Virgin and Child with Saint Anne

The vestal and Child with idol Anne Rebecca Townsend Hum2235 Dr. Hoover Edison College filiation 2012 Townsend 1 The picture of The gross(a) and Child with nonsuch Anne took to a greater extent than a decade to complete. It was created in the 16th century, in Florence Italy. A young see artificer declined the original electric charge for The virtuous and Child with Saint Anne and suggested da Vinci da Vinci. The monks who commissioned the exposure, an arti occurrence of Christs family tree, gave da Vinci a utilizationroom.The figures in the picture be of Saint Anne representing the grand beat, the virtuous as get (Mary/Madonna), the Child as Christ, and the love as the future sacrifice of Jesus. They are closely intertwined in the pic showing their tight bond in Christian History. Da Vinci could not separate Christianity from his work. da Vinci in his delineation as well as in his life seemed to cultivate a sense of mystery (Capra XIX). The monks of the Florentine Sa ntissima Annunziata commissioned da Vinci to paint The Virgin and Child with St. Anne as an altarpiece for their high altar. In his typical fashion, Leonardo did not complete the work on time.The monks, e successionr for their altarpiece had to commission another artist to complete the work. The monks approached Filippo Lippi to complete the work Leonardo had started. Filippo Lippi was the artist that varicolored Madonna and Child with Two Angels in 1465. Lippi was the artist who had ab initio rejected the commission suggesting the monks give the project to Leonardo. Lippi considered Leonardo to be a superior artist. Lippi agreed to finish the project but died before its completion. after(prenominal) Lippi died, the monks had a young Florence artist named Perugino fin each(prenominal)y complete the piece.At utmost(a), the monks of the Santissima Annuziata in Florence had their exposure for their high altar. Some consider the painting to be a lever of esoteric and occult wonder s. Some are fascinated by the gigantic deal of St. Anne supporting her heavy daughter on her genu, with no visible intend of support (Budny36). Townsend 2 Its hard to find any testify of Leonardos beliefs in his paintings, since there are no compose records that have survived if they ever existed. Leonardo believed that a good artist must also be a good scientist in order to opera hat understand and mark nature.The humanistic, naturalistic, and scientific aspects of Leonardos life and work are not al delegacys clear because he was an original metempsychosis man Leonardos art, scientific investigations, technological inventiveness, and humanistic philosophy were all bound together. During the 16th century he made numerous drawings and sketches with different themes that in conclusion lead to this famous artifact The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne. heterogeneous designs fluid exist of the version multi-coloured in 1510. Leonardo could not fuse the two qualities he desi red an abstract formula and the imperativeness of life.The final painting now hangs in the Louvre in Paris. The painting is a complex and masterful synthesis of his previous variations (Capra 105). In nigh research it is stated that this artifact is unfinished, even though he had worked on this painting possibly for eight or nine twelvemonths (Bramly 321). Leonardo had a habit of never finishing his work. Leonardo had drawn more different cartoons painting and sketches leading up to the final painting of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne. One of his cartoon sketches had St. John the Baptist kneeling adjacent to Christ (Capra 105). Leonardo switched St.John to a lamb in the final painting. The lamb (sacrificial animal) represents passion suffering in Christs destiny. It is not know why Leonardo replaced St. John, who was Christs cousin, with a lamb. He painted the Christ baby bird as being about a year old. It looks as if he is slipping out of his gravels give and trying to grab hold of his destiny, the lamb. The lamb, being embraced by Christ has his detail bent, while its tail and hind legs are clearly indicated to be in a comfortable place (Johannes 86). Townsend 3 Leonardo put his thoughts to musical composition and painted by dint of, light, shadow, and geometry, using deuce-ace dimensions.Da Vinci declared, There are three kinds of lieu. The origin is concerned with the reason for the diminution of things as they form from the eye. Second contains the way in which colors vary as they form the eye. The third and last declaration of how objects should appear less distinct the more distant they are. Examples, perspective of disappearance (Capra 219). Perspective in painting was his destiny. From the pyramidal construction to the fact that only three feet belonging to the figures are