women. For example, San Francisco’s "Legion of Honor" has a panel from a cassone by Jacopo del Sellaio that depicts the "Legend of Brutus and Portia," circa 1485. Both Plutarch (AD 46-119), a Greek historian, and Shakespeare (1554-1616) in his play "Julius Caesar," depict Portia as a strong and loyal wife. In Shakespeare’s "Julius Caesar," Portia exclaims, "Think you I am no stronger than my sex, Being so fathered and so husbanded?" (Act 2, i, 319-320) and stabs herself in the leg to prove to Brutus that she can bear any discomfort for him. After she learns of Brutus’ defeat, she kills herself by swallowing hot coals. Another cassone from the Louvre depicts the Old Testament story of Queen Esther and her self-sacrificing patriotic acts that saved the Jewish people. The subtext of these tales is not just loyalty but self-sacrificing loyalty in the face of adversity.
Titian's painting has been the subject of much observation.  It's interesting that so much positive "press" has been associated with this image considering how much it has been vilified in the past.  Mark Twain, in his biography Tramp Abroad, recorded his response to his encounter with the Titian painting:

You enter [the Uffizi] and proceed to that most-visited little gallery that exists in the world --the Tribune-- and there, against the wall, without obstructing rap or leaf, you may look your fill upon the foulest, the vilest, the obscenest picture the world possesses -- Titian's Venus. It isn't that she is naked and stretched out on a bed --no, it is the attitude of one of her arms and hand. If I ventured to describe that attitude there would be a fine howl --but there the Venus lies for anybody to gloat over that wants to --and there she has a right to lie, for she is a work of art, and art has its privileges. I saw a young girl stealing furtive glances at her; I saw young men gazing long and absorbedly at her, I saw aged infirm men hang upon her charms with a pathetic interest. How I should like to describe her --just to see what a holy indignation I could stir up in the world...yet the world is willing to let its sons and its daughters and itself look at Titian's beast, but won't stand a description of it in words....There are pictures of nude women which suggest no impure thought -- I am well aware of that. I am not railing at such. What I am trying to emphasize is the fact that Titian's Venus is very far from being one of that sort. Without any question it was painted for a bagnio and it was probably refused because it was a trifle too strong. In truth, it is a trifle too strong for any place but a public art gallery.

Now that you know how Twain felt about this work.  This poem by Browning discusses a similar painting.   It is used by the narrator of the poem as a point of departure to discuss how he feels about his last wife and how he feels women should behave.  As you read it, try to relate the painting above to it. 
 

"My Last Duchess" - Robert Browning - 1842  1   That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,   2   Looking as if she were alive. I call   3   That piece a wonder, now; Frà Pandolf's hands   4   Worked busily a day, and there she stands.   5   Will't please you sit and look at her? I said   6   "Frà Pandolf" by design, for never read   7   Strangers like you that pictured countenance,   8   The depth and passion of its earnest glance,   9   But to myself they turned (since none puts by 10   The curtain I have drawn for you, but I) 11   And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst, 12   How such a glance came there; so, not the first 13   Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, 'twas not 14   Her husband's presence only, called that spot 15   Of joy into the Duchess' cheek; perhaps 16   Fra Pandolf chanced to say, "Her mantle laps 17   Over my lady's wrist too much," or "Paint 18   Must never hope to reproduce the faint 19   Half-flush that dies along her throat." Such stuff 20   Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough 21   For calling up that spot of joy. She had 22   A heart - how shall I say? - too soon made glad, 23   Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er 24   She looked on, and her looks went everywhere. 25   Sir, 'twas all one! My favor at her breast, 26   The dropping of the daylight in the West, 27   The bough of cherries some officious fool

