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Leonardo Da Vinci is a genius recognized by millions of people and many generations. He is rightfully considered one of the greatest artists who have ever lived on Earth. The flight of his activity was not limited only to the visual arts. The ingenious Italian of the renaissance art era also became famous as an architect, sculptor, scientist, and inventor. His feature was portraits with striking anatomical accuracy. Da Vinci spent many years of his life studying the structure of the human body. He really changed the history of painting and we will show you this with the example of 5 of his outstanding renaissance art paintings. For more work of Leonardo Da Vinci visit leonardoda-vinci.org.

1. Virgin of the Rocks

The picture is dated 1483 – 1486. The customers of it are the Brotherhood of the Immaculate Conception. According to the idea, it was supposed to be the decoration of the altar of the church of San Francesco Grande in Milan. Contrary to all established canons, when the heroes of icons are depicted as still images, Leonardo creates a group of people located in the shape of a pyramid. Heroes are all interconnected through dynamic poses and gestures. Virgin Mary introduces John the Baptist to the infant Christ. The painting, in its unity of style, resembles the composition of Christmas, which is often depicted in a cave. The lack of halo and religious attributes makes this work more chamber.

The painting is based on a famous religious plot. By the order of King Herod all infant boys had to be killed. Jesus met John while fleeing into the wilderness.

2. The last supper (1495 – 1498)

This large-format work was done in the form of a wall painting of the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria Delle Grazie in Milan. He refused to work according to the usual method of frescoes and worked on a dry wall covered with plaster.

Jesus and his disciples gathered for a meal in the walls of the monastery. During the meal, he reports that one of the students is a traitor. The crowd is arguing and perplexed, Judah sprinkling salt, which is considered a bad omen. The work uses a diverse palette of bright colors that conveys the whole spectrum of emotions of the characters. Each character of the picture is an individual with their own facial expressions and gestures. Thanks to this  Da Vinci’s work was dynamic and symmetrical.

3. Savior of the world (1500)

Regarding this picture of Leonardo Da Vinci, there was an opinion that it was not his authorship work. But most experts still argue that it was Da Vinci who had his hand in this masterpiece. This is a typical depiction of Jesus Christ as a savior, raising his hand in a blessing gesture. A transparent sphere in the hands gives a message to Aristotle and his theory about the spherical shape of our universe.

Indeed the picture has several inexplicable differences, thought to be not typical for Leonardo’s standard manner.

The Lord’s face is a bit blurry and seems to be in the shade, and the sunlight is directed at the hands, which are expressively brought to the fore. The crystal sphere should have created distortions, but they are not there. The observer sees here neither the mobility nor the reversal of the central figure. But still, experienced specialists studied this work with the help of x-rays and microscopes. They almost with confidence say that it is Da Vinci`s work. When scanning, you can see how the author adjusted the blessing hand of Jesus, which excludes copying the image. In favor of Leonardo’s authorship, the absence of a halo and religious attributes also testifies.

4. Mona Lisa (1503 – 1519)

This is by far the most famous and most mysterious work of the great artist. The heroine of the plot was Neapolitan – Lisa Gherardini, wife of the Florentine Francesco del Giocondo. A lot of speculation developed around the picture. Its abduction from the Louvre in 1911 made it always in the public eye. The picture gives rise to many mysteries. It is difficult for an observer to understand what the character of this woman is, how old she is, and what her temperament is. The model, although depicted sitting, is deployed in space. Mysteriousness is added by the head and gazes in different directions. A barely noticeable smile and deliberate ambiguity of the outlines of the eyes, allows the observer to actively turn on the imagination and fantasize about the thoughts and mood of the heroine of the famous painting. A fabulous landscape in the background resembles a fictional space similar to a fantasy or a dream picture. Such complexity and ambiguity of perception – reveals to us Leonardo to be a subtle psychologist and prompts us to numerous thoughts.

5. Self-portrait

The picture Portrait of a man in red chalk gives us an idea of ​​what a brilliant artist might look like. Though some sceptics believe the picture depicts a different person, there are certain similarities with other images of the artist. That is how he could look at 60 while creating this work.

The self-portrait is made on paper using sanguine. We see an unusually courageous man. His face is stern, and his eyes express bitterness and loss of life. Researchers know that the artist often made sketches on paper with pencil or chalk before getting to work on a large canvas. This work could be a sketch for one of his works, like the great Dzhakonda.

The creativity of Leonardo Da Vinci has been the subject of research by many scholars, art historians, experts in the field of religion and history for almost 500 years. According to one theory, Leonardo used a special graphic code in his works.

Using special devices made of mirrors, experts found out that the secret of the mysterious look of the heroes of some famous paintings is that they look at a creature resembling an alien.

The mystification of his works led to the creation of a whole genre of literary works of art. In 2006, the movie “Da Vinci Code” was released, which in the first weeks of the rental beat all the box office records set at that time.