Our idea of the artist as some sort of lone genius, searching out a path to creative fulfilment, is
very much a product of the Romantic era, when introspection and personal examination became
key tools for creative endeavour. From the poetry of William Wordsworth to the paintings of
J.M.W. Turner, and beyond into our own century, the ‘vision’ of the maverick has enthralled us,
sometimes with delight and sometimes with puzzlement.
Six centuries ago, at the start of the 15th century, artistic production was regarded as a craft.
Painters and sculptors were primarily regarded as craftsman, working on a wide range of
different projects, alongside other craftsmen. We know that painters often worked on
ephemeral projects, such as banners or festival decorations as well as painting furniture, shields
or altarpieces.
Learning metalworking or goldsmithing could lead to a career as a jeweler, a sculptor (Lorenzo Ghiberti) or a painter (Sandro Botticelli).
Local guilds laid down the
requirements for training and maintaining a well-conducted workshop and producing quality
work that upheld the standards of the creative community.
But there have always been mavericks – creative talents that rise beyond the norms that others
struggle to achieve. The careers of Giotto, for example, or of Donatello, show this clearly. By the
end of the fifteenth century some highly successful practitioners were becoming known
throughout Europe, their fame giving enormous prestige to those for whom they worked.
The
most obvious example of this is Leonardo da Vinci, with his extraordinary ability to encompass
engineering, science, mapmaking, design, optics and anatomy alongside painting, music and
showmanship. At his death in 1519, he was living as a guest of King Francis I of France, honoured
around Europe.
But Leonardo was not alone. As we move into the 16th century, artists such as Michelangelo and
the young Raphael were also rising to prominence, developing the idea of a ‘star’ performer on
the world’s artistic stage. Whether these figures were moody and misanthropic (Michelangelo)
or cultivated, elegant and ruthlessly ambitious (Raphael), they would raise the status of the artist
within society, creating works that would have a pervasive influence amongst other artists across
centuries, right down to our own day.
1. Theodore Gericault, Portrait of the Artist in his Studio, 1820. Musée du Louvre, Paris
2. Gustave Courbet, The Desperate Man (A Self Portrait), 1844-45. Private Collection
3. Konrad Witz, St Catherine and Mary Magdalene (detail) c.1440. Musée des Oeuvres
de Notre Dame, Strasbourg (werkplaats en winkel van de ambachtsman)
4. Sandro Botticelli, The Madonna of the Magnificat, 1480-81. Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Leonardo da Vinci was 14 jaar toen hij naar Florence trok en als garzero (studio hulpje) werd aangenomen door Andrea del Verrocchio. De studio van Verrocchio stond bekend om zijn vooruitstrevende stijl, in zowel schilderkunst als beeldhouwkunst. Zijn bekendste beeldhouwwerken zijn de David (5. Andrea del Verrocchio, David, 1473 – 75. Museo del Bargello, Florence. It is sometimes claimed that Verrocchio modeled the statue after his pupil Leonardo) en het ruiterstandbeeld van Bartolomeo Colleoni.
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| 15. Andrea del Verrocchio, Monument to Bartolomeo Colleoni, 1481 – 95. Campo San Giovanni e Paolo, Venice. |
Verrocchio was een populaire leermeester. Naast Leonardo da Vinci werkte ook Lorenzo di Credi en Pietro Perugino in het atelier van Verrocchio. De schilders werkten vaak samen aan een doek en daardoor is het tegenwoordig moeilijk om werken goed toe te schrijven. Vooral van een reeks werken van Maria met Jezus als baby is nauwelijks te achterhalen of Verrocchio, da Vinci of di Credi de belangrijkste schilders waren.
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| 6. Workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, Tobias and the Angel, 1470 – 75. National Gallery, London Waarschijnlijk heeft Da Vinci model gestaan voor Tobias. |
In het atelier van Verrocchio groeide Leonardo da Vinci uit tot een volwassen schilder. Volgens biograaf Vasari, werkte hij samen met zijn meester eens aan schilderij van de Doop van Jezus. Da Vinci schilderde het landschap op de achtergrond en de linker engel. Volgens de overlevering was Verrocchio zo onder de indruk van het werk van Da Vinci, dat hij besloot nooit meer een kwast aan te raken. Da Vinci was beter geworden dan zijn meester
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| 7. Andrea del Verrocchio, The Baptism of Christ, 1472 – 75. Uffizi Gallery, Florence |
8. Leonardo da Vinci, The Adoration of the Magi, 1481. Uffizi Gallery, Florence
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| 9. Leonardo da Vinci, Study for The Adoration of the Magi, 1481. Uffizi Gallery, Florence |
10. Leonardo da Vinci, Studies of instruments to defend fortifications and of firearms (Codex Atlannticus, f. 94r.) c. 1480. Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan
