LEONARDO DA VINCI 1452-1519 Under the patronage of the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron Exhibition curators: Vincent Delieuvin, Department of Paintings, Musée du Louvre Louis Frank, Department of Prints and Drawings, Musée du Louvre Download this booklet online at louvre.fr Due to fragility, some drawings and paintings will not be displayed for the entire duration of the exhibition. LEONARDO DA VINCI 1452-1519 1. LIGHT, SHADE, RELIEF 2. FREEDOM 3. SCIENCE 4. LIFE Musée du Louvre 24 October 2019–24 February 2020 LEONARDO DA VINCI 1452-1519 Lionardo di Ser Piero da Vinci was born to Ser Piero in the town of Vinci (near Florence) in the early hours of 15 April 1452, and died in Amboise (in the Loire valley of France) on 2 May 1519. He is one of the most prominent figures of the Italian Renaissance and the ultimate icon of European painting. During Leonardo’s youth in Florence, he was apprenticed to the sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio. Around 1482, he moved to Milan, where he painted the Virgin of the Rocks. While in the service of the duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, he created the Last Supper – a work that made him one of the most famous artists of his time. In 1500, he returned to Florence and produced a series of masterpieces: Saint Anne, the Mona Lisa, The Battle of Anghiari and Saint John the Baptist. In 1506, he went back to Milan, where he stayed until the election of the Medici Pope Leo X in 1513, which led him to move to Rome. He left Italy for France at the invitation of the French king François I in 1516, and spent his last years in Amboise, on the banks of the river Loire. The essence of Leonardo’s revolutionary approach to painting can be summarised as follows: to reproduce the reality of life within an infinite space made up of light and shade, he developed a uniquely free style of drawing and painting that enabled him to endow his figures with the nature of movement. He aimed to make painting a science encompassing the whole physical world, able to express the truth of appearances. Leonardo ushered in a modernity that would surpass antiquity and pave the way for future forms of art. A number of full-sized infrared reflectograms of Leonardo’s paintings are presented in the exhibition. This imaging technique is used to trace the carbon beneath the layers of paint and thus reveal the underdrawings made on the ground. Leonardo often changed his mind during the creative process; these images allow us to see his initial drafts and how he perfected his compositions. They also provide insight into the first steps he took in rendering skin tones, using his expertise to create careful transitions between light and shade. 1. LIGHT, SHADE, RELIEF In 1464, the young Leonardo began an apprenticeship in Florence with Andrea del Verrocchio, one of the greatest sculptors of the 15th century. While in Verrocchio’s workshop he studied the sculptural nature of form, movement (on which reality depends and all narratives are constructed) and chiaroscuro (the use of light and shade to create a sense of drama). His prime source of instruction was Christ and Saint Thomas, a monumental bronze sculpture cast by Verrocchio for the Florentine church of Orsanmichele. In this work, Verrocchio demonstrated a profoundly pictorial conception of sculpture, from which Leonardo drew the basis of his own art: the idea that space and form come into being through light and exist only in the play of light and shade. Leonardo’s monochromatic Drapery Studies, painted on linen after clay figures covered with pieces of cloth dipped in clay, resemble Verrocchio’s studies for the figures of Christ and Saint Thomas and were inspired by this innovative perception of space. The Annunciation, the Madonna of the Carnation and the Portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci reflect Leonardo’s transition from sculpture to painting. This shift was boosted by his interest in the work of his contemporaries at a rival Florentine workshop run by the Pollaiuolo brothers, and in the innovations brought to Florence by Flemish painters – three-quarter view portraits and the use of oil. Andrea del Verrocchio Florence, about 1435–Venice, 1488 001 Christ and Saint Thomas Bronze with gilt inscriptions 1467–1483 Verrocchio was commissioned in 1467 by the Tribunale di Mercanzia (merchants’ court) to produce this large bronze sculpture for its niche on the eastern facade of the church of Orsanmichele in Florence. According to the Gospel of Saint John, Thomas the Apostle refused to believe in the Resurrection until he had seen or touched the wounds of Jesus’s crucifixion for himself. The entire sculpture is designed to convey a sense of movement and drama through chiaroscuro – the play of light and shade. During his apprenticeship to Verrocchio, Christ and Saint Thomas was Leonardo’s prime source of instruction. Chiesa e Museo di Orsanmichele, Florence On the basis of modern editions of Vasari’s Lives, Leonardo’s models for the drapery studies were long thought to be complete three-dimensional figures, due to a misunderstanding stemming from the alteration of a word in Vasari’s text. The restoration of the original term clarified the fact that Leonardo placed his draperies on large relief medallions, comparable to the bronze of Orsanmichele, on which the light also created similar effects. Presented together on this rare occasion, these famous studies have been named after their first known owner for this exhibition. 