28   Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule 29   She rode with round the terrace - all and each 30   Would draw from her alike the approving speech, 31   Or blush, at least. She thanked men, - good! but thanked 32   Somehow - I know not how - as if she ranked 33   My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name 34   With anybody's gift. Who'd stoop to blame 35   This sort of trifling? Even had you skill 36   In speech - which I have not - to make your will 37   Quite clear to such an one, and say "Just this 38   Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss, 39   Or there exceed the mark" - and if she let 40   Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set 41   Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse - 42   E'en then would be some stooping; and I choose 43   Never to stoop. Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt, 44   Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without 45   Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; 46   Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands 47   As if alive. Will't please you rise? We'll meet 48   The company below, then. I repeat, 49   The Count your master's known munificence 50   Is ample warrant that no just pretense 51   Of mine for dowry will be disallowed; 52   Though his fair daughter's self, as I avowed 53   At starting, is my object. Nay, we'll go 54   Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though, 55   Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity, 56   Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me.

 

  
 

The Smell of Sweat and Damp Leather,

oil on canvas panel 11x14 inches by Kenney Mencher

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Lisa Sette Gallery

JULY INVITATION — Opening: Saturday, July 9 from 7:00 - 9:00pm // Exhibition: July 5 - September 3, 2016 Claudio Dicochea: Forbidden Futures Exhibit July 5 - September 3, 2016 Opening Reception Saturday, July 9, 2016 7:00 - 9:00pm Flourishing in the desert for over three decades, Lisa Sette Gallery represents the works of a diverse and expansive range of artists whose investigations in some way touch on the realities of the urban Sonoran desert. The experience of living at a cultural and geographical intersection is reflected in works from around the globe that are both conceptually fertile and thoughtfully crafted. This summer’s solo exhibit of the electrifying, philosophically-charged paintings of Claudio Dicochea: Forbidden Futures exemplifies the gallery’s intrepid commitment to challenging, compelling, and culturally pertinent artwork. As a child in the border town of San Luis Río Colorado in Sonora, Mexico, Claudio Dicochea was fascinated by the comic books on sale at the local grocery, bound within a pulpy color cover and containing a “wonderful, crinkly sepia” collection of interior pages. A profound sensual appreciation for the imagery and philosophical appeal of popular culture is tangible in Dicochea’s work today--rollicking acrylic paintings that are influenced, and sometimes inspired, by science fiction, comic books, horror films, and popular music. While Dicochea’s startling and irresistibly compelling works draw viewers into a riot of recognizable images culled from the top-grossing, top-40 hits of the recent past, these paintings are compositionally structured upon the disturbing history of Colonial appropriation.  At the outset of his career, Dicochea encountered 18th century ColonialCasta paintings—faux-scientific ethnographic charts illustrating the results of genetic intermingling between the native people of the Americas and European settlers—and the imagery encapsulated his sense of the profound aesthetic implications of intermixing human icons and cultural symbols. In many of Dicochea’s works, the painter joins together hybrid families of various “casts,” existing in a protean sea of class signifiers and pop imagery. “Each painting takes an original casta as a template to be distorted, in which original characters are replaced by archetypes from popular media, comics, and world history…these works lift and sample from original paintings in order to understand the processes and effects of re-appropriation. In this manner, we can better understand how such re-appropriation functions as both language and method.” In the process of creating these painterly visions of the contemporary cultural and ideological morass, Dicochea literally affixes printouts of imagery culled from the Internet and uses them as both philosophical and compositional guides in the process of transforming his canvases into teeming portraits of the fecund cultural collisions engendered by both our Enlightenment-era conceptions of reality, and our present moment of media saturation. Of particular influence in Dicochea’s recent works is the realm of science fiction, as it intersects with the scientific-sounding fictions, which have been used in the past to explain or justify social constructs. “I’ve always found looking at culture through the lens of sci-fi really alluring. Social constructs having to do with inherited status are often loosely based on scientific research or so-called scientific logic, but at the same time they’re just utilizing whatever knowledge might have been arrived at in order to create or implicate a social fiction...the idea of “race” is kind of a blatant example of scientific fiction, or a narrative unfolded based on loose scientific facts, but really meant to legitimize exploitation. That’s the big connector, the big social fiction.” Dicochea’s paintings resemble fever dreams of cultural and historical mashups, as played out in a collective arena that is both universal and specific to the many narratives of Latin America enacted upon a global stage. And while critical and philosophical underpinnings are integral to Dicochea’s work, these days the painter is concerned with the forward-thinking aspects of his project: “Everyone is born somewhere. I’m not so interested in the idea of a shared origin, I’m interested in the idea of a shared destination. It’s a concern of mine to invert the cone of media influence and not so much point it toward the past but point it openly toward the unwritten future.  When we’re talking about sci-fi, when we’re talking about the future, we’re talking about our destination.” The opening reception will be held on Saturday, July 9, 2016 from 7:00 - 9:00pm Lisa Sette Gallery is pleased to announce Claudio Dicochea's inclusion in the upcomingMi Tierra: Contemporary Artists Explore Place exhibition at the Denver Art Museum. The show will include new works alongside four preexisting paintings from the museum’s Spanish Colonial art collection. Dicochea’s character/figure combinations aim to resonate with and broaden our sense of racialization. Exhibition on view February 19th through October 22th, 2017. Images Above: Top Left: Claudio Dicochea, de la Norteña y el Primer Ministro, la Mutacíon (of Northerner and Prime Minister, the Mutation), acrylic, graphite, charcoal, transfer, wood, 48" x 36" Top Right: Claudio Dicochea, de la Jacqueline y el Cesar, la Gloria (of Jacqueline and Cesar, G-L-O-R-I-A), acrylic, graphite, charcoal, transfer, wood, 48" x 36" Bottom: Claudio Dicochea, de la Agente Federal y el Rojo, la Emperatriz (of Federal Agent and Red, the Empress), acrylic, graphite, charcoal, transfer, wood, 2 @ 48" x 36"   LISA SETTE GALLERY 210 East Catalina Drive, Phoenix, Arizona 85012 480 990 7342 map | directions GALLERY HOURS Tuesday – Friday 10 – 5 Saturday 12 – 5 and by appointment closed Sunday and Monday SOCIAL PROFILES

