Leonardo da Vinci Drawings
Leonardo da Vinci
Drawings:
Leonardo's
Drawings of Horses
Together with his notebooks,
which contain drawings, scientific diagrams, and his thoughts on the nature
of painting, sketching, and drawing. Leonardo also saw the horse as great
importance, as with other artists.
"Drawing is the artist's most direct and spontaneous expression, a species
of writing: it reveals, better than does painting, his true personality."
~Edgar Degas
And why not, the horse has been one of the greatest subjects
for any artist to do. And Leonardo was no exception.
Now, Leonardo was not a prolific painter, but he was a most
prolific draftsman, keeping journals full of small sketches and detailed
drawings recording all manner of things that took his attention. Probably
more than any other artist, he toiled over his sketches.
I want to show you some of his works in his own celebration
towards the horse. And to look at the horse as he saw it in his time so long
ago. Has it at all changed?
I found this extract, that I think sums up Leonardo da
Vinci very well. And as an artist. I would say that not one artist these
days, cannot be influenced by what art Leonardo did in his time. He was
a man of many talents. Mathematician and scholar to name a few. Now you might
wonder how one man could be all things? These days it would not be possible.
As we, as a society, have discovered and learned so much since then and now.
So the answer is. You cannot be an expert in all thing these
days. Where, in Leonardo's day, there was not half the knowledge known, that we
have gathered these days. So to be all, and know all was that much easier in the days
of Leonardo da Vinci.
Has anyone of you ever seen the documentaries of Leonardo's
life on Television before? I have and you would think that such a man as
Leonardo would have lived a graced life. It was far from the truth, as his life
was sometimes hard. And he was almost obsessed with some of the
commissions that he had taken on. Like the painting of the Sistine Chapel -
where he worked all manner of hours, often crawling into bed still in his
clothes to sleep. Only to start painting the next day.
Where having to
lie down on his back on trestles where hard planks would make his body ache from
the log hours. And his arms too would have felt the strain of holding his
paint brushes up to the ceiling all those hours at a time.
In the normal course of events many
men and women are born with remarkable talents; but occasionally, in a
way that transcends nature, a single person is marvelously endowed by
Heaven with beauty, grace and talent in such abundance that he leaves
other men far behind, all his actions seem inspired and indeed
everything he does clearly comes from God rather than from human skill.
Everyone acknowledged that this was true of Leonardo da Vinci, an artist
of outstanding physical beauty, who displayed infinite grace in
everything that he did and who cultivated his genius so brilliantly that
all problems he studied he solved with ease.
—Giorgio
Vasari
As you can see all studies of horses of Leonardo da Vinci drawings followed a certain pattern. The horses had a style of being fairly stocky in build and similar to the art done of the Greeks also.
Different times have shown different trends in art. Sometimes you can pick the art by the era that they were originally produced.
You can see that two of the Leonardo da Vinci drawings might well have come out of his notebooks. And the other two drawings the finishing ideas that are more or less his finished work.
Leonardo da Vinci drawings were the beginnings of a new sculpture, to the sketches that would end up on a ceiling in the form of a painting. His thoughts and ideas rolled of his pencil wherever he went. With Leonardo da Vinci drawings, he captured the sheer essence of life as he lived it.
He had a hunger for art that was deep. And as an artist he was well respected for his ability to change a blank space into something truly magnificent, to be seen and celebrated for centuries to come.
His horses were fluent in action, yet also sturdy in appearance. His celebration of the horse goes beyond just the interest in such an animal.
I am sure you would agree that with the horse being so intertwined with humans thought history. They have been the witnesses of our rise in the world. And having had a big part to play in it. We will forever be fascinated in bringing the horse to life in art.
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