A close look at Leonardo da Vinci AND Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

[KerrTexas]

Reading the Biblical verses about the Last Supper of Jesus, I decided to look at Leonardo da Vinci's painting entitled, "The Last Supper."    I am aware that it is being claimed that Leonardo encoded information in his painting.   I noticed that the wine chalice is missing, maybe because Leonardo believed that Mary Magdalene was the Holy Grail.   The blood of Jesus contained in a pregnant Mary.   Which will be discussed a bit later in this thread.

 

Looking closer at the painting, I realized that considering who Leonardo da Vinci was considered to be, a master painter (artist), he did a tremendously horrible job with The Last Supper.   This started a mini-quest to learn more about Leonardo da Vinci.  

 

I engaged in a discussion years ago where it was mentioned that Leonardo and Michelangelo had a rivalry with each other.  At the time, I never pursued looking into that statement.   In the same discussion, it was also mentioned that the mural in the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie and the other in the Sistine Chapel were done in competition, one artist trying to out-do the other one.  

 

I would say that Michelangelo wins.   

 

Leonardo's painting,The Last Supper,  when examined more closely, reveals some surprising attributes that I never noticed until the other day. 

 

1.   It actually is relatively small in size.   280 inches x 350 inches  ( Not that size matters, however, if competing with Michelangelo, it is a fail )

2.  The hand of the disciple holding the knife (behind Judas), his hand seems to have been painted in a unnatural, or strained position.  Pointing this out because Leonardo was known for his detail in his art work.  "He" could have done better.   

3. The perspective is off.   I.e., The tapestries on either side of the room are out of alignment.  Figured Leonardo could do better.

 

Learned these details while doing some researching on Leonardo da Vinci :

 

4.  Leonardo had trouble with the face of Jesus, eventually giving up.

5.  He made a mistake in mixing the paint and it began to fall apart soon after Leonardo declared he was finished with it.  

 

 

The Last Supper   

 ( Source for image: Wikipedia )

 

What also came to light was that Mona Lisa was small for a portrait of the day, and Leonardo worked on that painting for 4 years and never finished it.  And he was commissioned to do a statue, which he took so long to work on, the job was cancelled.  

 

 

 

 

[Cosmo]

1.   It actually is relatively small in size.   280 inches x 350 inches  ( Not that size matters, however, if competing with Michelangelo, it is a fail )

 

Do you mean centimeters? 280 inches is like 23 feet.

 

5.  He made a mistake in mixing the paint and it began to fall apart soon after Leonardo declared he was finished with it.  

 

I was actually reading about this the other night - They had to do a lot of restoration work to get it looking right again. Surprised at how much they had to do, almost not even the original painting anymore. Still beautiful though.

 

 

[KerrTexas]

23 feet x 29 feet is about right.  As far as size, it may seem large, however, remember that Leonardo was competing with Michelangelo.  Was going to move to Michelangelo next.    It is a beautiful painting.  However, believed it was mentioned, have to consider who painted it.  Leonardo da Vinci is considered a master artist, yet, also mentioned previously, The Last Supper just doesn't seem to fulfill that ideal.  

 

 

[KerrTexas]

Sistine Chapel as painted by Michelangelo :  Dimensions = 133' x 46'  

 

 

 

Closer view for detail:

 

 

Michelangelo also painted one of the walls with what is called ; "the Last Judgement ": 

 

 

 

 

[KerrTexas]

Michelangelo, " the Last Judgement " ( 40' x 45 ' ) : 

 

 

 

[KerrTexas]

Leonardo verses Michelangelo.    I'd have to say that Michelangelo was the true artist and leagues ahead of Leonardo de Vinci.   Leonardo must have felt that way too.  He got so upset he moved out of Italy and into France because of Michelangelo.   There is also an interesting element involved that I'm still researching, and will post on that after finding as much as I can on it.   By the way, Michelangelo placed a self portrait in his Sistine Chapel work. 

 

And...

 

There is a third contender in all this :  Raphael.   

 

 

[Cosmo]

 

Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael... What about Donatello?

 

 

[KerrTexas]

Donatello :       Born 1386      Died 1466

Leonardo :       Born 1452      Died 1519

Michelangelo : Born 1475      Died 1564 

Raphael :          Born 1483     Died 1520 

 

Donatello was in a state of decay when Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael were doing their thing.

 

This was painted by Raphael.  Raphael painted an image of Michelangelo in it.   The man resting his elbow on the box at the base of the stairs, Michelangelo.    

 

 

 

 

[HeASdf]

Amazin'!