All About Leonardo da Vinci

Examining Leonardo da Vinci's Artwork

Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa – also known as La Gioconda – is considered one of the most famous paintings in the world. It is a portrait of a woman.

It was painted in Florence, Italy, during the Renaissance era between 1504 and 1519 by Italian artist, Leonardo da Vinci. The oil painting on wood now hangs in the Louvre museum in Paris.

Self - Portrait

Leonardo da Vinci also created a self-portrait. The "Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk” is believed to have been drawn by Leonardo da Vinci around 1510, when he was about 60 years old.

Drawing Portraits and Self-Portraits

You can use Leonardo da Vinci's artwork as inspiration to create your own portrait (picture of somebody else) or self-portrait (picture of yourself).

You can use these frames for your pictures, if you wish.

The Last Supper

The Last Supper, is a famous painting by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. The painting was completed about 1497. It shows the final meal of Jesus Christ and his 12 apostles. Jesus has just announced that one of them will betray him. Leonardo created the scene on a wall of the dining room in the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. It was a fresco. This famous painting shows Leonardo's skill in painting people and showing their feelings.

perspective

Perspective is an art technique that was introduced during the Renaissance. You can see Leonardo da Vinci's use of perspective in his paintings.

Perspective is drawing or painting a picture such that it looks like it is 3D. It gives the illusion that some objects in the painting are further away than others.

Leonardo da Vinci - The Inventor and Scientist

Leonardo wanted to know about everything in nature. He wanted to know how everything worked. He was very good at studying, designing and making all sorts of interesting things. He looked at things to see how they were made and how they worked.

Leondardo always carried a sketchbook, in which he drew sketches of possible inventions. Many of his notebooks are now in museums. There are 13,000 pages of notes and drawings. Many of these are scientific studies. Leonardo's notebooks are hard to read because he wrote backwards in "mirror writing".

Leonardo da Vinci designed weapons, tanks, helicopters, aeroplanes with flapping wings, parachutes, the bicycle, the submarine and various other machines. Most of his designs were never used, but they are all brilliant. It is possible that many of his designs could have worked. An aeroplane that he designed could have flown, but nobody at the time had even thought of designing a car, let alone an aeroplane! Leonardo da Vinci is even mentioned in your Up and Running chapter, 'Strange Flying Machines' this week. You can read that chapter by clicking on this link - English Week 4 .

Become an Inventor

Could you create your own invention? Try to think of something that might be useful to people in the future.

Art Gallery

If you have created some artwork after being inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, we would love to see it. All fifth class students can email their artwork to Ms. O'Shea's email address, ooshea@ursulineps.ie and next week we will display those pictures on the main art page.