visible, everything in the picture seems to be threefold.In fact in this painting, Leonardo was pursuing a theological conjecture on the destiny of Christ, whic h had begun in his early painting Virgin of the Rocks (Bramly 320). some research indicates the rocks, mountain streams, and escarpments of his fryhood made up his private adorn in his paintings (Bramly 86). Leonardo depicts the women as sister like in grow even though they are indeed mother and daughter. Saint Anne, the mother of Virgin and Child, sits with her daughter on her lap. The Virgin is half rising from her seated position and she appears to want to restrain her daughter from separating the Child and lamb (Kemp 273).It is odd for Mary to be portrayed in her mothers lap. The painting may have more meaning to it than the Passion of Christ. Saint Anne maybe represents the Church in this painting. Art critics have admired the unity of the three figures, the freedom of movement, the sweet and melting quality of the faces, and the mountains in the background. The family figures almost expire into each other in their rhythmic balance, with Leonardos languorous mountains, foreshadowing the landscape of the Madonna, in the background (Capra 105). What better way to describe the bond of maternal love uniting three generations?Leonardo had compose in a short note in one of his journals, The Virgin and Child Townsend 4 with Saint Anne means the glorification of motherhood. The Virgin and Saint Anne in this masterpiece seem to be about the aforesaid(prenominal) age in the painting, with their two bodies merging almost into one. Leonardo gave the child two mothers both graced with the blessed smile of happiness. To the viewers eye, the painting may imply to evoke his thoughts on his childhood which the painter wanted our thought as childhood had been divided between his real mother and his stepmother.He may have united them in his mind as he did in his painting, a picture that no one could have painted except of Leonardo De Vinci (Bramly 318). Both women, Saint Anne and the Virgin, have dedicated their lives to God, which had suffer Da Vinci. One rese arch source stated that in the painting Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, the Virgin is designed first, as she is in so many of his drawing, and the landscape seems to flow from her. The Painting is designed by Da Vinci in a diagonal, where we formerly dictum a marked swing down from top right at the crown of the tree, through St .Annes left leg and elbow, through the successive arm/knee/arm/knee configuration of the Virgin, down to the placement of St. Annes feet on the then more brightly spotlighted left section of the rocky foreground. Against that progression, we saw in the earlier state how Leonardo had orchestrated a countervailing amphetamine left to the bottom right sweep through the principal heads and the weaponry of the Virgin and the Child, down to the rump and tail of the lamb. This movement was decisively echoed and obligate by the parallel diagonals of the Virgins right leg and St.Annes left leg (Johannes 3). It is stated that Saint Annes left arm was painted the same way in another Leonardo da Vinci painting. Townsend 5 Leonardos composition of the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne is perhaps the one which, of all his designs, he contemplated the longest and in great depth. Perhaps, he felt attracted by the particular formal and iconographical problems presented by the subject. When we were asked to prefer an artifact to research and write about, the painting of the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne caught my eye.The love and compassion in the womens eyes and their expressions towards the innocent child reminds me of the love I have for my own children. Although much research has been through with(p) to discover why Leonardo painted the picture the way he did, it is still unclear. It is unclear why the women appear to be the same age and why he substituted St. John with the lamb for the final painting. Research is still being done on his journals and notes. Leonardo, who was left handed, wrote all his notes in reflect writing, from right t o left (Capra, 27).Perhaps further analysis of his notes and sketches will reveal more insight into the painting of the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne. pic Work Citied Bramly Serge. Leonardo the Artist and the Man. Penguin Group. Great Britain. 1994. Print. Budny Virginia. The Art Buletin. Vol. 65, No. 1 (Mar. , 1983), pp. 34-50. Print. Capra Fritjof. The knowledge of Leonardo. New York. Anchor. December 2008. Print Johannas Nathan. Miteilungen. 36. Bd. H. ? (1992), pp. 85-102. Article. Kemp Martin. Leonardo on Painting. Yale Nota Bene. Yale University. 2001. Print. Marani Pietro C. Leonardo Da Vinci. Abrams Harry N. New York 2000. Print.