Art has evolved
significantly since the classical period and it needs a deeper look and
understanding.
Marcel Duchamp, who had worked in
cubism, futurism and Dadaism, finally rejected the whole process as retinal art
and turned towards conceptual art – which focused on mind – ideas. Like
Leonardo, he was also interested in knowledge purely, so for many years he did
not produce any work of art. One fine day, he keeps a man- made object namely Fountain as a piece of art, and that one
art work revolutionize the whole art world.
Vitruvan Man’s drawing represents the
Renaissance Humanism, because the perfect measurements of human body and proportions
have been got with the scientific approach – through
the combined study of art and science.
Humanism covered many aspects under its wing and tried to revive many legacies like literary legacy, moral legacy and classical antiquity. During this period,
grammar, rhetoric, literature and moral values were appraised. Individual
expression, intellectuality, and emotions were given priority.
When
I was studying in art college, we always heard about Monalisa first and then
about Leonardo. Since those college days, the painting of Monalisa has remained
an enigma and the most sought after painting. Every artist seems to be obsessed
with that painting. What has made that painting so popular? Now a day, anything
can become famous and viral because of the social sites. But since decades the
painting has been in news in or the other way. Because of today’s technological
facilities, becoming famous or getting known to everyone has become very
simple.
When
my husband and myself planned to visit Kassel during Documenta, in Germany, we
also decided to visit Paris to see the world famous painting Monalisa. We
missed it narrowly by hours or by a day. We were there right in the louvre
museum, but the museum had a holiday on that particular day. Instead of going
through the Louvre Museum, we visited nearby another museum which had housed
colorful impressionistic paintings, that was also worth visiting as we had
opportunity to see some unseen paintings of Picasso and Vangough. Monalisa
remained a dream for us.
This
year 2019, artists all over the world are celebrating the 500 th year of the
artist Leonardo Da Vinci death anniversary, a contemporary of Michelangelo. An
Italian painter well versed in many fields. He was a genius! His enormous
interest in human anatomy led him to dissect nearly sixty two human dead bodies.
For his curiosity, he was penalized and kept into the prison as neighbors
complained about his eccentric habit. His sketch books reflect how deeply he
was engaged and engrossed in to anatomical study. In one of his sketch books,
one gets to see a number of sketches of fetus, in different stages. All these
have been documented with utmost care and precision. Under each sketch, notes
have been made. But the writing is from right to left. Only with the mirror
image, one can grasp the details. Some analysts are of the opinion that
Leonardo wanted to keep his studies a secret.
The
contribution of renaissance period to the field of art is enormous. The
innovation of linear perspective, scientific approach to art study, especially
human and animal anatomical studies, light and shade usage, exploration of deep
emotions, and intellectuality are the main characteristics of Renaissance. According to Leonardo” lights which may
illuminate opaque bodies are of 4 kinds. These are; diffused light as that of
the atmosphere; And Direct, as that of the sun; The third is Reflected light;
and there is a 4th which is that which passes through [translucent] bodies, as
linen or paper etc.[5]” The study of
light enabled the artists to give three
dimensional effect to the objects on two dimensional surface. Linear perspective also helped to the three
dimensional portraying of objects. Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael
are the famous artists of this period. Of the three, Leonardo turned out to be
the most outstanding artist as his studies continued into the various fields
throughout his life time. We can trace and link today’s designs of helicopter
and parachutes to the earlier futuristic sketches of Leonardo, who had designed
these in the renaissance period itself, but the sad thing is, they remained
only in sketch books. He was successful in architectural, armory and
cartographic designs too. Throughout his life, he was interested in gaining
knowledge. This habit made him to work on a painting again and again, and
experiment. As a result, most of his paintings remained unfinished, because he
never got satisfied with any of his paintings. According to the history pages,
he has completed only fifteen paintings, and of those fifteen paintings
Monalisa is also one, which remains unfinished with charismatic and enigmatic
smile.
To get the human and animal anatomy correct,
he used to dissect the bodies so as to study muscles and bones and the movement
in particular. As a result of this rigorous study, the enigmatic smile of
Monalisa has become so famous and lures millions of visitors to Lovure museum.
His sketch books speak volumes about his passion for studying the objects
scientifically. Nude figure studies became very popular in the renaissance
period. Freestanding sculptures became popular and these could be viewed from
all the sides as these were freed from the walls. Because of his outstanding knowledge and contributions to the various
fields, Leonardo was considered a renaissance man.
The famous Louvre Museum has a long
history before it was converted into museum.
In the beginning the museum was a fortress, which was used as a
defensive enclosure for Paris and it was built by King Phillippe Aguste in
1190. As its defensive role, the fortress used to monitor the unwanted entries
from the river Siene to the castle. When Paris grew, the fortress lost its
significance as guarding fortress. Then the castle was being used for
occasional stay for the monarchs. For some years, it remained as the main
castle for the successive kings, but when Louis xiv shifted to another palace,
this place evolved as a center for art in 1725. Some artists used to work and
stay here in this place – artists like Fragonard, Cardin used to stay here.
After the French Revolution in 1789,
following the over throwing of monarchy, the government decided to convert this
castle into museum. Now this famous museum has around 35000 art works and 10
million people visit the gallery every year. Main attraction of the museum is
Monalisa painting.
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