Никола Бенин
Whole chapters have been written, and careers launched, concerning the ineffable qualities of the visages of Leonardo’s da Vinci’s women, sacred and secular.
One of the less published and discussed Leonardo faces, even on this detailed and comprehensive Facebook page, is that of the Virgin in the Uffizi version of Leonardo’s Annunciazione.
Leonardo was about twenty years of age when he crafted this wonder, not yet at the peak of his powers. This great panel is the first major extant work by him.
Let that sink in for a moment: If Leonardo was born in 1452 (which is the usual date given for his birth, he was only twenty years old here in 1472. He has already matured as an artist, where he has learned all he could from Verrocchio’s studio, and has created a work of art here on another level of delicacy, realism and beauty/
This is a indeed a wonderful example of Leonardo’s precocious talent and artistry; in some sense almost fully formed from the beginning, and with consummate genius, as I have discussed on the Mozart Facebook pages. Is there even such a thing as an arc and trajectory of genius, or is it just there ?
Gazing at the cover of Martin Kemp’s splendid 2019 book, _Leonardo by Leonardo_, for a moment I was lost in space, pondering a face that I was sure I had seen many times but couldn’t immediately place- to wit, the face of the Uffizi Annunciazione Virgin.
Professor Kemp’s scholarship is world-renowned and his deep knowledge of Leonardo is well recognized (whether one always agrees with his conclusions is another matter- but he is compulsive in supporting every argument). Kemp knew that his Leonardo book would compete with innumerable others. This, he was careful selecting not just any image for the cover of his exquisite book: indeed he chose the face of the Virgin in the Uffizi Annunciazione.
What splendor ! What wonder ! What sfumato ! What delicacy ! What beauty !
The Uffizi website gives us the following context
of the complete panel (see comments for full image):
“ A flourishing enclosed garden, in front of a Renaissance palace, evokes the hortus conclusus that alludes to the purity of Mary. The Archangel Gabriel kneels before the Virgin, proffering a lily. The Virgin responds from her dignified seat, behind a lectern, at which she was reading. The traditional religious theme has been set by Leonardo in an earthly, natural setting.
“The angel has a solid corporality, suggested by his shadow on the grass and the folds of his clothing, which would seem to show studies from real life. His wings too are based on those of a mighty bird of prey. An extraordinary crepuscular light shapes the forms, brings the scene together, and emphasises the dark tree shapes in the distant background, dominated by the blended colours much loved by the artist.
“The architectural features are drawn according to the rules of perspective, with a central vanishing point. Some anomalies can be found in the figure of the Virgin, whose right arm appears too long – perhaps a reflection of Leonardo’s early research into optics, which would have taken into account a lower, lateral viewpoint from the right, as a function of the original location of the panel over a side altar in a church. From this point of view certain details come into proper alignment such as the keystones on the building, the foreshortening of the Virgin's arm and the lectern.”
“ The original location and commissioning of this work are unknown. It was painted at about the time Leonardo was still at Verroccchio's workshop (1472, ca.) It came to the Uffizi in 1867 from the sacristy of San Bartolomeo a Monteoliveto outside the gate of San Frediano. One can already see the careful attention to the atmospheric changes in the landscape which will be further developed by the artist in later work.”
This exquisite face of the Virgin is a detail of Leonardo’s Annunciation at the Uffizi
I have previously discussed, in a prior post on Leonardo’s colleague Lorenzo di Credi, the less well known Leonardo’s Louvre Annunciation, which was a centerpiece of the splendid 2018 Yale University Art Gallery show, “Leonardo in Verrochio’s Studio.”
Image detail from Uffizi webpage
References:
1) Uffizi webpage on the panel
L’AnnunciaIone - The Annunciation
Leonardo da Vinci | Artworks | Uffizi Galleries https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/annunciation
2) Google Arts and Culture zoomable high definition image and description
Dettaglio della Vergine
L’Annunciazione
Leonardo da Vinci
Oil and Tempera on Poplar Panel
1472
222 cm x 90 cm
Gallerie degli Uffizi
Firenze
Няма коментари:
Публикуване на коментар