LEONARDO DA VINCI
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Learning Objective:
To explore perspectives and
compositions in Leonardo da
Vinci’s religious paintings.
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Perspective?
Composition?
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Realism
Realism means to
represent a person
or thing in a way
that is accurate and
true to life.
Leonardo da Vinci
painted his religious
scenes reflecting
real life situations.
He focused on the
facial expressions
and body positions of
characters to show
movement and life.
Perspective
Perspective means to represent
three-dimensional objects on a two-three-dimensional
surface to give depth. Leonardo da Vinci uses
this technique in all of his religious paintings.
Composition
Composition means the placement and
arrangement of objects and elements in a
piece of art work. Leonardo da Vinci thought
carefully about the objects he used and
where he placed them.
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What
materials did
Leonardo da Vinci
paint his religious
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Match the materials to the picture and decide which
materials Leonardo da Vinci may have painted on.
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Paper
Canvas
Stone
Metal
Fabric
Did you match
them correctly? Did you figure
out which materials Leonardo da Vinci
used?
THE ANSWER WAS:
Canvas and Stone.
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Leonardo da Vinci’s religious paintings
Canvas
Stone
Usually when artists painted on stone
they used a method called fresco
painting (applied wet plaster to the
stone and then painted the plaster).
Leonardo da Vinci didn't use this
technique when painting his religious
murals and paintings. He used his own
technique where he added dried plaster
to the stone and then painted white lead
over the top to enhance the oils.
After this he painted with tempera
(colour pigment mixed with egg yolk).
He
used canvas and
stone!
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The Last Supper
This is a mural
painted on a stone
wall in a monastery
in Milan.
It is one of the
most famous
religious paintings
created by
Leonardo da Vinci.
It represents Jesus’
last supper before
one of his disciples
betrays him.
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The third perspective in this
painting is the table with the disciples. He has painted this
scene in the foreground.
The second layer in the
painting is the room. He has used a vanishing point
perspective to create depth.
In this mural Leonardo da Vinci uses layering to compose the scene. There is a background, mid-ground and foreground.
The first perspective in this
painting is the landscape in the background. Leonardo da Vinci
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Jesus sits in the centre of the picture and wears brighter clothes. His head
is framed by the window. Judas is the disciple who
planned to betray Jesus so he is painted leaning away from Jesus and looking withdrawn.
The Disciples are in groups of three. There wouldn’t
be enough room at the table for all of them. Leonardo da Vinci painted this mural as realistically as he could. He composed all the actions and emotions of the characters and objects with careful thought.
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Perspectives in religious paintings
Leonardo da
Vinci painted other
religious scenes using
perspective (background,
mid-ground and foremid-ground). He wanted
to represent the scene
realistically. This made him
very famous.
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What
can you
see?
Look at this painting, The Annunciation. Discuss what you can see in
the background, mid-ground and foreground.
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The house and gardens are represented in the mid-ground
giving depth to the scene. The house looks like it is on a hill. Did you notice the mountains
and boats in the
background? I wonder what country they are in?
In the foreground Leonardo da Vinci painted the angel with
great detail. Would he have painted this first or last?
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What
can you see?
Look at this painting, The Virgin of
the Rocks. Discuss what you can
see in the background,
mid-ground and foremid-ground.
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The background here is a
lighter shade to make it look
like it is further away. It
seems to be a mountain
landscape. Did you see the
church?
The mid-ground shows high
and low hills in darker shades.
The colours make the scene
feel cold and damp. Did you
see the donkey? Why is it
smaller than the baby?
The baby is full of life and movement. He has been painted in light colours so he stands out.
the other characters in the foreground are painted showing
movement so the scene comes to life.
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What
can you see?
Look at this painting, The
Baptism of Christ. Discuss what
you can see in the background,
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The background of this
painting is quite simple.
Leonardo da Vinci has just
used blue tinting to create
an evening sky.
The mid-ground shows the
countryside and mountains. The
trees are painted quite dark to
represent the sun going down.
What do you think is behind
Christ?
The foreground details all the characters (typical Leonardo da
Vinci style). Brighter colours have been used and detail in the facial expressions. Did you
notice Christ was standing in water?
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What can
you see?
Look at this painting, Madonna of
the Carnation. Discuss what you can
see in the background, mid-ground
and foreground.
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The background of this
painting shows a jagged
mountain landscape. Leonardo
da Vinci has used blueish
colours to make it look far
away.
The mother and child look like
they are in a building. Dark
coloured shapes have been
painted to make windows.
What kind of building do you
think it is?
The relationship between
mother and baby is strong and Leonardo da Vinci has shown this in the foreground. He has
used movement and bright colours to make this
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Plenary
When painting with perspective the finishing touches and finer details are painted last.
Look at the five paintings again and discuss the finer details you can see.
