Leonardo da Vinci: life, works, and legacy

Leonardo Da Vinci

Regarded one of the most innovative and talented individuals of his time, BBC (2014) describes Leonardo da Vinci as "one of the greatest creative minds of the Italian Renaissance, hugely influential as an artist and sculptor but also immensely talented as an engineer, scientist and inventor." A clearly multitalented individual, Leonardo da Vinci was born on the 15th day of April, 1452 (BBC, 2014). He was born out wedlock. His father was a prominent attorney while his mother is described in various texts as having been a simple peasant girl. As he grew up, Leonardo da Vinci spent most of his time with his father and was later on sent to Andrea del Verroccio - an accomplished painter and sculptor, as an apprentice (BBC, 2014).

One could say that it was while under the apprenticeship of Andrea that Leonardo da Vinci further developed an interest in paining and artistry. It was, however, not until the year 1478 that Leonardo da Vinci became an independent master (BBC, 2014). It was also at around this time that Leonardo da Vinci, as Marcovici (2014) points out, "took his first commissioned work, The Adoration of Magi." Five years after becoming an independent master, he moved to Milan where as BBC (2014) points out, secured employment as an architect, sculptor, and engineer. During this time, he was under the active engagement of the ruling Sforza family. While his famous The Last Supper mural was produced while he was still in Milan, his other popular piece, Mona Lisa, was done in Florence, after fleeing the French invasion of Milan. It was not until the year 1956 that Leonardo da Vinci went back to Milan, before moving to Rome and then France, at the invitation of King Francis I (BBC, 2014). Leonardo da Vinci died on the 2nd day of May, 1519, aged 67 (Witteman, 2004).

Some of Leonardo da Vinci's most popular and invincible works include, but they are not limited to The Last Supper and Mona Lisa. These are the works I will largely be concentrating on in this section. Completed in 1506, Mona Lisa, as Witteman (2004, p. 19) points out was easily "one of Leonardo da Vinci's favorites paintings." As the author further observes, Leonardo da Vinci kept this particular piece with him for most of his life. It should be noted that with this particular painting, Leonardo da Vinci tried something new -- he ensured that the objects appearing in the picture's background were blurred, thus making them somewhat unreal in appearance (Witteman, 2004).

When it comes to The Last Supper Leonardo da Vinci actively made use of perspective -- an approach to art that was not popular amongst the Renaissance artists (Witteman, 2004). Thanks to the perception of distance and depth as a result of the utilization of this particular method, the picture as Witteman (2004) notes seems as if it sinks back into the wall. He completed this piece in 1495. Other moderately popular works of Leonardo da Vinci include, but they are not limited to, Virgin of the Rocks (1486), The Virgin and Child with St. Anne (1510) and Annunciation (1480).

Throughout his life, Leonardo da Vinci made use of a variety of techniques in his work. Some of these include, but they are not limited to linear perspective, chiaroscuro, and sfumato. Linear perspective concerns itself with "drawing objects realistically with relative distances between them" (Priwer and Phillips, 2011). In such a case, objects closest to the eye, in comparison to those far away, seem larger. While chiaroscuro has got to do with contrasting lights and darks to come up with three-dimensional forms, sfumato reflects the roundness of an object by graduating and blending tones between an object's parts (Priwer and Phillips, 2011).

Essentially, I selected Leonardo da Vinci for this analysis due to his painting and artistry genius. Few artists of his time could have matched Leonardo da Vinci's skills when it came to painting. I also selected this artist given the contributions he made to the world of art. As a matter of fact, it is possible that many artists today attribute their success to their mimicking of some of the methods Leonardo da Vinci made use of in his paintings. This is particularly the case when it comes to the integration of shadow and light and application of linear perspective. I greatly admire his talent and creative ability. It would also be prudent to note that I am a great fan of two of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings -- Mona Lisa and Virgin of the Rocks. In the final analysis, therefore, Leonardo da Vinci's influence in the art arena was, and still is, immense.