Salvator Mundi 1500 Leonardo da Vinci Canvas Print
16 inches x 20.5 inches stretched canvas print wall fine art ... Salvator Mundi 1500 by Renaissance genius and artist Leonardo da Vinci. Salvator Mundi is translated Saviour of the World in British English. Savior of the World in American English. Leonardo painted it about 1500 ... about 520 years ago! Oil on walnut wood panel (19.2 inches x 25.8 inches). Owned by French kings ... then passing by marriage to English kings. Leonardo's wealthy patron for this work was none other than the French King Louis XII. Only the wealthiest art patrons could afford the expensive blue used on Christ's robe: finely crushed precious blue stone called lapis lazuli imported from Afghanistan ... sometimes found with some pure gold in it ... it was more expensive than pure gold. Leonardo's sfumato 'smoky' style was used here where he used the palm of his hand to blend away harsh edges to show atmospheric distance and here to give the effect of Christ appearing to Leonardo da Vinci out of darkness, His right hand raised in The Blessing, His left hand holding a crystal orb representing The World. Leonardo preferred to paint religious figures without halos ... such as in The Last Supper and The Madonna of the Rocks ... to show their humble human forms. Several parts of Salvator Mundi reflect the sketches and studies Leonardo had in his sketchbooks: the right hand raised in The Blessing, the eyes, the mouth, the curls in His hair, the intricate geometric pattern found in the cross strapping, the right sleeve cloth folds. The right hand is sharper because it is closer to the viewer. The full frontal portrait was standard for Salvator Mundis of the Renaissance painted by many artists ... Leonardo da Vinci's workshop of young apprentices produced several such Salvator Mundis from Leonardo's drawings (called cartoons) by poking holes through the artist's drawn lines and dusting them with charcoal to transfer the drawing to the white coated wood panel. The face was one such cartoon ... The Blessing hand another. Another Salvator Mundi from Leonardo's workshop is believed made from the same cartoons but with the face cartoon reversed and tilted a bit. Leonardo himself was far more scientific in thought than purely religious, but his wealthiest patrons who he had to please held their positions of wealth and power 'by the Grace of God', so Leonardo had to be careful not to offend them. But, Leonardo da Vinci was pretty much openly gay for his time. He wore rose color it is said. He surrounded himself with younger handsome apprentices, some whom remained with him to his death. One such was Count Francesco Melzi to whom Leonardo willed his journals ... which Melzi organized and saved until his own death some 51 years after Leonardo's death. Young Francesco Melzi and Leonardo lived Leonardo's final three years at a home supplied by the French King Francis I connected by tunnel to the king's palace Amboise ... so the young King Francis I could regularly visit Leonardo da Vinci and Francesco Melzi there. Leonardo was spared from the mad Monk Savonarola in Florence who burned art and books and vanity items and homosexuals in public fires in the streets of Florence while Leonardo was safe in Milan having been sent there by the duke of Florence. Leonardo's patrons included the dukes of Florence (Medicis), the duke of Milan, two kings of France (Louis XII and young Francis I), and the Catholic Pope (another Medici). Leonardo da Vinci was gay and left handed, like myself. Perhaps this is the reason I have had such interest in him.
Powered by Zazzle