Leonardo da Vinci, also known as ‘Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci’, was born on 15th April 1452 and was a Tuscan polymath. He was a great mathematician, inventor, scientist, engineer, botanist, architect, anatomist, sculptor, writer, musician and one of the greatest painters of all times. He was born at Vinci, Florence; his father was Piero da Vinci and his mother was a peasant girl. Da Vinci worked in places like Bologna, Venice and Rome, and he spent his last final years in France at a place offered by King Francois l. Leonardo da Vinci has been described as a universal genius and know as the ‘Renaissance man’. He was renowned for two of his works: The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. These were the two paintings which are considered to be the most religious paintings, most parodied portrait and reproduced.
The Mona Lisa is an amazing sixteenth century portrait painting worked on poplar panel with oil. Also known as La Gioconda (La Jocondda), this is arguably the most famous painting in the world and few other works of art have been subjected to as much study, scrutiny, parody and mythology. Now the painting is owned by the French government at the Musée du Louvre (Museum of Louvre) in Paris, France. The painting is a half length portrait that depicts a lady whose gaze meets the viewer’s with an expression often described as mysterious. The haziness of the sitter’s look, the monumentality of the half figure composition and the delicate modeling of forms and atmospheric illusionism were novel characters that have contributed to the painting’s continuing attraction.
The Last Supper is a fifteenth century mural painting, worked for his patron Duke Ludovico Sforza and for his duchess Beatrice d’ Este. The painting represents a scene of the last supper of Jesus Christ during his final days, when Jesus announced that one of his twelve disciples would be disloyal to him. This painting measures about 460 × 880 centimeters or 15 feet × 29 feet and the painting can be found at the back halls of the dining hall at Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. Leonardo painted this on a dry wall rather than on a wet plaster, so it is not a true fresco. As fresco can’t be modified as the artist works, he instead wanted to seal the wall with layers of gesso, pitch and mastic. The paint was preserved with tempera, as it is one of the methods used, however the piece didn’t withstand well; within many years of completion it already began to show signs of deterioration.
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