002 Reconstruction of the Relief Sculpture for the Saint Morys Drapery Study Clay and cloth dipped in clay This work is an experimental reconstruction of the relief sculpture for the most famous of all Leonardo’s Draperies, the Saint Morys drapery study, on display here. Reconstruction made by the painter and sculptor Leticia Leratti, 2019 Workshop of Andrea del VERROCCHIO 003 Jabach III Drapery Study for a Standing Figure Distemper on linen About 1473–1477 It seems to have been customary in Verrocchio’s workshop to produce painted studies of draped clay or wax models intended for the composition of sculptures. This figure resembles a mirror image of the figure of Christ in the sculpture of Christ and Saint Thomas. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes, inv. 794-1-2507 Andrea del VERROCCHIO or Leonardo da VINCI 004 Richardson Drapery Study for a Kneeling Figure Distemper on linen About 1473–1477 The model’s kneeling position recalls many depictions of the Virgin Mary kneeling in adoration before the Infant Jesus. The British Museum, London, inv. 1895.0915.489 Andrea del VERROCCHIO or Leonardo da VINCI 005 Medici Drapery Study 433 for a Standing Figure Distemper on linen About 1473–1477 The folds and the gesture of the hand on this draped nude figure are strikingly reminiscent of the figure of Christ in the Orsanmichele sculpture. Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi, Florence, inv. 433 E Andrea del VERROCCHIO or Leonardo da VINCI 006 Jabach VIII Drapery Study for a Standing Figure in Profile Distemper on linen About 1473–1477 This standing figure in profile recalls Thomas the Apostle in the bronze sculpture at Orsanmichele. Department of Prints and Drawings, Musée du Louvre, Paris, RF 1081 Leonardo da VINCI Vinci, 1452–Amboise, 1519 007 Jabach IV Drapery Study for a Kneeling Figure Distemper on linen About 1473–1477 The drapery recalls the clothing of the angel in Leonardo’s painting of the Baptism of Christ, commissioned from Verrocchio for the church of San Salvi in Florence and now in the Uffizi Gallery. It also resembles the drapery of the Archangel in Leonardo’s first painting, the Annunciation, also in the Uffizi. Department of Prints and Drawings, Musée du Louvre, Paris, RF 41904 Leonardo da VINCI Vinci, 1452–Amboise, 1519 008 Medici Drapery Study 420 for a Kneeling Figure Distemper on linen About 1473–1477 Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi, Florence, inv. 420 E Leonardo da VINCI Vinci, 1452–Amboise, 1519 009 Jabach I Drapery Study for a Kneeling Figure Distemper on linen About 1473–1477 This study represents a breakthrough. The perception of space, composed of light and shade, is perfectly harmonious and the drapery has become almost secondary – an abstract support for a study of the effects of light. Department of Prints and Drawings, Musée du Louvre, Paris, Inv. 2256 Leonardo da VINCI Vinci, 1452–Amboise, 1519 010 Jabach IX Drapery Study for a Standing Figure in Profile Distemper on linen About 1475–1482 This study is focused on the lower part of the drapery of a standing figure in profile, turned to the right. Once again, it recalls the figure of Thomas in Verrocchio’s bronze sculpture. Department of Prints and Drawings, Musée du Louvre, Paris, RF 1082 Leonardo da VINCI Vinci, 1452–Amboise, 1519 011 Jabach XIII Drapery Study for a Seated Figure Distemper on linen About 1475–1482 Department of Prints and Drawings, Musée du Louvre, Paris, RF 41905 Leonardo da VINCI Vinci, 1452–Amboise, 1519 012 Jabach XIIII Drapery Study for a Seated Figure Distemper on linen About 1475–1482 The drapery studies, most of which belonged to the collector Everhard Jabach, were associated from the 18th century onwards with a passage from the Life of Leonardo da Vinci in the second edition of Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, published in 1568. Vasari describes the specific technique used by Leonardo, which consisted of modelling clay figures and covering them with cloth dipped in clay. Fondation Custodia, Paris, inv. 6632 Leonardo da VINCI Vinci, 1452–Amboise, 1519 013 Saint-Morys Drapery Study for a Seated Figure Distemper on linen About 1475–1482 Department of Prints and Drawings, Musée du Louvre, Paris, Inv.