We all know Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) for his
paintings, sculptures, and intricate designs for flying machines. But his study
drawings may also be of interest to anyone who’s ever doodled on a napkin or in
their notebook.
Da Vinci was a leading figure of the Italian
Renaissance; a painter, sculptor, architect, inventor, draftsman, and military
engineer. Interestingly enough, fewer than two dozen paintings have been
attributed to him – with interests so varied, it makes sense that he wasn’t a
particularly prolific painter.
Da Vinci was born in Tuscany outside the village of
Anchiano to a respected Florentine notary and a peasant woman. As a child he
received little formal education, but began an apprenticeship with artist
Andrea del Verrochio at age fourteen. He later spent seventeen years (from 1482
to 1499) as a military engineer for Ludovico Sforza in Milan. It is during this
period that da Vinci was also commissioned to work on several now-famous
paintings, including The Virgin of the
Rocks and The Last Supper.
From 1500 to 1508 da Vinci studied math and architecture in Florence, and entered the service of Cesare Borgia as senior military architect. (From this point on, da Vinci's work moves further away from drawing/painting, and thus, to keep this post focused, I will end the biography here.)
Da Vinci’s approach to art was unique: he did
not see a divide between it and science, but viewed the two as disciplines
intertwined. He thought sight was humankind’s most important sense and eyes its
most important organ, and believed the best way to accumulate knowledge was
through observation. Da Vinci practiced what he preached as well: beginning in
the 1480s, be studied anatomy at length, and what he learned by dissecting
human and animal bodies informed his art.
Why did I choose da Vinci’s study drawings, of all
things?
It always interests me to see how fellow creatives discover
and process their ideas on paper before committing it to artwork. I keep
several sketchpads lying around in case I stumble across something worth
illustrating, but my art rarely ever sees the light of day. Looking at the
works of great masters like da Vinci, one can only wonder how many crude pages
of sketches, observational drawings, and mockups went into making the polished
final product. Da Vinci himself was known to jot down observations on loose
sheets of paper and pads he tucked inside his belt. So I set out in search of
those drawings. And found several curious ones.
First up is a drawing titled a study of arms and hands. The chiaroscuro's cool, but what's especially interesting to me about this one is how da Vinci plays with line weight/quality: heavy, harder lines on the hands make them leap off the page, while softer, more scribbly lines on the forearms slow down the viewer's eye. A third unfinished "phantom hand" hovers behind the bottom one, almost as if da Vinci were testing out a pose but decided that hand would look better raised. And if you look closely, you can see a quick caricature sketched in the top left!
Next is a study of lilies for The Annunciation. No two flowers look alike or seem as if they were drawn by formula. Da Vinci likely based this drawing on a live lily.
This third drawing is titled Study of the proportions of the head and body. (Yes, there are bodies in the original, but I cropped it to focus on the head.) Da Vinci is practicing head-profile proportions in a way similar to how you and I likely learned to draw them. (One difference being - and I can't speak for everyone here - my method didn't involve boxes.)
One of my favorite subjects to draw is the head in profile. It's a great opportunity to play around with noses and facial structure. Here are two of da Vinci's studies of heads in profile (again, part of a larger page of heads). He probably drew these from observation - from sculptures, if not from real people.
Works Cited
“Biography of Leonardo da Vinci,” Leonardo da Vinci: The Complete Works,
n.d. https://www.leonardoda-vinci.org/biography.html
Heydenreich, Ludwig H. “Leonardo da Vinci,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 02 Feb 2018. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leonardo-da-Vinci
“Leonardo da Vinci,” Biography.com, n.d. https://www.biography.com/people/leonardo-da-vinci-40396
Marani, Pietro. Leonardo da Vinci: The Complete Paintings. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, 2003.
All images in this post come from Marani - pages 33, 49, 211, and 85, respectively.
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