Leonardo Da Vinci: The Mona Lisa And The Last Supper

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Leonardo Da Vinci was born near Florence, Italy in 1452 to a father who failed to raise him until he was approaching adolescence. His passion for the arts began at an early age as he apprenticed for a local artisan at the age of eighteen, but his interest in science and mathematics started to lead him astray from his artistic interest. Throughout the rest of his life a trend of unfinished artwork is noticed as well as a disposition towards the modern sciences of life instead of his highly coveted artwork. As an researcher much information has been gathered on whom is considered one of it not the greatest painter of all time in the scientific aspect, but his artistic talent barely scratched the surface. Leonardo was a man of a diverse group …show more content…

Specifically the Last Supper exemplifies the less used technique of tempera wich employed “all the rich color effects the technique allows”, but he needed to base the paint with a mixture of pitch and mastic to protect it from moisture which inevitably led to the paintings demise and deterioration. During Leonardo’s time under the Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza he was commissioned to do the painting for the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie and after three years of what some would describe as intense thought and contemplation he completed one of his greatest masterpieces in 1498. The painting was no small feat as the stone wall canvas stood 14 feet high and 30 feet long, and Leonardo was tasked with painting a mural of one of the most important moments in the Christian mosiah, Jesus Christ’s lifetime. Although other iterations of the Last Supper had been done before, Leonardo’s painting stood out from the rest. Most artist chose to separate Judas aside from the other disciples at the table, but Da Vinci had a better idea. Instead of depicting the separation of Judas physically Leonardo used the human soul to depict the emotions of each disciple after Jesus told them that one of them would betray him. The Last Supper fully embodies the main two objectives of painting as defined by the great man himself: “Man and the intention of his soul. The first is