Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was a celebrated painter and sculptor of the Florentine school. He was born at Vinci in the Val d'Arno. He showed early in his life a wonderful aptitude for art, studied under Andrea del Verrocchio, but so surpassed him in his work as to drive him to renounce the painter's art. His great work, executed by him at Milan, was the famous picture of the "Last Supper," which he painted in oil about 1497 on the wall of the refectory of the Dominican convent of the Madonna delle Grazie. It perished from the dampness of the wall almost as soon as it was finished, but happily copies were taken of it before decay had ruined it. Besides, Leonardo did in 1503 at Florence the famous cartoon of the Battle of the Standard. He was a man of imposing personal appearance, of very wide range of ability, and distinguished himself in engineering as well as art. He wrote a "Treatise on Painting," which has been widely translated across the world in several languages.Wisdom & Quotes
- Cheerfulness is proper to the cock, which rejoices over every little thing, and crows with varied and lively movements.
- Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigours of the mind.
- Intellectual passion drives out sensuality.
- Thou, O God, dost sell us all good things at the price of labour.
- The painter who draws by practice and judgment of the eye without the use of reason is like the mirror which reproduces within itself all the objects which are set opposite to it without knowledge of the same.
Songjong