Dating back to the Early Middle Ages, Vinci is centered around the castle that belonged to the Guidi

Counts from the year 1000 to 1254, at which time it was subjugated by Florence and transformed into a Commune. The castle is popularly known as "the castle of the ship", because its elongated shape resembles the silhouette of a sailing vessel, ft houses some frescoed and sculptured coats of arms, remembrances of the Podestas, and the splendid Madonna and Child terracotta by Giovanni della Robbia. The castle has been the seat of the Leonardo Museum since 1953. Other figures are closely bound to Vinci, such as the sculptor Pier Francesco da Vinci, known as Pierino da Vinci, Leonardo's nephew.

Monument to Bartolommeo Colleoni Begun By Verrocchio in 1481 Completed after his death The popularity of Equestrian monuments Due to the influence of the Classical stature of Marcus Aurelius stood in the Campidoglio in Rome 1475 Condottiero Colleoni for captain general of the Republic of Venice Left an substantial amount in his will to the Republic on condition a statue of himself should be erected in his memory Acompetition was arranged Three sculptors competed for the contract, Verrocchio from Florence, Alessandro Leopardi from Venice and Bartolomeo Vellano from Padua. Verocchio was declared the winner He then opened a workshop in Venice and made the final clay model which was ready to be cast in bronze, but he died in 1488, before this was done. After much delay it was completed by Alessandro Leopardi and it was erected in the Campo SS Giovanni e Paolo in Venice where it remains

Baptism of Christ Andrea Del Verrocchio

1. The angel to the left is recorded as having been painted by the youthful Leonardo, a fact which has excited so much special comment and mythology 2. Verrocchio was not himself a prolific painter and very few pictures are attributed to his hand, his fame lying chiefly in his sculptured works. 3. According to Vasari, Leonardo collaborated with Verrocchio on his Baptism of Christ, painting the young angel holding Jesus' robe in a manner that was so far superior to his master's that Verrocchio put down his brush and never painted again

1. Most fittingly he is the finest example of a genius 2. Very good looking 3. Superlative singling voice 4. Magnificent physique 5. Mathematical excellence 6. Scientific daring 7. Etc. 8. Caused him to treat his artistic gift too lightly 9. Seldom finished a painting 10. Made rash experiments such as the last supper

3 portraits of women by Leonardo.

All have a secret wistfulness Most appealing in Cecilia Gallarani Most enigmatic in Mona Lisa Most confrontational in Ginevra de Benci

Sfumato
Italian term for a painting technique which overlays translucent layers of colour to create perceptions of depth, volume and form. In particular, it refers to the blending of colours or tones so subtly that there is no perceptible transition. In Italian sfumato means "vanished" with connotations of "smoky" and is derived from the Italian word fumo meaning 'smoke'. Leonardo da Vinci described sfumato as "without lines or borders, in the manner of smoke or beyond the focus plane. Leonardo is closely associated with the technique, and one of the best-known examples is his Mona Lisa. Critics and art historians have argued over whether or not the Mona Lisa is smiling. This debate is due to the use of sfumato around her mouth, making it a mystery as to whether the shadows are a result of a smile or if the smile is a result of the shadows

Cecilia Gallerani 1. Shown holding the heraldic animal of Ludovico il Moro in her arms. 2. She was his favorite and gave birth to his child in the same year as he married Beatrice d'Este. 3. The charming and vivid impression Cecilia makes gained Leonardo the reputation of being a talented portrait painter.

4. The movement of this beautiful girl turning slowly from the shadow into the light is mirrored by the small animal she is holding.
5. The inscription in the upper left corner - La Feroniere Leonard d'Awinci - is a mistaken addition at the end of the 18th century.

Ginevra de Benci
Was originally larger The back of the panel depicts a laurel wreath and a palm encircling a juniper sprig The tree behind Ginevra is a Juniper sprig. The three are connected by a scroll saying She adorns her beauty with virtue

Her rosepink cheek and lips painted

with extreme restraint It conveys her personality showing her inner restraint And control over her emotions Her heavy lidded eyes cast a shadow over her iris This further removes her from us Her gaze appears to lack of focus on the viewer she appears to look beyond us.

Genevra
The name is related to the name of the Juniper tree. The dark spiky Juniper leaves seem to suggest a spiky nature to her personality The juniper berry also is used for the making of gin.

Skin under the bodice

Smooth surface of her bodice painted with a soft wet oil on oil technique The bodice is transparent and only suggested If not for the gilt pin holding it in place it would not be noticeable. In the distance Leonardo paints an atmospheric landscape This is contrasted with the solidity of her form

THE LAST SUPPER

Leonardo da Vinci painted The Last Supper

dry wall rather than on wet plaster

not a true fresco. Because a fresco cannot be modified as the artist works, Leonardo instead chose to seal the stone wall with a layer of pitch, gesso and mastic, then paint onto the sealing layer with tempera. Because of the method used, the piece began to deteriorate a few years after Leonardo finished it. Two early copies of The Last Supper are known to exist, presumably the work of Leonardo's assistant. The copies are almost the size of the original, and have survived with a wealth of original detail still intact.