Doctor Smith, watercolor and crayon on 11x14 inch cotton paper by Kenney Mencher

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Mature Youth, 8x10 inches, oil on panel by Kenney Mencher

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Boisterous Hush, crayon on tan heavy paper  9x12 inches by Kenney Mencher

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Leonardo

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"Man is the measure of all things." 
 

Leonardo da Vinci, Self Portrait, 1512

Form:  The formal qualities of this drawing are not as significant as the iconographic and contextual qualities it represents.  The drawing is a fine representation of the human head and face and demonstrates a close attention to proportion, detail, and texture.  The diagonal lines that run from the upper left hand corner of the drawing and flow down to the lower right unify the drawing and make a cohesive value structure by flowing along like waves against the direction of the light source which is coming from the upper right hand corner.  The use of line and cross hatch marks to create texture and chiaroscuro are typical of Leonardo's style especially in his drawing and are complimented in their contrast to the types of lines that he uses to depict the hair which are long, flowing and curvilinear. Iconography:  This drawing was probably a fairly quick "sketch" by Leonardo and the artist probably did not intend for the drawing to be deeply symbolic, nevertheless, to us it is.  Because the drawing was drawn from direct observation it is a snapshot of Leonardo's penetrating gaze.  As a viewer it is easy to imagine that this drawing and his facial expression sum up some of the qualities of this intense individual.  Interestingly enough, he looks kind of grumpy in the drawing but most accounts describe him as a witty and charming individual. One of the skills that most painters needed to develop during the Renaissance period was the ability to paint portraits and accurate likenesses.  Often this skill was developed by painting with a the only model that one might have available which is one's self.  The humanistic and platonic idea of perfectability also gave rise to self reflection and observation.  A portrait then is not just about the immediate apprearance but also it is a symbol of the person.  In this image we see that Leonardo is studying himself and also demonstrating his ability to create a strong physical likeness as well a psychological likeness. Context:  Here is Leonardo's letter to the Duke of Milan asking for employment,

