#verrochio

So, then.

In the background of the Leonardo trailer promotions we’ve seen Aidan Turner playing Leonardo, turning away from the following picture... The Baptism of Christ by Verrocchio and Leonardo.  This must have been at the start of their collaboration together, with the lines between pupil and master becoming blurred.  Every little discovery that I make now can only be indulged in this forum.  Thank God for Tumblr, otherwise I would have no place to geek out....  2020 has been a cruel year for so many reasons, but the effort and the commitment to a safe filming environment (without any new case of Coronavirus being reported on set) remains one of the successes of the year and the focus of my anticipation for 2021. 

It hasn’t been a wasted year after all.

Keep safe everyone.

Featured Contributor: commentary by one of my contemporaries

Piece: The Baptism of Christ

Date: 1470-1475 ca.

Museum: The Uffizi

Medium: Tempera and oil on panel

Size: 177cm x 151cm

The Baptism of Christ was a collaboration between Andrea del Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci. This painting is useful in understanding Leonardo's curiosity with explaining what he saw and exploring the most realistic ways to paint what he saw. Through curiosity and scientific inquiry, Leonardo studied human perception and ways to best paint what he observed. When looking at The Baptism of Christ we can compare the angel to the left, done by Leonardo, with the angel on the right, done by Andrea. When constructing the contours of the human body, many artists of the time would use lines and edges as seen in the angel’s head and face painted by Verrocchio. Leonardo’s angel however has no clear edges that break down the face into its smaller features. The translucent nature of Leonardo’s sfumato technique works best when using oil paints rather than the tempera that Verrocchio used (Isaacson 2017, 52-55). This calls to attention Leonardo’s curiosity into which materials and techniques could best achieve realism. Oil paints had just come to Italy and were not in widespread use. The entirety of Verrocchio’s workshop would have been trained in the egg yolk based Tempera, including Leonardo, so his use of oil paints comes as a surprise.

Through careful observation of the world driven by curiosity, Leonardo decided to go against Verrocchio’s use of hard edges inspired by Alberti’s treatise. Leonardo wrote “Paint so that a smoky finish can be seen, rather than contours and profiles that are distinct and crude” (Isaacson 2017, 55).  Leonardo’s use of sfumato inspired the next generation of artists, those of the High Renaissance.

Can you notice the difference in the angels faces? Verrocchio’s angel seems emotionless and flat-faced when next to Leonardo’s.

Read a little more about the technique of sfumato and its use in Raphael's Alba Madonna in the link below.

Chiaroscuro and Sfumato - Development and Ideas | TheArtStory

 Isaacson, Walter. Leonardo Da Vinci.

First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition. Simon & Schuster, 2017. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat07528a&AN=mlc.b4695140&site=eds-live&scope=site.