 Last Supper (copy after Leonardo) c1515-20

This is one of two large-scale early copies on canvas of Leonardos Last Supper, which is almost the width of the original fresco. In 1821, the Royal Academy in London purchased it for 600 guineas as a work by Marco dOggiono but the current attribution to Giampetrino (Giovanni Pietro Rizzoli), who was a talented assistant of Leonardos in Milan, is now generally accepted.

Two dramatic moments are the main features of representations of the last supper 1. either Christs institution of the Holy Communion, or 2. His statement that one of the disciples would betray him. In an early Christian mosaics (520 AD) the theme centres on the communion, Judas is not singled out and the figures recline in Roman fashion at a semicircular table with Christ in the honoured position at the left. A late 13th C Spanish altar again stresses the communion.

Pietro Lorenzetti
before 1348
The hexagonal pavilion recalls Nicola Pisano's pulpit in Siena Cathedral. Here the artist has focused on the betrayal Christ stares at Judas the only disciple without a halo here also the introduction for the first time of animals and servants. On the left side, there is an unprecedented genre scene: fireplace, shelf and wooden beams are depicted. One complex line of interpretation has centered around the kneeling servant, who may be using a tallith (a Jewish prayer shawl) to wipe away the Old Law.

Castagno 1447
In the Quattrocento the betrayal of Christ was the moment most commonly chosen for emphasis in the Last supper as in Castagnos version. Judas sits isolated with a heavily mottled panel above his head suggesting a dark sky lanced with thunderbolts. The room is built in the austere style of Alberti, with the lavish coloured marble panels functioning as a backdrop to the heavy and solemn scene of the banquet. The other extraordinary element of this fresco is the remarkable balance of gestures and expressions, particularly in the group of figures in the centre of the composition, where the innocent sleep of St John to the left of Jesus is contrasted to the tense, rigid figure of Judas sitting opposite.

For what reason was it commissioned?

After Ludovico il Moro was made duke of Milan in 1494, he decided to make the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie his family's burial place. This is the context within which Leonardo was probably commissioned to decorate the monks' dining room, the refectory, with a depiction of the Last Supper. It cannot be determined exactly when the commission went to Leonardo; however, the completion of the painting in 1498 is documented.

a new technique
As in all his major undertakings, Leonardo sought a new technical solution for the process of painting. He decided in favour of mixed media and painted over two ground layers using oil and tempera paints, as was done in panel painting. This particular technique is partially responsible for the fact that the disintegration of the work set in so early, given the unfavorable climatic conditions. Scarcely 20 years after the completion of the work, it was already starting to come to pieces, Possibly because the wall had absorbed water. Ever since, every generation has worried and made efforts to a greater or lesser degree to preserve this work. In 1943, during an air raid, a bomb exploded in the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie and destroyed the roof and the wall to the right of the Last Supper right down to the foundations; the work of art, protected by sand bags, fortunately survived this catastrophe largely unscathed.

 Judas
Judas above all was clearly characterized by Leonardo, for he was not, as was customary, placed in the center of the picture in front of the table, but placed amongst the row of disciples. He is identified by means of several motifs such as his reaching for the bread, the purse containing the reward for his treachery and the knocking over of a saltcellar, a sign of misfortune. Leonardo even formally expressed his isolation from the group by depicting him as the only one whose upper body is leaning against the table, shrinking back from Jesus.

Two versions Of the Madonna of the Rocks one in National gallery in London other in Louver, Paris

1. Leonardo is characterised by his treatment of hair 2. Also the angelic expression on the face 3. And the lack of rigidity in the contour 4. One form glides imperceptibly into the other 5. The face shows an interior of wisdom, an artistic wisdom that no other artist has equalled 6. Towards the end of his life he accepted the French Kings invite to live in France 7. As a consequence he has few imitators 8. Bernardino Luini of Milan (14851532) caught only the outer manner of the half smile. 9. There is something in the work of Leonardo that is too deep, too dark, too overpowering.

