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Treatise on Painting |
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Leonardo’s most significant work
in a permanent exhibition at |
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Treatise on Painting |
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Leonardo’s most significant work
in a permanent exhibition at |
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Aim of the exhibition
Leonardo's
teaching is unambiguous and clear: the painter must observe nature and its
phenomena using scientific methods and considerations, and copy nature,
because its beauty is incomparable, infinite and exquisite.
He was in the
habit, wherever he happened to find himself, of jotting down his
thoughts on miscellaneous sheets of paper, concentrating them in very
few words written in his not always comprehensible code, in which each
subject was developed or dealt with repeatedly. Several thousands of
these sheets were collected over the past centuries by a number of
scholars and ordered into a book under the title “Treatise on Painting”.
It may be considered his most significant work and the most important
book on art ever written.
This book, which should have
been a best-seller, is, instead, little read and consulted because of
its scant readability.
The aim of the Art and Science Museum is to make the “Treatise” more accessible, limiting itself to rearranging the subjects, shortening overlong texts, avoiding the many repetitions, illustrating the salient concepts and putting them together in a permanent exhibition.
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Some samples from the
exhibition on
the Treatise on Painting
presented by the Museum under the title:
"Appreciating Art through Leonardo’s Eyes"
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Art.
406 * The first intention... is to make a flat surface display a body as if modelled and separated from the plane, and he who most surpasses others in this skill deserves most praise. This accomplishment... arises from light and shade, or we may say chiaroscuro... |
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Art. 43 The second principle of the science of painting is the shadow of bodies, by which they can be represented… |
* = All the numbers of the articles were taken from the
edition: "Leonardo Trattato della
Pittura"- TEA 1995 (reprint 1999)
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Art. 322 The attitudes and all the members are to be disposed in such a manner that by them the intentions of the mind may be easily discovered. |
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Art. 6 ...the painter… penetrates within these bodies, considering what comprises their distinctive essences... |
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Art. 36 Painting shows trasparent objects… …also the mists… also the rains, behind which can be discerned the cloudy mountains and valleys… and also innumerable other effects… |
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Art. 9 The painter is master of all the things that can befall the mind of man, and therefore if he wishes to see beauties that would enrapture him, he is master of their production... |
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Art. 9 …and if he wishes to see monstrous things which might terrify, or which would be buffoonish and laughable or truly pitiable, he is their lord and god...
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Art. 9 ...whatever there is in the universe through... presence or imagination, he has it first in his mind, and then in his hands..., which can generate a proportional harmony in the time equivalent to a single glance, just as real things. |
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Art. 254 ...The air between the eye and the object seen will change the colour of that object into its own, so will the azure of the air change the distant mountains into blue masses... |
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Art. 186 ...apply that rule which can be seen in the rays of the sun in the composition of the celestial rainbow... |
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Art. 36 Painting involves greater mental deliberation and is of greater artifice and wonder than sculpture, in that necessity requires the mind of the painter to transmute itself into nature’s own mind and to become the interpreter between art and nature... |
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Art. 500 To execute a figure in marble, you must first make a model of it in clay … when it is finished and dried place it in a square case … have some peg-like sticks pass through holes made in the sides and all around the case. Push them in till every stick touches different parts of the model… |
Thoughts of Leonardo applicable (with reserve) to modern art
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Art. 63 ...there is no harm... in pausing to look into stains... or clouds... where you will find extraordinary inventions... But first you must gain a knowledge of how to make well all the parts of those things you wish to represent... |
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The integral version of the Treatise, the importance of which should make it a bestseller, is little understood and consulted because of its scant readability and extremely repetitive nature.
This abridged edition presents
a selection of the most significant articles and important concepts for
the evaluation of works of art, set out in a few clear lines in the
Master’s own words and illustrated with his drawings, his paintings and
other suitable art objects serving to explain his precepts.
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This book is on sale at the
Museum at the price of 20,00 € and is available in English and Italian.
The
German and French editions are almost ready.
To purchase on line click here
OTHER
SITES OF THE MUSEUM OF ART AND SCIENCE:
www.MuseoArteScienza.com - Sections of the "Museo d'Arte e Scienza": 6 rooms dedicated to the ascertainment of authenticity in art and antiques, 5 rooms about The "Treatise on Painting" of Leonardo Da Vinci and Leonardo's activities in Milan, 5 rooms dedicated to African Art and Buddhist Art, 2 Scientific Laboratories.
www.AuthenticAfricanBronzesandCeramics.com - dedicated to the authenticity of African artworks in bronze, stone and pottery. The scientific laboratory of the Museo d’Arte e Scienza has developed valid methods for telling authentic African objects from copies and fakes.
www.ArtAndScienceHandbook.com - The most complete and scientifically valid guide to ascertaining the authenticity of European and non-European antiques on an objective basis (540 pages and more than 2000 colour illustrations in 3 volumes and 3 languages)
www.Paintingsauthenticity.com - Information about the authenticity of modern paintings and antique paintings
www.AntiqueFurnitureAuthenticity.com -
A list of possible
methods for determining the authenticity of furniture based on objective
factors.
www.Excavatedartauthenticity.com - "A list of all the possible ways of determining, on the basis of objective factors, the authenticity of excavated pottery, glass or bronze items from Southern Italy, the Mediterranean Basin, China and South America.".
www.AfricanArtAuthenticity.com - "Art and Life in Black Africa", The African Art didactic section of the Museum (5 rooms and over 350 objects).
www.SpectroscopyforArt.com - Scientific method for the dating of the wood and identification of the wood type used for art objects. Determination of their authenticity through analysis of colours, binders, pigments and other organic substances.
www.C14spectrodating.com -
Spectroscopic
measurements complementing dating obtained with the C14 method that appears
uncertain or impossible.
www.DendroSpectroChronology.com - Spectroscopic measurements complementing the uncertain results of dendrochronological dating.
www.Matthaes.org
-
The history of
the G. Matthaes Foundation
from the opening of the painting school