To My Lord the Duke of Milan, Florence, 1482Most Illustrious Lord,
Having until now sufficiently studied and examined the experiments of all those who claim to be experts and inventors of war machines, and having found that their machines do not differ in the least from those ordinarily in use, I shall make so bold, without wanting to cause harm to anyone, as to address myself to Your Excellency to divulge my secrets to him, and offer to demonstrate to him, at his pleasure, all the things briefly enumerated below :
1. I have the means to construct light, solid and sturdy bridges, easy to transport, in order to follow and if necessary rout the enemy, and other even more solid which resist fire and storm, simple to remove and lay down. And the means to burn and destroy those of the enemy.
2. For the siege of a stronghold, I know how to clear the moats of water and construct an infinite number of bridges, battering-rams and scaling-ladders and other machines useful for this sort of enterprise.
3. Item, if a stronghold could not be reduced by bombardment, because of the height of its slopes or the strength of its position, I have the means of destroying any citadel or other emplacement whose foundations do not rest upon the ground.
4. I also have methods for making mortars that are simple and practical to move, that throw rubble in an almost steady stream, causing much fear and terror in the enemy camp with their smoke, as well much damage and confusion.
5. Item, I also have the means, using tunnels and twisting secret passageways, dug noiselessly, of arriving at a determined point, even if this meant going under moats and rivers.
6. Item, I shall make sure and invincible covered wagons, which will penetrate the ranks of the enemy with their artillery, and that group of armed men does not yet exist which can stop them; infantry can then follow them unharmed and unobstructed.
7. Item, if necessary I shall make siege guns, mortars and other machines, of beautiful and practical shape, completely different from what is generally in use.
8. Wherever the use of cannon is impossible, I shall forge catapults, mangonels, trabocchi and other admirably effective engines, generally little used. In short, according to the situation, I shall manufacture an indefinite number of various machines, both offensive and defensive.
9. And if, by chance, the engagement took place at sea, I have plans for the construction of engines quite suited to attack or defense, of vessels which resist the fire of the largest guns, powder, and smoke.
1O. In time of peace, I believe I am capable of giving you as much satisfaction as anyone, whether it be in architecture, for the construction of public or private buildings, or in bringing water from one place to another. Item, I can sculpt in marble, bronze or terracotta; while in painting, my work is the equal of anyone¹s. What is more, I shall undertake the execution of the bronze horse which will be the immortal glory, eternal homage, to the beloved memory My Lord Your Father, and to the illustrious house of Sforza. And if one or another of the things listed above seems impossible or impractical, I should be pleased to demonstrate on your grounds or in any other place which may please Your Excellency, of whom I beg to remain the most humble servant.
Leonardo da Vinci
quoted from Artists on Art, from the 14th to the 20th Century, edited by Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves, (New York, Pantheon Books)

Notice that he begins his letter by telling the Duke all about his abilities as a scientist, inventor, and strategist and end at the end of the letter he says "Oh by the way, I'm an artist too."  What this anecdote indicates is that Leonardo was the quintessential Renaissance man.  Although this story indicates that Leonard is portraying himself as a scientist philosopher and architect first, this is just a dramatic way of introducing himself.   Leonardo new full well that his reputation as an artist preceded him.
A link to a biography about Leonardo.
 
 

Leonardo da Vinci, Last Supper, 1495-7 Milan,  Santa Maria delle Grazie  1) The door was enlarged in 1652 2) Half a dozen well meaning restorers seem to have been its worst enemy. 3) A protective curtain hung by friars in 1768  trapped humidity and abraded the mural when opened for visitors. 4) To ward against sunlight, nearby windows are now boarded. 5) Post world war rebuilding added central heating which  stabilized the environment. 6) The foundations of the structure were strengthened. (Source: National Geographic Magazine)

