LEONARDO DA VINCI 1452-1519

4. LIFE Leonardo’s rigorous scientific approach encompassed every field of knowledge, engendering an endless, multifaceted labyrinth in which the painter seems to have ultimately lost his way. This disappearance is illusory, however, as it was science itself that gave the artist the freedom to master shade, light, space and movement. In his painting, the turbulence of com- ponimento inculto gave way to the sfumato technique – a merging of forms and eradication of boundaries made pos- sible by the revolutionary medium of oil. The freedom acquired through knowledge of the natural sciences elevated painting to the status of a divine science able to recreate the world and, most importantly, convey movement – the essence of life and the defining characteristic of every living creature. These years of scientific inquiry, when Leonardo painted the Last Supper, Saint Anne, the Mona Lisa, The Battle of Anghiari, and Saint John the Baptist, saw the dawn of the modern style. Ludovico il Moro commissioned Leonardo to paint The Last Supper for the refectory in the Dominican convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. The artist is known to have been working on this painting in 1497. The twelve Apostles’ reac- tions to Christ’s words – Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me – are depicted in a wave-like formation spreading out from the radiating central figure of Christ. The Last Supper – the first true manifesto for a modern art capable of imita- ting the inner movement of life – earned Leonardo worldwide renown. Leonardo chose a technique based on thin, transparent oil glazes; incompatible with the dampness of the walls, this resulted in the immediate deterioration of The Last Supper.