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Leonardo da Vinci. Left side of the diptych
Alexey Berlin • Graphics, 50×39 cm
Description of the artwork «Leonardo da Vinci. Left side of the diptych»
The first graphic sheet of the series represents my attempt to betray the atmosphere of Leonardo's last days.
The subject for the composition was the meeting between Francis I and Leonardo da Vinci. It was based on the historical records of Benevenuto Cellini, (1500 - 1571) - Italian sculptor, jeweler, painter, warrior and musician of the Renaissance.
King Francis I of France (1494-1547) was not an intellectual on the throne: he favored women, tournaments, lavish festivities and beautiful clothes. But even if he did not always understand the great elder whom he had brought close to his court, he still admired his genius and humbly honored him.
When Leonardo in 1516 or 1517 arrived at the royal castle at Amboise, located about one hundred and sixty kilometers southwest of Paris on the Loire River, he was immediately given the title "First Artist, Engineer and Architect of the King" - not because he was expected to do any new work, but for what he had already done. Francis gave him apartments in the cozy manor of Cloux, located less than a kilometer from the palace, and often visited him there, believing that full of strength twenty-two-year-old king is much easier to visit the sick sixty-four-year-old artist than to ask for an audience.
The indelible impression Leonardo made on his patron is attested by the notes of Benvenuto Cellini.
In his "Memories" he writes about Leonardo that "King Francis so deeply loved his great talents and experienced such great pleasure in listening to his speeches that there were very few days in the year that he would have spent without talking to him .... He said that he could not believe that there had ever lived on earth a man of such vast knowledge as Leonardo, not only in sculpture, painting and architecture, but also in philosophy, because he was a great philosopher."
The plot and action in my drawing is developed against the background of Leonardo's work "St. Anne with Mary and the Christ Child".
The subject for the composition was the meeting between Francis I and Leonardo da Vinci. It was based on the historical records of Benevenuto Cellini, (1500 - 1571) - Italian sculptor, jeweler, painter, warrior and musician of the Renaissance.
King Francis I of France (1494-1547) was not an intellectual on the throne: he favored women, tournaments, lavish festivities and beautiful clothes. But even if he did not always understand the great elder whom he had brought close to his court, he still admired his genius and humbly honored him.
When Leonardo in 1516 or 1517 arrived at the royal castle at Amboise, located about one hundred and sixty kilometers southwest of Paris on the Loire River, he was immediately given the title "First Artist, Engineer and Architect of the King" - not because he was expected to do any new work, but for what he had already done. Francis gave him apartments in the cozy manor of Cloux, located less than a kilometer from the palace, and often visited him there, believing that full of strength twenty-two-year-old king is much easier to visit the sick sixty-four-year-old artist than to ask for an audience.
The indelible impression Leonardo made on his patron is attested by the notes of Benvenuto Cellini.
In his "Memories" he writes about Leonardo that "King Francis so deeply loved his great talents and experienced such great pleasure in listening to his speeches that there were very few days in the year that he would have spent without talking to him .... He said that he could not believe that there had ever lived on earth a man of such vast knowledge as Leonardo, not only in sculpture, painting and architecture, but also in philosophy, because he was a great philosopher."
The plot and action in my drawing is developed against the background of Leonardo's work "St. Anne with Mary and the Christ Child".