Form: The Last Supper is a mural in bad condition.  Leonardo used a combination of materials to paint this fresco and his experiment failed almost immediately.  Leonardo painted a lead white primer on top of the plaster wall to slow the drying and so he could paint more slowly.  It's not clear why the two didn't adhere but possibly the moisture of the plaster wall rejected the oil based primer on its surface and kept it from creating a tight cohesive bond.  As a result the paint almost immediately began to flake.  For some detail views of the fresco and its context see this page.The figures are life sized and placed in a single frieze like band on one side of the table.  The apostles are also arranged into four groups of three figures each.  Each figure in the group is posed or arranged in a unique manner and exhibits a unique emotional gesture.  The composition is symmetrical with Christ at it's center and arranged using one point perspective whose vanishing point converges behind Christ's head.  Almost all of the figures, except for the single figure of Judas have their heads' placed on the horizon line. The use of linear perspective is exaggerated and further complimented by the arrangement of the coffers in the ceiling, the doors along each side of the room and the atmospheric perspective of the landscape through the windows.  This is further exaggerated by the gesture of Christ's body in the center whose arms are outstretched and whose body forms a triangular shape that points back towards the window and the vanishing point. Iconography: The figures size and placement in a single frieze like band on one side of the table.  Serve two purposes.  First, they arrange the figures in such a way that the monks who would eat in this room felt as if they were pulling up a chair and eating with Jesus and the apostles.  Second, the arrangement also refers to the classical friezes that Leonardo would have studied and this reference would not have been lost on the viewers.  The apostles arrangement into four groups of three figures is a reference to the sacred number of the trinity which represents the father, son, and the holy spirit.  This symbolism could also be part of why there are three windows in the background and is also part of why Christ's figure is arranged in the three sided triangular form.  For Leonardo and his contemporaries, humanism or the human experience of religion was the key to unlocking the world.  Since the study of man and his experience was so important it makes sense that human gesture and pose is central to understanding this painting.  Here's a quote from Leonardo's notebook in which he discusses how to compose groups of figures in historical pictures: When you have thoroughly learned perspective and have fixed in your memory all the various parts and forms of things, you should often amuse yourself, when you take a walk for recreation, by watching and taking note of the attitudes and actions of men as they talk and dispute, or laugh or come to blows one with another - both their actions and those of the bystanders who either intervene or stand looking on at these things; noting them down with rapid strokes in this way, in a little pocket book, which you ought always to carry with you. quoted from Artists on Art, from the 14th to the 20th Century, edited by Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves, (New York, Pantheon Books) As you can see, Leonardo believed in drawing from figures from observation and that he particularly was interested in communicating emotion and experience through gesture.  Christ's pose, with his arms outstretched is further invitation to the scene and an indication in which he is willing participant in his sacrifice.  Each apostles' figure is posed or arranged in a unique manner and exhibits a unique emotional gesture.  This refers back to the viewer and how the viewer might have had a similar reaction to one of the apostles.  This is a humanistic way of looking at the story because the viewer is supposed to look for a figure that he best identifies with.  The composition is arranged using one point perspective whose vanishing point converges behind Christ's head which places him in the most important and literally the most central location in the image.  All of the figures, except for the single figure of Judas have their heads' placed on the horizon line and this is symbolic of Judas status as a betrayer and therefore "beneath" the other apostles.

Context:  Since Leonardo was a scientist as well as a painter he attempted to try mixing tempera, oil paint and fresco in this painting.  The result was that the mural almost immediately had a really bad "dandruff" problem.The drawing condenses misfortunes the "Last Supper" has suffered and reveals modern correction.
Leonardo painted a lead white primer on top of the plaster wall to slow the drying and so he could paint more slowly.  It's not clear why the two didn't adhere but possibly the moisture of the plaster wall rejected the oil based primer on its surface and kept it from creating a tight cohesive bond.