Niccol di Bernardo dei Machiavelli 1469 - 1527

1. The Florentine Statesman 2. Remembered chiefly as the author of IL Principe (the prince) 3. A rational analysis of political power 4. His main argument, a ruler must be prepared to do evil if he judges that good with come of it. 5. After he died he was judged an amoral cynic a view reinforced by his enemies

St Jerome Leonardo da Vinci

1. In about 370, St Jerome, later a Father of the Church, is said to have withdrawn to live as a hermit in the desert of Chalcis near Antioch, in order to produce a translation of the Bible and live as an ascetic. 2. Leonardo depicts the Father of the Church as a penitent, not a scholar. 3. St Jerome is kneeling in a humble posture that arouses our sympathy, in front of the sketched cross of Christ on the right, and before him lies the lion, his attribute. 4. In his right hand he is holding a stone with which he is striking his breast. 5. The head section of the unfinished panel was sawn out in the 18th century and not replaced and restored until the 19th century.

Ottoman

The "Ottomans" became first known to the West in 1227 when they migrated westward into the Seljuk Empire, in Anatolia. However, the Ottoman Turks would create a state in Western Anatolia under Ertugrul, Ertugrul established a principality, as part of the decaying Seljuk empire. His son Osman expanded the principality; and for him, both the empire and the people were named by Europeans as "Ottomans". Osman's son Orhan expanded the growing empire, taking Nicaea, present-day Iznik, and crossed the Dardanelles strait, in 1362. But the Ottoman Empire came into its own when Mehmed II captured the Byzantine Empire's capital, Constantinople (subsequently to be known as Istanbul), in 1453.

 Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475 1564),

The second of five brothers, Michelangelo was born on March 6, 1475, at Caprese, in Tuscany, to Ludovico di Leonardo di Buonarotto Simoni and Francesca Neri. The same day, his father noted down: "Today March 6, 1475, a child of the male sex has been born to me and I have named him Michelangelo. He was born on Monday between 4 and 5 in the morning, at Caprese, where I am the Podest." Although born in the small village of Caprese, Michelangelo always considered himself a "son of Florence," as did his father, "a Citizen of Florence."

Portrait of a young boy early drawing by Michelangelo

His father was a minor Florentine official

He had some connections to the Medici family and had high hopes for Michelangelo to become a successful merchant or businessman and thus raise the status of the Buonarroti family. When Michelangelo turned 13 he decided he wanted to join the Bottega Of Domenico Ghirlandaio After learning the art of fresco he was spotted by the sculpture school in the Medici gardens and shortly thereafter invited into household of Lorenzo de Medici There he had an opportunity to converse with the younger Medici, two of whom later became popes (Leo X and Clement VII). He also became acquainted with such humanists as Marsilo Ficino and the poet Angelo Poliziano, frequent

visitors to the Medici court.

Italian Bottega

In the same year, the Medici were expelled from Florence as the result of the rise of a religious extremist Savonarola. Michelangelo left the city before the end of the political upheaval, moving to Venice and then to Bologna Michelangelo returned to Florence but received no commissions from the new city government under Savonarola. After a time it became safe for Michelangelo to return to the employment of the Medici. During the half year he spent in Florence he worked on two small statues, a child St. John the Baptist and a sleeping Cupid. This was actually an attempt to make money by selling it as an ancient Roman antique. Cardinal Raffaele Riario, to whom Lorenzo had sold it, discovered that it was a fraud. He was so impressed by the quality of the sculpture that he invited the artist to Rome.

Michelangelo Buonarroti. 1475-1564.

1. Resisted the paint brush vowing the chisel his only tool. 2. Only the Pope (Julius II) could coerce him into painting the Sistene Chapel. 3. terribilita means not so much being terrible but rather awesome 4. Michelangelo is awesome in scope and in imagination. 5. His teacher Domenico Ghirlandaio (1448-94) 6. His handling of the claw chisel and in his hatching technique in drawings. 7. An example of Ghirlandaio's work The Birth of John the Baptist is gentle and harmonious bear more in common with Botticelli and not the huge intelligence of Michelangelos 8. Doni Tondo. This is an early painting not attractive in its muscular angularisation. It has a remote chilly beauty, and a stark power.

Ghirlandaio birth of John the Baptist

1499 - Pieta
1. Michelangelos first major work he is 23 2. In November of 1497, the French ambassador in the Holy See commissioned a Piet 3. The result of which was summarized by Vasari: "It is certainly a miracle that a formless block of stone could ever have been reduced to a perfection that nature is scarcely able to create in the flesh." 4. The divinity of Mary the mother of God who is ageless

5. Her face leans over a lifeless body that is perfect in anatomical detail.
6. Divine quality echoed in earthly beauty, perfect human standards therefore divine. 7. Idea of redemption through suffering is the theme. 8. The more perfect the sacrifice, the more perfect the divinity.

