tHE VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS
- THE VIRGIN OF THE ROCKS
- UNFINISHED PARTS
Da Vinci completed an earlier version of the same painting but sold this, voiding his contract, but yet he carried on. He proceeded to create a replica painting but left parts unfinished. If you look closely at
the painting you can see that there are quite a few areas unfinished; - The foreground is unfinished. In the first painting, there was water.
- The left hand on the angel that lies on Christ is unfinished it is just an unknown blob.
SFUMATO
This is Da Vinci's own technique that he created himself. It aims to
create a better piece of artwork with no outlines also; it means that some areas
are highlighted more than others. In the painting there are a few examples of
this; - The angel's curls- every one of the angels curls are highlighted with a streak of yellow.
- From the outlines to make it more three-dimensional.
Da Vinci's view of ideal beauty was well balanced features, heavy eyelids, pointed chin. This can be found on many of his paintings especially The Virgin of the Rocks.
- The rocky background was one of Da Vinci's favourite areas as he was obsessed with water and rocks. His house overlooked River Arno. He painted this for his first recorded piece of work.
- The second painting was commissioned as an altar piece in San Francisco-Milan.
- The earlier version is located in the Louvre Museum, along with the Mona Lisa.
- It has been speculated that he sold his first version of the painting to the French King, this was against his contract.
- The subject matter is obscured and unconventional.
- His inspiration was from the conventional family of the Holy Virgin, Christ and St John the Baptist and also nature, one of his favourite things in the world.
- The presence of the angel in the work of art is unknown.
- It is an oil painting and is held in the London Museum.
- Size: 75''x47.25''
- The halo and red cross did not appear in the first version of the picture, it was
added by a later hand. - One of the Holy Virgin's hands is protectively on St John the Baptist; the other is
held above her sons head to represent unity but also represents a slight air of
mystery and a slightly tender mood.
My favourite area of the painting is the Holy Virgin. There are many reasons as to why this is my favourite area, the main one is because it is very authentic to the era of the Renaissance. Firstly, it is extremely religious as it contains great figures of Christianity. Also it is extremely detailed and intricate using many different artistic styles. Also, the hand gestures are very powerful and suggest many things; this was one of Da Vinci's own techniques which he uses very well. I think the quote that he made, (this can be found on the home page), is true and very beneficial to many artists nowadays. I think it benefited the other artists during the Renaissance period as they could use this technique, along with sfumato, to make nearly as good paintings as Leonardo da Vinci himself. This technique from the quote is used very well.
THE WORST PART OF THE PAINTING?
In my opinion, the worst area of the painting is the angel's hand. The reason for this is because it is unfinished. Although this is normal for Da Vinci I think that it is unprofessional and could possiblylower the value of the painting. Also, due to the fact that he violated his contract, I believe this would make some of the paying Renaissance public have an element of distrust about him as he could easily destroy their work. This would impact his work and career because not so many people would trust him meaning that some of them could turn on him and go to Michelangelo for work. In my opinion, this would have infuriated Da Vinci as Michelangelo was Da Vinci's main rival.
Maddie