Lena Rivera
Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. He is best known for his paintings, including the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. Da Vinci's first painting is believed to be an angel in his master Verrocchio's Baptism of Christ, which dates to 1475. Da Vinci also produced a landscape drawing for Santa Maria della Neve in 1473, which is the earliest work clearly attributable to him.
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What You'll Learn
Landscape Drawing for Santa Maria della Neve
Leonardo da Vinci is one of the founding figures of the High Renaissance, and his influence on art and artists is immense. His surviving body of work is small, with fewer than 20 paintings definitively attributed to him.
The first work clearly attributable to Leonardo is the 'Landscape Drawing for Santa Maria della Neve', which he completed in 1473 while still an apprentice to Andrea del Verrocchio. This pen and ink drawing depicts the Arno River valley. Leonardo's genius is evident in the way he uses changes in clarity and colour to depict distance.
During his apprenticeship, Leonardo likely met masters such as Sandro Botticelli and worked alongside fellow apprentices Domenico Ghirlandaio, Pietro Perugino, and Lorenzo di Credi. He would have progressed from menial tasks to mixing paints and preparing surfaces, before studying and copying his master's works. One of Leonardo's first big breaks was to paint an angel in Verrocchio's 'Baptism of Christ', and his mastery of the craft was such that Verrocchio allegedly resolved never to paint again.
Leonardo's other early works include the 'Adoration of the Magi', commissioned by Florence church elders, and 'The Annunciation', in which experts have detected his brushstrokes in the angel's wings and the background. In 1482, Leonardo moved to Milan to work in the service of the Duke of Milan, where he produced his first anatomical studies and continued to paint, sculpt, and design.
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An angel in Verrocchio's 'Baptism of Christ'
Leonardo da Vinci's first painting is a matter of debate. However, it is widely believed that one of his first major works was an angel in his master, Andrea del Verrocchio's "Baptism of Christ".
Da Vinci began a nine-year apprenticeship with Verrocchio at the age of 14. Verrocchio was a sculptor, goldsmith, and painter who ran a large and successful workshop in Florence in the second half of the 15th century. Under Verrocchio's tutelage, da Vinci progressed from doing menial tasks to mixing paints and preparing surfaces, studying and copying his master's works, and eventually assisting with painting.
"Baptism of Christ" was commissioned by Verrocchio's brother, Don Simone, the head of the monastic Church of San Salvi, around 1468. Verrocchio painted the general landscape, along with Christ and St. John the Baptist, early in his career. One of Verrocchio's assistants, Francesco Botticini, also contributed to the central landscape area.
Subsequently, Verrocchio asked his pupil, Leonardo da Vinci, to paint an angel in his master composition. The angel is located on the left side of the painting and was likely painted in oil, like the background landscape, while the rest of the painting is in tempera. According to some accounts, da Vinci's angel was so impressive that Verrocchio quit painting altogether after seeing it.
In addition to the angel, modern critics also attribute much of the landscape in the background to Leonardo. The painting is housed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
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Adoration of the Magi
The Florentine church elders commissioned the artwork, intending to use it as an altarpiece in the monastery of San Donato a Scopeto. This painting is historically significant because it introduced innovations that were unique to the art conventions of the 1480s. Da Vinci centred the Virgin and Christ child in the scene, while previous artists had placed them to one side. He also improved on the standard practices of perspective by making changes in clarity and colour as objects became increasingly distant.
Leonardo da Vinci did not complete the commission because he received a better offer from the Duke of Milan to become the resident artist at his court. While in Milan, da Vinci produced his first version of Virgin of the Rocks, a six-foot-tall altarpiece also called the "Madonna of the Rocks."
During his time in Milan, da Vinci also made one of his most famous works, the monumental wall painting Last Supper (1495–98) in the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. The Last Supper is one of only around eight major works universally attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, including Adoration of the Magi, Saint Jerome in the Wilderness, the Louvre Virgin of the Rocks, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, the Mona Lisa, and Ginevra de' Benci.
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Virgin of the Rocks
The version generally considered the prime version, the earlier of the two, is unrestored and hangs in the Louvre in Paris. This painting is regarded as a perfect example of Leonardo's "sfumato" technique. It is about 8 cm (3 in) taller than the London version. The Louvre version has been transferred to canvas. The first certain record of this picture dates from 1625, when it was in the French royal collection. It is generally accepted that this painting was produced to fulfill a commission of 1483 in Milan.
The other version hangs in the National Gallery in London. It is also known as the London Virgin of the Rocks. This painting is considered to be unfinished and was delivered to the Confraternity in 1499 when Leonardo fled Milan after the fall of the duke of Sforza, one of his patrons. The London version is stylistically different from the Louvre painting, being more meticulous and indicative of Leonardo's Florentine training. It is also considered to have been executed with the help of assistants.
Both paintings show the Virgin Mary and Child Jesus with the infant John the Baptist and an angel Uriel, in a rocky setting which gives the paintings their usual name. In the paintings, the figures are arranged in a pyramidal composition, and they convincingly occupy a space and interact with one another through gestures and glances. Leonardo notably excluded traditional holy signifiers—halos for Mary and Christ and a staff for John—so that the Holy Family appears less divine and more human.
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The Last Supper
Leonardo da Vinci's mural painting, 'The Last Supper', is considered perhaps the most important mural painting in the world. It is certainly one of the Western world's most recognisable paintings and among Leonardo's most celebrated works.
The painting depicts the final meal shared by Jesus Christ and his apostles, as told in the Gospel of John. It captures the moment after Jesus announces that one of his apostles will betray him, with each apostle reacting according to their own personality. Leonardo also simultaneously depicts Christ blessing the bread and wine, saying, "Take, eat; this is my body [...] Drink from it all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins".
The painting is dense with symbolic references. Judas Iscariot, for instance, is identified by his reaching towards a plate beside Christ and by his clutching of a purse—his reward for later identifying Christ to the authorities. Peter, who sits beside Judas, holds a knife, foreshadowing the severing of a soldier's ear in his attempt to protect Christ from arrest.
'The Last Supper' was painted between 1494 and the beginning of 1498. It is housed in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. Due to the methods used to create it, the painting began to deteriorate soon after its completion. Over the years, it has suffered damage from various environmental factors and human activity, including the occupation of Napoleon's army, who stabled horses in the refectory and threw bricks at the painting. Despite numerous restoration attempts, little of the original painting remains today.
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Frequently asked questions
It is unclear which painting was Leonardo da Vinci's first, but it is speculated that one of his first big breaks was painting an angel in his master Verrocchio's "Baptism of Christ."
Leonardo da Vinci likely worked on Verrocchio's masterpieces such as "The Annunciation" and "The Baptism of Christ." Experts speculate that Leonardo painted one of the angels in "The Baptism of Christ," and in "The Annunciation," he painted the angel's wings and the background.
Leonardo da Vinci received his first substantial commission from his native city of Florence to paint the "Adoration of the Magi." However, he abandoned this project when he moved to Milan in 1482.
