"The Annunciation" - a painting by Leonardo da Vinci: two masterpieces of the master

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

“The Annunciation” is a painting by Leonardo da Vinci based on a classic biblical story. Many artists, from the Middle Ages to the avant-garde, turned to the image of the Virgin Mary in front of the proclaiming angel. During the Renaissance, this story was captured on the canvases of the great masters countless times. Nevertheless, none of them attracts as much attention of researchers and admirers of painting from all over the world as Leonardo's masterpiece.

Vinci, "The Annunciation": a description of the painting and other stories

The name of Leonardo da Vinci at least once in his life was heard even by those to whom the sense of beauty is deeply alien. However, art connoisseurs often stumble over the fact that, in fact, the great genius did not have a surname in the generally accepted sense.

Leonardo from Vinci - this is how the name of the artist is literally translated. From this little town in Tuscanybegan his ascent to the heights of painting.

A fourteen-year-old teenager, Leonardo enters the studio of the Florentine painter Andrea Verrocchio. In just six years, he will write his first "Annunciation".

The painting by Leonardo da Vinci was painted in 1472-1475. It still retains the features of the art of the Early Renaissance. The young artist leaves the traditional composition, static and measured. Architectural details and interior items of strict geometric shapes are written in strict accordance with the laws of linear perspective.

The figures of the archangel and the Virgin Mary conditionally divide the elongated horizontal format of the work into two parts. In one, the archangel Gabriel, against the background of a decorative frozen landscape, symbolizes the heavenly world. In the other, Mary is on the threshold of the house. She belongs to the earthly world. In accordance with the canons of the image, the artist depicts her majestically seated in front of the Bible, opened on an elegant marble stand.

From tradition to own style

The early work of the young painter is still full of traditional clichés, and yet it reveals the unique manner of Leonardo's painting, which will distinguish his subsequent masterpieces. The full power of the talent of the 21-year-old artist is fully demonstrated by the first "Annunciation".

The picture of Leonardo da Vinci is still full of frozen, unnatural beauty. Decorative details fill it, emphasizing the grandeur of the moment. And at the same time, biblical images are devoid of pathos.

The figure of the archangel frozein motion, he extends his hand in a characteristic gesture, in the other he holds the stem of a white lily as a symbol of the purity and innocence of the Virgin Mary. He is depicted as quite tangible, in dense clothes with heavy folds, with crushed grass under his feet. It is commensurate with the figure of the still earthly Mary, and the landscape, and the entire earthly environment.

The image of Mary is also devoid of iconic majesty. She is still, like a queen, sitting on her bench-throne, raising her head and calmly looking at the messenger. Nevertheless, this is already an earthly young girl. She gracefully raises her hand in acceptance of the message.

Is the Annunciation a painting by Leonardo da Vinci? Interesting Facts

For a long time, the battles of specialists did not subside around the picture. Many were inclined to consider it the work of Ghirlandaio, and not of the young Leonardo.

The painting was later tampered with, making attribution even more difficult. An unknown author significantly increased the wings of the archangel, making them grotesquely large. The surviving diaries and sketches of the artist say that he copied them from birds, and, most likely, in the original version they were much more modest.

Nevertheless, despite the added fragments, many details, no doubt, point to the hand of the artist: a recognizable foggy rocky landscape in the background, the face of an archangel, reminiscent of the first angel painted by Leonardo in his teacher's painting, expressive, with anatomically accurate hands, golden curls and heavy draperies according to the figure. All these features undoubtedly indicate that the "Annunciation" is a paintingLeonardo da Vinci.

Second Virgin Mary

Two years later, Leonardo writes another work on the same subject. Today, this small board is kept in the Louvre collection. Despite the similarity of the composition, the second picture is more intimate, the intimacy of the image. It already fully reveals the features of Leonardo's unique painting style.

We examined the canvas "The Annunciation" - a painting by Leonardo da Vinci. The photos allow you to compare the image of the Virgin Mary from the first and second paintings and see what new features he has acquired.