LEONARDO DA VINCI 1452-1519

2. FREEDOM Around 1478, building on what he had learned fromVerrocchio, Leonardo began to explore new paths.To grasp the truth of form – which is illusory, being constantly broken apart by an ever-changing world – the painter needed to acquire an intellectual and technical freedom that would enable him to capture its very imperfection. In his drawing, this was expressed as a violent attack on form – a direct juxtaposition of incompatible states that sometimes produced nothing but black. This approach, required by the absolute necessity of conveying movement, was described by Leonardo as componimento inculto – ‘intuitive composition’. The Madonna of the Cat and the Madonna with a Fruit Bowl are the first remarkable illustrations of this new compositional style. Leonardo’s art was transfigured by the freedom he found in componimento inculto. This creative freedom fostered a tendency to incompletionwhichwould become a characteristic of Leonardo’s painting, exemplified by the poignant figure of Saint Jerome. This creative period continued in Milan, where Leonardo moved to in 1482 and where he painted the Virgin of the Rocks, the Portrait of a Musician and La Belle Ferronnière.