(Rated 7/5 )
Maybe it’s not accidental that the first word to pop into my head, having seen this exhibition, was in Craig Revel-Horwood’s voice ‘A-MAZ-ING’! One lovely, amusing - IMHO though I know not all agree, perfectionist gay critic about the work of another lovely, witty – so it is said, perfectionist gay creator of extraordinary delights for our eyes to behold. I went with a good artist friend of mine. I was looking forward to discussing the works with yet another lovely, fun, perfectionist, but not gay this time – hey some straight men are pretty amazing talents too, creator of art and critic. We were fortunate to have complimentary tickets, courtesy of another good gay artist friend of mine – okay what is it with me and gay artistic people?! ;) – and not have to queue for the two hours, which those who had arrived on the day for tickets, would have to. I’ve never before seen such a long queue outside the National Gallery! I wouldn’t have been able to stand it. As it was I had a lot of difficulty walking round and standing to take in the exhibition, and, by the end, was in pain. But, as is said, the price we pay for beauty – and these works are extraordinarily beautiful and priceless. They are completely alive! Look at a Da Vinci painting such as The Belle Ferroniere or The Lady with an Ermine and you will experience that these are works of life created by art rather than simply works of art. I commented to my friend that it was like looking at a photo rather than a painting, but actually his works have more life than in a photo. I felt held to look, and look, and look and could not tear myself away. There is so much to take in; just, for example, the way Leonardo played with the effects of light and shadow and techniques he used to create realistic skin. At one point, I indicated the play of light he had created on Ferroniere’s jawline, and was so drawn in, my little finger drew in to indicate. A guard hastily warned me not to get too close. Afterwards we joked about how famous I could have been if I’d tripped and jabbed Ferroniere with my finger – the woman responsible for ruining one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s greatest paintings – not the way I’d like to be remembered! If possible The Lady with an Ermine is even more exquisite. Leonardo intended these works to inspire love in the viewer, and there is no doubt he succeeded, but not only for her man, Ludovico Sforza, but in all who see her. I won’t go into artistic detail relating to techniques – there are many fair better qualified to comment on that than I. The feelings created by those techniques; the ‘results’ speak for themselves. I am able to write about my feelings in response to these performances in art. But one point of technical note – my friend was so impressed by Leonardo’s use of tones and shadows, rather than lines, to create flow in drapery/material – gorgeous. As are his miniatures. You’d think that detail or impression of reality would suffer in scaled down versions, but they are as impressive, if not more so, than his full-scale works. And it is the attention to detail – his almost obsessive study of nature and precisely how things are; the perfectionism, that comes out in all his works. He studied and studied and noticed to the nth degree.
For me this precise observation of the natural world came out most in the first of his Virgin on the Rocks, or as I mistakenly called it Madonna on the Rocks. I love the gentle flow of the colours – so natural, the way he has the light shine through onto the scene and also the natural perfection in the mountains and flowers creating the setting of the piece. Stunning. Then, across the room is his later recreation – the second Madonna on the Rocks. This one didn’t work so well for me. It is far less natural, and far clearer in its contrast, but unreal. Was this an attempt to make it look more divine or was he under pressure to conform to the ideas of the time as to how a good painting should look? This one he ‘abandoned’; as he said, ‘Art is never finished but abandoned’ – and he had to be summoned back to complete it.
There are many other works in this exhibition. A multitude of small studies by Leonardo – many of them leant by HRH The Queen – including hands, feet, noses and the internal workings of motions of the body, which reflected his belief that the motions of the mind were reflected in the body; his studies of beauty and the grotesque – good men were beautiful and evil men had grotesque physical features: All this work used in his painting The Last Supper – a copy of which, by another painter, is exhibited. There are also works by Leonardo’s disciples/followers, and a newly discovered Christ as Salvador Mundi. You can see how his disciples have attempted to copy their master, and at the same time, these works are obviously using copied techniques and are not as skilled. It’s a strange experience seeing a ‘new’ Leonardo. Again Leonardo uses his powers of invention to create the divine. For me this doesn’t work so well. But it’s a taste issue – I prefer his more natural work.
Having spent a long time studying all the feasts for our eyes, it was time to satisfy our stomachs with a feast of sandwiches from the National Gallery café – very tasty.
And finally – even though I’d already had a lovely Leonardo shopping trip with even lovelier friend helping as personal shopper – time to go and look at the goodies again – very tempted by the Leonardo fridge magnets but they were all sold out! Well that is aside from one pack which included one of the magnets with an imperfection in it. Not having that – like Leonardo I strive for perfection!
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