Interesting people in the Leonardo life: Giorgio Vasari

Let's start a short serie dedicated to all interesting people that played a role in the Leonardo's life.

Giorgio Vasari, an italian painter, architect and writer, was born in 1511, two years after Leonardo was died.

He was from Arezzo, a nice town in Tuscany. He's considered to be the founder of art-historical writing. His masterpiece, Le Vite dei più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architettori, was first published in 1550, and it was commissioned by Cosimo De Medici, the Grand Duke of Florence.

That book became a best seller. It contained descriptions of technical methods in the arts, and biographies of talented artists. Leonardo was one of them.

The work, mainly based on the truth, also contained anectodes and gossip about artists life. A famous legend was the one in which Leonardo died in the arms of king of France, Francesco I. This fact was not proved, and it's still a legend.

Leonardo, a talented guy

When Leonardo enjoyed the Verrocchio's workshop, he soon became a tireless worker. He emerged for his talents as a painter. Although just a boy, he spent his days working hard, trying to learn as much as possible. We know, this is the only path to perfection.
And he surely was aiming for excellence.

The Verrocchio's bottega was a perfect place for boys in arts. Nowadays we could say they were "in the zone". At Verrocchio's forge, a company of excellent boys was living under the same roof, sharing works and experience with their master. Botticelli, Perugino, Lorenzo da Credi worked very close to Leonardo.

A popular legend says while Leonardo was working on the Baptism of Christ, a masterpiece from his master, another guy told him that the angel he worked could be better that the one drawed by the master. Verrocchio was hidden and he heard every single words. He got shocked, and he never took a brush on his hand.

But I have to say this was a legend.

Life of Leonardo in Florence

In the sixteenth century, the town of Florence was certainly the epicentrum of the Italian Renaissance. Artists, artisans and intellectuals were the lifeblood of a great urban system that acted like a lighthouse for the all the world.

In those days, a lot of excellent artist were playing in the city. Their activities were promoted by Lorenzo De Medici, an innovative intellectual and politician. Lorenzo, patron of artists, first realized how important could be the power of culture for the town. He gaved glory and admiration to the city.

And what about Leonardo?

He lived for a short time in the father house, then he moved to the Verrocchio's workshop, to learn and improve his skill in arts and technology.

We all know a legend about Leonardo's activities at Verrocchio.

He worked at The Baptism of Christ, a masterpiece by the Leonardo's master, and he did a marvellous job. He painted an angel, and he gave it such grace and delicacy that other famous painters like Botticelli and Lorenzo da Credi thought Leonardo definitely surpassed his master. Verrocchio listened those comments, and the legend said he never wanted to raise a brush.

Leonardo moves to Florence

When Leonardo was a boy, he moved to Florence with his family.
Respect to Vinci, Florence was a big town: a vivid urban system, with a lot of opportunities.
Under Lorenzo De Medici government, Florence became a notable town for arts and literature.

After a few time, Leonardo was sent to the Verrocchio workshop. A workshop in Florence was something like a swiss knife, providing a lot of services: paintings, statue building, garden styling, feast organization, and arts in general.

Leonardo started as apprentice, but he quickly learnt to deal with arts like a master.

Leonardo Da Vinci: a great Naturalist

We all know Leonardo has been a great naturalist since he was a young boy. The most important aspect of Leonardo as a nature observer, was he considered drawing not just a matter of lines and colors. He stated a great painter had to know how things are made inside. Leonardo was a great innovator, considering everything as a complex system: so under a body, he saw a fascinating machine, where every single muscle covers a simple task to give the body a complex aptitude.

He also loved mother nature's creatures. Frequently, when he found himself in a market, he bought birds simply to set them free. Then, he spent hours and hours observing them in the sky, while drawing figures in the air.

Leonardo exposed fundamental notions in flying theory: we can consider him a forerunner in science of aeronautics.

He also studied water dynamics, watching rivers and falls.

L'acqua che tocchi de fiumi è l'ultima di quella che andò e la prima di quella che viene. Così il tempo presente.

Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci: the childhood

In the early childhood, Leonardo lived in Anchiano. When he was a boy, he moved in Florence with his father and his stepmother. He was good in drawing, he was able to play music and he was involved in nature observation. Because he was born illegitimate, he couldn't enjoy the notary career. We can say he wasn't completely happy as a child: especially he missed the mother figure.

A day, observing the boy drawing on a wood piece, his father Piero decided to let him enjoy a bottega, and sent him to the Verrocchio's workshop. Here, the boy started to practice drawing, paintings and handicrafts.
Leonardo started to become excellent. He worked hard, asking himself to be the best at every task.

Vinci, Italy: year 1452

Leonardo was born April 15, 1452 in Vinci, Italy.

His father, Ser Piero Da Vinci, was a notary; his mother, Caterina, was a peasant woman. She was not married to Piero, so Leonardo was born illegitimate. That times, to be an illegitimate child meant a lot of troubles; especially respect to the brothers of Leonardo (his father got married a lot of times).

The first house of Leonardo was in Anchiano, a little hamlet nearby Vinci.

This scenario near Florence, was the perfect birthplace for Leonardo. He spent his childhood living free in the nature, observing plants and trees, hills and rivers, water and wind, and studying animals too. He was in the heart of Tuscany, near the Arno river. We must believe that this kind of living shaped the Leonardo's mind to be creative and smart.

Leonardo spent a lot of time with his uncle Francesco, a simple man, a free-spirit that didn't like to study and to deal with money affairs like his brother Piero and his father.

Drawing n.3 - The house of Leonardo in Anchiano

Welcome to the Illustrated Life of Leonardo Da Vinci!

Welcome to everyone! This is the first post of The Illustrated life of Leonardo Da Vinci, a collection of hand made drawings about the life of Leonardo, the great all-in-one scientartist, the king of italian culture and the most representative man of the Italian Renaissance.

The equation is simple: one post, one drawing. The goal is to tell some points of the Leonardo's life with a gallery of illustrations, starting from the birthplace in Anchiano, passing through the most important milestone of his life, and ending to the last days of the master.

I've started this project to make a kind of graphic novel, so here we go with the cover.

Drawing n.1 - The illustrated life of Leonardo Da Vinci.

Each illustration is hand-made by myself; I draw it on the paper using a pencil, then I apply borders with a black marker, and finally I scan the drawing for digital coloring (I use only 100% open source software).

How did it start

I've been interested in Leonardo since I was a child. The Self Portrait was the first piece of art I saw. I spent hours and hours reading about the life of Leonardo, and about his universal knowledge, from paintings to music, from mechanics to aviation, and I never could find words worth enough to describe Leonardo.

I'm a passionate in drawing, so I ask myself if it couldn't be a nice idea, to create some illustrations about the life of Leonardo and... here we are.