Leonardo, Vitruvian Man,  Study of proportions, c1492  from Vitruvius's  De Architectura (1st century BCE) Pen and ink, 13"x 9"  Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

Form: This is a fairly small pen and ink drawing, depicting a nude male figure whose body is inscribed within several geometric forms.  The rendering utilizes contour drawing rather than much attempt to portray value or chiaroscuro.   In the margins of the pages are inscribed in reverse (or mirror writing) Leonardo's observations about Vitruvius's' text.  The drawing is an interpretation of these ideas which are quoted in Stokstad. (Make sure you read them!)Iconography:  In a more general sense, this drawing represents Leonardo and his contemporaries neoplatonic and humanistic ideologies which can be traced back to the writings of Vitruvius and classical thinking.  The most relevant humanistic "sound bite" from that era being, "Man is the measure of all things."  In this drawing we see that Leonardo takes this idea almost quite literally and scientifically. In addition to the idea of "man" in a general sense, Leonardo, consistent with classical thinking, chooses to represent the nude male figure rather than the nude female.  This choice is quite deliberate because much of the thinking concerning classical humanism revolves around the specifically male experience of the world. Context:  Leonardo's notebooks are precisely and this is why Bill Gates has bought them all up and now owns all the rights to them.  Aside from their initial value as antique works by a master, they are an invaluable source of information for modern scholars concerning both how Leonardo thought about the world and also how an artist from the Renaissance might have thought.  Within its pages are his observations concerning science, art, his inventions of flying machines, his studies of anatomy, observations of his fellow man and commentaries on other's ideas and texts.

In Stokstad you can read the quote from Vitruvius' treatise.  Here's another quote from Leonardo that applies to how he thought about the human figure in a rationalistic and scientific manner.

From chin to the starting of the hair is a tenth part of the figure.
From the chin to the top of the head is an eighth part.
And from the chin to the nostrils is a third a part of the face.
And the same from the nostrils to the eyebrows, and from the eyebrows to the starting of the hair.
If you set your legs so far apart as to take the fourteenth part from the height, and you open and raise your arms until you touch the line of the crown of the head with your middle fingers, you must know that the center of the circle formed by the extremities of the outstretched limbs will be the navel, and the space between the legs will form an equilateral triangle.
The span of a man's outstretched arms is equal to his height.quoted from Artists on Art, from the 14th to the 20th Century, edited by Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves, (New York, Pantheon Books)

According to the Brittanica

Vitruvius
 fl. 1st century BC in full MARCUS VITRUVIUS POLLIO, Roman architect, engineer, and author of the celebrated treatise De architectura (On Architecture), a handbook for Roman architects. Little is known of Vitruvius' life, except what can be gathered from his writings, which are somewhat obscure on the subject. Although he nowhere identifies the emperor to whom his work is dedicated, it is likely that the first Augustus is meant and that the treatise was conceived after 27 BC. Since Vitruvius describes himself as an old man, it may be inferred that he was also active during the time of Julius Caesar. Vitruvius himself tells of a basilica he built at Fanum (now Fano).De architectura was based on his own experience, as well as on theoretical works by famous Greek architects such as Hermogenes. The treatise covers almost every aspect of architecture, but it is limited, since it is based primarily on Greek models, from which Roman architecture was soon decisively to depart in order to serve the new needs of proclaiming a world empire. De architectura is divided into 10 books dealing with city planning and architecture in general; building materials; temple construction and the use of the Greek orders; public buildings (theatres, baths); private buildings; floors and stucco decoration; hydraulics; clocks, mensuration, and astronomy; and civil and military engines. Vitruvius' outlook is essentially Hellenistic. His wish was to preserve the classical tradition in the design of temples and public buildings, and his prefaces to the separate books of his treatise contain many pessimistic remarks about the contemporary architecture. Most of what Pliny says in his Natural History about Roman construction methods and wall painting was taken from Vitruvius, though unacknowledged. Vitruvius' expressed desire that his name be honoured by posterity was realized. Throughout the antique revival of the Renaissance, the classical phase of the Baroque, and in the Neoclassical period, his work was the chief authority on ancient classical architecture.
The text of De architectura with an English translation is published in the Loeb Classical Library in two volumes.
 "Vitruvius."   Britannica 2001 Standard Edition CD-ROM.   Copyright © 1994-2001 Britannica.com Inc.   November 11, 2002.