1. 1501 The Medici are restored and the republic of Florence is once again declared 2. 12 days after the declaration of the republic the Arte della Lana or Wool Guild, the wealthy corporation responsible for the maintenance and ornamentation of the Cathedral, commissioned him to sculpt a statue of David. 3. The high point of Michelangelo's early style is the gigantic (4.34 m) marble David (Accademia, Florence), 4. He is the model of heroic courage and his sling is the weapon with which he overcame the Giant Goliath 5. It is a neo-platonic idea of David as a Greek hero with biblical overtones 6. Each Florentine would be aware of their own significance in the maintenance of the Florentine independence in the face of the heavy weights surrounding them epitomised by the Pope and French and German interests in Italy

The Sistine Chapel The present chapel, on the site of the Cappella Maggiore, was designed by Baccio Pontelli for Pope Sixtus IV, for whom it is named, and built under the supervision of Giovannino de Dolci between 1473 and 1484.

Pope Julius II (December 5, 1443 February 21, 1513), born Giuliano della Rovere, was Pope from 1503 to 1513. 1. He is commonly known as the "Warrior Pope". 2. Became Pope in 1503 3. Reasserted Papal authority over the Roman Barons and successfully backed the reinstatement of the Medics in Florence.

4. Liberal Patron of the Arts commissioning Bramante to build the new St. Peters Church.
5. Michelangelo to Paint the Sistine Chapel 6. Raphael to paint the Papal apartments

Sistine Chapel
1. The Sistine Chapel (Italian: Cappella Sistina) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope, in the Vatican City. 2. Its fame rests on its architecture, which evokes Solomon's Temple of the Old Testament, 3. its decoration, frescoed throughout by the greatest Renaissance artists, including Michelangelo 4. and its purpose, as a site of papal religious and functionary activity, 5. notably the conclave, at which a new Pope is selected.

The sibyls 1. prophetic women who were resident at shrines or temples throughout the Classical World. 2. The five depicted here are each said to have prophesied the birth of Christ. The Cumaean Sibyl 1. Quoted by Virgil as declaring that "a new progeny of Heaven" would bring about a return of the "Golden Age". 2. This was interpreted as referring to Jesus.

Ezekiel the prophet

Creation of Eve

Cumaean sibyl

biblical and pagan figures a. Michelangelo was a heavyweight intellectual and poet. b. He was profoundly educated and a man of utmost faith. c. His vision of God is of fire and ice terrible august in his severe purity. d. The prophets and seers who look upon the countenance of the almighty have an appropriate largeness of spirit. prophets and seers a. The same power in more comprehensible form in the prophets and Sybils. b. Sybils were the oracles of Greece and Rome. c. One of the most famous the Cumaean Sybil who d. In the Aeneid gives guidance to Aeneas on his journey to the underworld.

Michelangelos creation
i. The story of creation is far from simple partly because of Michelangelos own complicated personality. ii. He dwells on profundities of theological knowledge iii. He balances his themes with Ignudi that express a truth with surpassing strength and grace. iv. The meaning of the ignudi is personal cannot be verbalised rather experienced.

1. In the Church of Rome, where there was an increasing interest in the remains of the city's pagan past, a. where scholars turned from reading Medieval Church Latin to Classical Latin b. The philosophies of the Classical world were studied along with the writings of St Augustine, the presence, in the Sistine Chapel of five pagan prophets is not surprising. 2. five particular sibyls that were depicted, a. given that, as with the Minor Prophets, there were ten or twelve possibilities. It is that the choice was made for a wide geographic coverage, with the sibyls coming from Africa, Asia, Greece and Ionia. 3. Erythraean sibyl "Many aspects of this figure are of exceptional loveliness: the expression of her face, her headdress and the arrangement of her draperies: and her arms, which are bared, are as beautiful as the rest. Vasari

Erythraean Sibyl

Erythraean Sibyl
a. The Sybils are twinned with Old testament prophets b. The Sybils were wise women with superior spiritual inspiration capable of explaining Gods message to humanity. c. O.T. Prophets spoke to the Jews, the sibyls spoke to the Greeks. d. She lived in Erythrae which is in Iona, southwest Turkey. 1. torch and light a. The Cherub holds a lit torch, and the flame is a pre Pentecostal manifestation of the Holy Spirit or divine revelation. b. She has not needed to wait for the lamp to be lighted. Her light is from within. c. Her sureness is contrasted with the little cherub rubbing his eyes. 2. posture and head of the sibyl a. She leans forward lost in her book b. Turns the page with calm deliberation. c. One, who sees, gifted with clairvoyance. d. She turns the book as an illuminator who brings good tidings to all mankind. 3. The pages of time a. She needs only one languid arm to turn the pages b. She is poised to act and is realaxed yet full of latent energy.

Maarten van Heemskerck1564 Left wing of a triptych with the Erythraean Sibyl (back) and Matelief Dammasz (front)

The Ghent Altarpiece - Erythraean Sibyl Year: unknown Author:Jan van Eyck

Libyan sibyl

Delphic Sybil

Persian Sibyl