海角大神

Honoring Leonardo da Vinci, the master who never stopped experimenting

As someone who appreciates Leonardo da Vinci鈥檚 painting skills, I鈥檝e long marveled at how crowds rush past his most sublime painting, 鈥淭he Virgin and Child with Saint Anne,鈥� to line up in front of the 鈥淢ona Lisa鈥� at the Louvre Museum in Paris.聽

The art critic in me wants to say, 鈥淲ait! Look at this one. See the poses of entwining bodies and gazes, the melting regard of the mother for her child, the translucent folds of cloth, the baby鈥檚 chubby legs.鈥� It鈥檚 a perfect combination of humanity and divinity.

Now, at the 500th anniversary of Leonardo鈥檚 death, scholars, art lovers, and the public are taking a far-reaching look at his career. Exhibitions in Italy and England, as well as the largest-ever survey of his work that opens at the Louvre this fall, are celebrating the master鈥檚 achievements not only in art but also in science.聽

One of those exhibitions, of Leonardo鈥檚 drawings, is attracting multitudes to the Queen鈥檚 Gallery at Buckingham Palace in London. 鈥淟eonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing鈥� displays the full range of Leonardo鈥檚 elastic mind at work.聽

The main impression conveyed by 鈥淎 Life in Drawing鈥� is of a life in process, a man and mind on a continuous learning curve, endlessly observing, studying, thinking, reflecting. The drawings 鈥� more than the finished paintings 鈥� show him improvising and experimenting, much more than just recording reality.聽

You see his beginnings as a talented apprentice to sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence, then his 16 years (1483-99) at the court of Ludovico Sforza in Milan, during which he sketched hundreds of horses rearing or cantering, viewed from all angles, to prepare for an unrealized equestrian monument. Sforza valued Leonardo鈥檚 skills as a set designer of elaborate court pageantry and masques, which meshed perfectly with Leonardo鈥檚 love of fantasy.聽

While in Milan he also produced 鈥淭he Last Supper鈥� fresco (1495-98), which still astounds. In his studies for heads and limbs of the apostles in the exhibition, you see the psychological reactions of each to Jesus鈥� announcement that one of them will betray him. A drapery study of the twisted arm of St. Peter, who leans over Judas鈥� shoulder in the fresco, shows Leonardo鈥檚 brilliant use of subtle shading in charcoal; both cloth and flesh are arrested in mid-movement.

Upon his return to Florence, he was celebrated as a genius. It was there he and the younger sculptor Michelangelo faced off in a sort of 鈥淔lorence鈥檚 Got Talent鈥� contest. Both designed frescoes (abandoned unfinished) on opposite walls of a palazzo, with the ever-charming Leonardo trying to befriend the grumpy Michelangelo.

Leonardo鈥檚 last years (1516-19) were spent in France as the guest and resident sage of King Francis I. There, he kept refining and revising his paintings, including the 鈥淢ona Lisa鈥� and the Saint Anne painting.聽

His scientific investigations into anatomy, astronomy, geology, botany, light, and movement were all done to represent life truthfully in his art. Leonardo saw both the micro and macro versions of the world. In our age of extreme specialization, such a universal approach is an inspiration.

Two things consistently fascinated him: the mechanics of flight and the movement of water. His mind was like both, swiftly flowing but occasionally pooling to encompass depths beneath the surface.

So many works are non finito, not finished, the cause of much regret by connoisseurs. But Leonardo himself was never finished. Each endeavor was a precursor to further investigation.聽

That quality may explain why, 500 years after his death, viewers are still not finished with him. There鈥檚 always more to see and understand.