Anatomical studies from Leonardo's notebooks

Even though it was against the law, Leonardo was still able to obtain corpses and dissect them.  Leonardo's studies of anatomy initially make sense from a rationalistic point of view for artists.  He states in one of his notebooks,It is a necessary thing for a painter, in order to be able to fashion limbs correctly in the positions and actions which they can represent in the nude, to know anatomy of sinews, bones, muscles, and tendons in order to know, in the various different movements and impulses, which sinew or muscle is the cause of each movement and to make only those prominent and thickened, and not the others all over the limb, as do many who, in order to appear great draftsmen, make their nudes wooden and without grace, so that it seems rather as if you were looking at a sack of nuts than a human form or a bundle of radishes rather than the muscles of nudes. quoted from Artists on Art, from the 14th to the 20th Century, edited by Robert Goldwater and Marco Treves, (New York, Pantheon Books) So then, you may ask yourself, why did he choose to study an unborn child in the womb.  The answer is that he was a Renaissance man an interested also in pure science. A flying machine by Leonardo.

Leonardo, Virgin and St. Anne with the Christ Child  and the Young John the Baptist. c 1500-1  Charcoal heightened with white on brown paper,  54x39" (139x101 cm) National Gallery, London

Form:  This is a large drawing on brown paper that uses the brown of the paper as part of its value structure.  The medium brown tone of the paper served as the middle tones of the drawing and then the lights and darks were established with chalk and charcoal. In several sections of the drawing, Leonardo has chosen to leave sections unfinished in terms of value and we can see contour lines that indicate the forms.  Some of the contour lines are rough and several have some "false" starts and corrections he made. The overall composition is fits the figures in a pyramidal form in the foreground of the image.  The relationship of the figures although placed within a stable triangular form is still somewhat awkward and it looks almost as if Leonardo has collaged the figures together.  In the background of the image is an idealized landscape. Iconography:  The iconography of the image deals with the holy family in a humanistic fashion.  This holy family and its gestures are meant to relate to your own family and this ties in with the Catholic humanist ideal of seeing the image of Christ in the world that surrounds you and with the concept of traditional family values. The concept of faith, sacrifice, wisdom and idealism are related almost in a river like flow from Anne all the way down to St. John.  The start or source of this knowledge comes from "God the Father" who is not represented but pointed towards by St. Anne, Mary's mother on whom Mary sits.  In some ways, this refers back to the "throne of wisdom" them that was evidenced in Giotto and Cimabue's painting but in this case, Leonardo's drawing is a correction of the original schema.  In this case, St. Anne becomes the original throne on which Mary rests. From Anne comes Mary, who offers her child to the world and he in turn offers his blessing, in the form of a gesture, and therefore wisdom, to the apostle John who will go and relate the "good news" to his followers. From another perspective, this image also communicates the point of view of the Renaissance audience about the roles of women.  The women in this image are in some ways representative of the "ideal" woman.  Clearly an image like this incorporates the point of view that motherhood is a very high calling.  Since images like this were primarily commissioned by male patrons and made by male artists some historians have named this phenomena the "male gaze." Context:  This large drawing is neither a study of a finished drawing for presentation in the strictest sense.  Although in some ways it is both.  This drawing is a cartoon and is a planning drawing or design.  In some ways it's a form of carbon paper.  The drawing would have been used in a similar fashion to the paper designs dress makers use.  The drawing would have been pierced with a pin or awl along its main contours and then the image would have been transferred to a canvas or board by "pouncing" charcoal or chalk through the holes created by the pin.  Stokstad explains that there is no finished painting associated with this drawing, however, Leonardo has several paintings that are very similar to it.  It was not unknown of and actually a fairly common practice to recycle old cartoons, and the basic designs of paintings over and over again.  For example, Cimabue has several version of the seated Madonna that look almost identical but for minor differences in color, iconography the number of angels and the apostles who accompany her.  This may account for the weird interrelationship and tangle of legs between Mary and Anne in the image.  It is possible that Leonardo recycled and collaged some old ideas and figures in this cartoon.  Another painting that shares many of these qualities with this cartoon is Leonardo's Virgin and St. Anne with the Christ Child, 1510 now in the Louvre.

