The Old Masters knew a secret which made their paintings enduring masterpieces. Why do you think, for example, over six million people visit the Louvre every year to see the Mona Lisa? What is it about Leonardo's masterpiece that attracts viewers like moths to a flame? Trusted apprentices The Old Masters taught this secret only to their most trusted apprentices. As a … [Read more...]
The last Renaissance Man?
A "polymath" is a person whose expertise spans many domains - or subject areas. Leonardo was a polymath. He lived during the Renaissance, so Leonardo is the quintessential "Renaissance Man." Leonardo's interests spanned a lot of domains. Everyone knows of his paintings. He was a sculptor, an anatomist, a scientist, an engineer, and a producer of stage events. It wasn't … [Read more...]
The forest
He lost his mother at fourteen. For as long as he could remember he would hear her coughing at two or three o'clock in the morning. It was a loud hacking cough followed by a gagging sound as she coughed up phlegm spotted with blood. She had tuberculosis, but the family was too poor for any treatment that could save her. Through it all, she kept their modest home clean and … [Read more...]
Fun with perspective
In Chapter 1 of Leonardo's "Treatise on Painting," he makes this statement. "The young student should, in the first place, acquire a knowledge of perspective, to enable him to give to every object its proper dimensions..." In the footnote, the translator states that many readers misunderstood Leonardo's suggestion. Leonardo did not mean that the student should be a master of … [Read more...]
Amusement or Art?
"A discipline with no principles is not a discipline -- it's an amusement." -- Bob Hoffman Bob Hoffman is a popular speaker and author in the field of advertising and marketing. He is an outspoken critic of digital marketing in particular. He doesn't spare his peers in the traditional marketing realm either. His quote above applies to both spheres. I couldn't help thinking … [Read more...]
A master’s words
"It is an acknowledged fact, that we perceive errors in the works of others more readily than in our own." -- Leonardo da Vinci Is this an accurate statement? For master artists - maybe. How about the rest of us? I don't know about you, but the only thing I see in my work are mistakes. There seems to be no worse critic than ourselves. I suspect that Leonardo's treatise was … [Read more...]
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