12. Statue of Marcus Aurelius, c. 175 AD. Capitoline Museum, Rome
13. Paolo Uccello, Monument to Sir John Hawkwood, 1436, Sta Maria del Fiore,
Florence
14. Donatello, Gattamelata (Equestrian monument to Erasmo da Narni), 1443 – 53.
Piazza del Santo, Padua
16. Leonardo da Vinci, Sheets of notes about casting the Sforza Horse, 1492 -93. Royal Collection, London
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17. Leonardo da Vinci, Portrait of a Young Man (The Musician). 1486 – 7. Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan 18. Antonello da Messina, Portrait of a Man in a Red Hat, c. 1475. National Gallery, London |
19. Leonardo da Vinci, Cecilia Gallerani (The Lady with the Ermine), 1489 – 90. Czartoryski Foundation, Cracow
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20. Leonardo da Vinci, The Virgin of the Rocks, 1483 – 86. Musée du Louvre, Paris 21. Leonardo da Vinci, The Virgin of the Rocks, 1495 - 1508. National Gallery, London |
22. Domenico Ghirlandaio, The Last Supper, 1480. Convent of the Ognissanti, Florence
↕ ↕
23. Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, 1498. Sta Maria delle Grazie, Milan
24. Leonardo da Vinci, The Madonna and Child with St Anne and the Young St John the
Baptist (The Burlington House Cartoon), 1499 – 1500. National Gallery, London
25. Leonardo da Vinci, The Virgin and Child with St Anne, 1501 onwards. Musée du
Louvre, Paris
26. Leonardo da Vinci, Vitruvian Man, 1492. Galleria dell’ Accademia, Venice
27. Leonardo da Vinci, The Anatomy of the Shoulder, 1510 – 11. Royal Collection,
London
- Ontdekking van Amerka
- Uitvinding van de boekdrukkunst
- Dood van Lorenzo di Medici (Lorenzo the Magnificent) 1492
- Verovering van het Koninkrijk Napels door Karel VIII van Frankrijk 1494
- Girolamo Savonarola heerser van de Florentijnse republiek 1494-1498
- Eeuwwende 1500 gevreesd als het einde der tijden
♦ 28. Sebastiano del Piombo, Posthumous portrait of Christopher Columbus, 1519. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York♦ 29. Andrea del Verrocchio, Portrait bust of Lorenzo de Medici (Lorenzo the Magnificent), 1480. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.♦ 30. After Jean Perréal, King Charles VIII of France, 1490s. Musée de Conde, Chateau de Chatilly♦ 31. Fra Bartolomeo, Fra Girolamo Savonarola, 1498. Museo di San Marco, Florence♦ 32. Anon, The Execution of Girolamo Savonarola, 1498. Museo di San Marco, Florence
← ←
34. Sandro Botticelli, Three Miracles of St Zenobius, 1500-1505. National Gallery, London
Beide schilderijen tonen beide de invloed die Girolamo Savonarola op Botticelli heeft gehad. De vrolijkheid en wulpsheid van de antieke mythen zijn verdwenen.
In nummer 35 is dit nog volop aanwezig.
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| 35. Sandro Botticelli, Venus and Mars, 1485. National Gallery, London |
36. Albrecht Durer, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 1497–98 . Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
37. Altobello Melone, Portrait of a Man (Cesare Borgia?) c. 1513. Accademia Carrara,
Bergamo
38. Leonardo da Vinci, Map of Imola and Tuscany with the Chiana Valley, 1502. The
Royal Collection, London
39. Leonardo da Vinci, Portrait of Isabella d’Este, 1500. Musée du Louvre, Paris
40. Cristofano Romano, Portrait medallion of Isabella d’Este, in gold. 1495-98.
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
42. The Church of San Andrea in Mantua
43. Andrea Mantegna and/or Gian Marco Cavalli, Portrait bust of Andrea Mantegna, c.
1490. Church of San Andrea, Mantua → →
A high-relief bronze bust of Mantegna that serves as the artist’s memorial in his funeral chapel in Sant'Andrea, Mantua. The memorial was probably designed by Mantegna himself, who may have also modelled the bust and cast it in bronze. However, other artists – including Mantegna’s friend, the medallist, sculptor and goldsmith Gian Marco Cavalli – have also been proposed.
44. Michelangelo, Madonna of the Stairs, 1490-92. Museo del Casa Buonarroti, Florence
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45. Donatello, The Pazzi Madonna, 1420-3. Bode Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
46. Michelangelo, The Pieta, 1498-99. Basilica of St Peter’s, Rome47. Michelangelo, David, 1501-4. Galleria dell Accademia, Florence48. Michelangelo, Nude Study, early 1503-4. Sant’ Andrea in Mantua49. Michelangelo, The Doni Tondo, 1506. Uffizi Gallery, Florence
50. Raphael, Processional Banner, 1499.Museo di Citta di Castello, Citta di Castello
51. Raphael, Drawing of a Young Man (A Self Portrait?), 1499. Ashmolean Museum,
Oxford
52. Leonardo da Vinci, The Mona Lisa, 1502 onwards. Musée du Louvre, Paris
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| 53. Raphael, La Donna Velata, 1516. Galleria Palatina, Palazzo PItti, Florence |
54. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, The Deathbed of Leonardo da Vinci, 1818. Musée du Petit Palais, Paris
55. John Everett Millais, Mrs James Wyatt and her daughter, Sarah, 1850. Tate
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| 56. Adam Kraft, The Sacrament House, Church of St Lorenz, Nuremburg, 1493-96 ......puts his self- portrait at the base of the Sacrament House. The artist as 'Atlas', supporting the world on his shoulders |
