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1452-1481
Leonardo in the Florence of the Medici
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Apprenticeship with Verrochio
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Initially active as a goldsmith, Leonardo's
master, Andrea del Verrocchio, was head of one of
the most important Florentine workshops. Together
with other young artists such as Botticelli,
Perugino, Lorenzo di Credi, Francesco di Simone,
Botticini, and Biagio d'Antonio, Leonardo, the
illegitimate son of a notary from Vinci, received a
comprehensive artistic education from Verrocchio.
The extraordinary "polytechnical laboratory" that
the young Leonardo attended from 1469 to 1476 taught
not only the rudiments of painting, architecture,
and sculpture, but also provided groundings in
optics, botany, and music. Various early works by
Leonardo, such as the famous sketch of the Arno
Landscape, the Adoration of the Magi, the
St Jerome, and a number of drawings, date
from these years. He also responded to the
intellectual and technical challenges of
Verrocchio's dynamic style of sculpture. In the
workshop Leonardo may have been involved with the
plans for the Monument of Bartolomeo Colleoni, and
in 1469 he may have accompanied Verrocchio to
Venice, where the latter appeared as Florence's
cultural ambassador.
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Leonardo da Vinci, The Young Christ,
c.1470-80,
formerly Collection Gallaudt, Paris.
Acknowledging a debt to Desiderio da Settignano,
Verrocchio, and the Rossellino brothers, this fresh
and natural terracotta is subtly dynamic in its
contrasted orientation of body and head. Vasari
testifies to the popularity of terracotta heads of
women and putti during the period of Verrocchio; and
Leonardo's entire production owes a great deal to
such sculptural models, which helped him to develop
his concepts of space.
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Andrea Verrocchio, Putto with Dolphin,
c.1470,
Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.
This naturalistic work was cast for the garden of
the Villa Medici at Careggi. The symphony of
movement created by the figures harmonizes perfectly
with the jet of the fountain to produce a glowing
visual effect.
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Andrea Verrocchio, Study of a
Female Head with Elaborate Coiffure,
1475,
British Museum, London.
The taste for elaborate, interlaced forms,
as seen in this woman's flowing hairstyle,
is very characteristic of Verrocchio's
style.
Leonardo, in turn, was to inherit this
trait, as evident in the intertwining plants
in his studies for the figure of Leda, and
in his observations of the eddying movement
of water: but whereas Verrocchio was still
constrained by a more archaic and
descriptive manner, dwelling graphically
upon detail, Leonardo ventured further to
achieve a synthesis of form.
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Andrea Verrocchio, Head of St Jerome, Galleria Palatina,
Florence. The strongly marked plasticity of
Verrocchio's paintings is reminiscent of the
style of Andrea del Castagno, and he shares
with Pollaiuolo a tautness and vigor of line
and an acute sensitivity to the play of
light. Together with Pollaiuolo, he was the
key influence in the artistic activity of
Florence during the second half of the 15th
century. The story goes that when he saw the
earliest samples of Leonardo's work, judging
himself outclassed by his pupil, Verrocchio
broke his brush, to devote himself
henceforth only to sculpture.
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The Baptism
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Andrea del Verrocchio / Leonardo da Vinci
The Baptism of Christ
1475
Florenz, Galleria degli Uffizi |
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Commissioned by the convent of San Salvi, the painting
in the Uffizi (1475-78) was a work on which Verrocchio and
his pupils collaborated. In addition to that of the young
Leonardo, critics have identified a contribution from
Botticelli.
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 Andrea del Verrocchio / Leonardo da Vinci
The Baptism of Christ
1475
Florenz, Galleria degli Uffizi
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The naturalistic touch brought to the background suggests
the involvement of Leonardo, reflecting his early
interest in landscape painting. Recently concluded
restoration has reinstated the very delicate transitions of
tone and light in the soft, mellow expanse of water, and in
the jagged mountains veiled in cloud. The principles of
tonal painting are ideal for depicting the misty background
as a broad river courses through the hot oriental desert
wastes.
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Described poetically as a "visitor arrived from another
planet", the angel on the far left, kneeling and turned
sideways, may have been painted by Leonardo. The figure,
with its flexibility of movement, its extraordinary softness
and refinement, and its fastidious attention to physical and
psychological detail, is sharply distinguished from the
other characters in the scene. A fluid light penetrates the
fragmented folds of the robe and the waves of the lustrous
hairstyle. Leonardo also retouched the hair of the
angel on the right.
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Leonardo da Vinci
Angels |
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Leonardo da Vinci, Head of an Angel,
Biblioteca Reale, Turin.
The preparatory study shows characteristics common in
Leonardo's painting and drawing, notably the soft modelling
and the shrewd application of chiaroscuro, elements that
mark a turning point in traditional Italian and Florentine
art.
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