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37. Leonard Da Vinci
Leonard da Vinci was a painter, a sculptor, an architect, a musician, an engineer, and a scientist. He was a man of many talents, a Renaissance man1 in the true sense of the word.
Leonard was born at a small town near Florence, where he was apprenticed to2 a painter. But he soon surpassed his masters in uniting precision of line with rhythm of movement, and in finding new ways to show light and shade.
Although Leonard is generally known as a painter, his actual output was very small. In fact today only about twelve paintings are looked upon as3 having been done by him. This is because his diverse interest, his far-ranging curiosity in nature and his endless scientific experiments and designings. To understand the man one has therefore , to read the 5, 000 notebooks in which he put down his observations in life and his sketch4 drawings.
Nevertheless, Leonard had profound understandings of art, which exerted5 great influence among the painters of his own generation and generations to follow. In painting he stressed the expression of emotional states, which , to him were, the heart of painting:
"A good painter has two chief objects — to paint man and the intention of his soul. The former is easy, the latter hard, for it must be expressed by gestures and the movement of the limbs . .. A painting will only be wonderful for the beholder by making that which is not so raised and detached from the wall."
His major works: Last Supper, many European art masters have painted on the same subject. But none of their versions has been as impressive as da Vinci's. And none has the enduring value in the art world as his.
Mona Lisa, if Last Supper is the most famous of religious pictures, then Mona Lisa probably is the world's most famous portrait. Mona Lisa had as its model wife of a banker. The quietly folded hands, the gaze that is directed at the observer, the ambiguity of the“smile”together help to create a curious effect and a secret effect.
阅读自测
Ⅰ. Read the passage and fill in the blanks with proper words :
Leonard da Vinci is first known as a________ , and he is also a________ , an________ , a ________ , an________ , and a ________ . The amount of da Vinci's paintings is very small. There are only about________ paintings. For da Vinci, a good painter has two chief objects — to paint ________ and the ________ of his soul. In his famous work Mona Lisa , the quietly________ hands, the________ that is directed at the observer, the ambiguity of the "________ " together help to create a curious effect and a secret effect.
Ⅱ. Question :
What are da Vinci's famous paintings?