 

Leonardo, Virgin and St. Anne with the  Christ Child. 1510 Oil on wood, 168,5 x 130 cm  Musée du Louvre, Paris Photo of atmospheric perspective

Iconography:  This work shares almost the same exact content as the cartoon above; however, in this the St. John is substituted with a lamb.  The lamb is symbolic of Christ as the Lamb of God and of his preordained sacrifice.Some minor changes dealing with the gestures and poses of the figures are in evidence.  Most noticeably is Anne's.  In this version she does not chose to gesticulate towards the heavens but instead places her hand on her hip in to compliment this self assured and calm gesture she smiles benevolently down on her progeny. Formal: An element that blurs the line between iconography and formalism is the use of the triangular or pyramidal organization of the figures. This shape is both iconic of the Trinity and it is a visual device which pulls the eye back into the picture plane and stabilizes the composition. The "cut and paste" of the three figures, especially in how the figure of Mary relates to the figure of St. Anne, can probably be traced back to the use of older studies or cartoons which Leonardo has combined.  This painting also shares a lot in common with his Mona Lisa.  The shared qualities involved deal with his creation of space by using two devices, the use of atmospheric or aerial perspective and the use of sfumato. Alberti's system of linear perspective failed to solve many problems related to the effective portrayal of depth by limiting it to a horizon line and by giving the appearance that the various planes in a painting are stacked much like a stage set.3 By careful observation of nature as the ultimate teacher, Leonardo solves these problems, "Perspective is divided into three parts, of which the first is concerned solely with the outlines of the bodies; the second in the diminution of colors at varying distances; the third in the loss of definition of bodies at various distances."4 Leonardo observed and defined atmospheric perspective and color perspective which in combination are often referred to as "aerial perspective."Leonardo explains color perspective this way, ". . . through variations in the air we are made aware of the different distances of various buildings. . . therefore make the first building. . . its own color; the next most distant make more blue. . . at another distance bluer yet and that which is five time more distant make five times more blue."5 This principle is demonstrated in the background of Mona Lisa: the ground and hills directly behind the subject are painted in warm tones of reddish browns and tans. As the landscape recedes the mountains and water become progressively more blue. Leonardo also noted that air is more dense closest to the earth, therefore the bases of hills will always appear lighter than the summit; he applies this theory to the hills behind the sitter's shoulders which start out a tan color and become dark brown.6 Leonardo's optical observations delineated atmospheric perspective in this way: "[t]hat thing will be less evident that is furthest removed from the eye. The boundaries of things in the second plane will not be discerned like those in the first."7 This theory is especially well developed in the backgrounds ofMona Lisa and Madonna and Saint Anne, which become less and less detailed as the images recede until they become so distant to the eye that they disappear in the atmosphere. Leonardo's establishment of these principles brought to an end the medieval system of absolute color and allowed artists to compress miles of landscape onto a flat picture plane.8 Endnotes 1. Martin Kemp, ed., Leonardo on Painting, (New Haven and others: Yale University Press, 1989), 197. 2. Serge Bramly, Leonardo: Discovering the Life of Leonardo da Vinci, Sian Reynolds, trans., (New York: Harper and Collins Publishers, 1991), 3. William V. Dunning, Changing Image of Pictorial Space: A History of Spatial Illusion in Painting, (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1991), 42. 4. Kemp, 16. 5. Kemp, 80. 6. Kemp, 83-84. 7. Kemp, 85-87.| 8. Marcia Hall, Color and Meaning: Practice and Theory in Renaissance Painting, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 68. The following is part of an essay excerpted from an art historical magazine published by Chico State called "Contrapposto"  which can be found athttp://www.csuchico.edu/art/contrapposto/contrapposto99/pages/contents.html "What Insights do Leonardo's Writings Shed on His Work?" by S. Lee Hager go to  this site for the full essayhttp://www.csuchico.edu/art/contrapposto/contrapposto99/pages/essays/art345/hagerl.html