"Annunciation" - a picture of Leonardo da Vinci: two masterpieces of the master

"Annunciation" - a picture of Leonardo da Vinci on a classic biblical story. To the image of the Virgin Mary before the declaring angel addressed many artists - from the Middle Ages to the avant-garde. In the Renaissance, this story was captured in the canvases of great masters countless times. Nevertheless, none of them attract so much attention of researchers and admirers of painting from around the world, like Leonardo's masterpiece.

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

The name of Leonardo da Vinci was heard even once in his life by someone who has a feeling of beauty that is profoundly alien. However, it is not uncommon for art connoisseurs to stumble over the fact that, in fact, the great genius did not have a surname in the generally accepted understanding.

Leonardo of Vinci - so translated literally the name of the artist. From this small town in Tuscany began his ascent to the heights of picturesque craftsmanship.

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

The painting by Leonardo da Vinci was written in 1472-1475. It still retains the features of the art of the Early Renaissance. The young artist leaves the traditional composition, static and calibrated. Architectural details and interior objects of strict geometric shapes are prescribed 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 archangel Gabriel against a background of decorative frozen landscape symbolizes the heavenly world. In the other, Maria is at the door of the house. It belongs to the earthly world. In accordance with the canons of the image, the artist depicts her majestically sitting before the Bible, revealed on an elegant marble stand.

From tradition to own style

The early work of the young painter is still full of traditional cliches, and yet it shows the unique manner of writing Leonardo, which will distinguish his subsequent masterpieces. The whole power of the talent of the 21-year-old artist fully demonstrates the first "Annunciation".

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

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

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

"Annunciation" - the picture of Leonardo da Vinci? Interesting Facts

For a long time the battle of specialists did not cease around the picture. Many were inclined to regard it as a work of Ghirlandaio, and not a young Leonardo.

The picture was subjected to later intervention, which made the attribution even more difficult. The unknown author greatly increased the wings of the archangel, making them grotesquely large. The surviving diaries and sketches of the artist say that he copied them from the birds, and, most likely, in the original version, they were much more modest.

Nevertheless, despite the completed fragments, many details undoubtedly point to the artist's hand: the recognizable foggy rocky landscape in the background, the face of the archangel reminiscent of the first angel written by Leonardo in his teacher's picture, expressive hands with anatomical precision, Golden curls and heavy draperies on the figure. All these features undoubtedly indicate that the "Annunciation" is a picture of Leonardo da Vinci.

The Second Virgin Mary

Two years later, Leonardo wrote 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 and picturesque manner.

We considered the canvas "Annunciation" - a picture of Leonardo da Vinci. Photos allow you to compare the image of the Virgin Mary with the first and second paintings and see what new features he has acquired.