8HP Leo Portfolio Page 1 Elizabeth Phan Tuesday, October 23, 2012 8:04 PM Dear, Louis des Berniers from the Court of Francis I I, Lulu Phan chief secretary of Da Vinci Studio, have read your letter and believe that Leonardo da Vinci is most suited to work for His Majesty King Francis I. I have taken in what qualities you expect someone who works in the Court of Francis I to have and I have made a portfolio as requested and below is my personal analysis. Leonardo da Vinci has many of the IB learner traits and it would take all the paper in Europe to describe traits he exemplifies, but for simplicity I have chosen 2 that I think he most represents. The first trait that Leonardo da Vinci has is he is an excellent inquirer. All of his greatest works are done because he investigates and observes things around him and applies them to his work. He is never satisfied without knowing the reason for something and how to convey it onto a canvas or into an invention. An example to work that he uses he research to do is his masterful painting the Virgin of the Rocks. He used his research of plants to paint them so realistically in the background. Another learner profile he displays is open-minded. He is open to new ideas and techniques for work. He is always trying new things even if they fail, for example, for his incredibly famous painting The Last Supper he covered the painting in oils to give it a final touch. Although it made the painting deteriorate faster than it normally would have, when it was still new it looked brilliant and da Vinci learned from that experience. Though Leonardo da Vinci is brilliant he is also human and everybody has things they are not good at, in this case I will talk about to learner profile traits I believe da Vinci doesn't represent. Leonardo da Vinci is not principled at times because he often delayed working on projects and putting it off until a later date. Some of paintings he did were never completed or took longer then expected to complete. I define this as unprincipled because time management and completing things quickly is a principle. Another thing that Leonardo da Vinci lacks is balance, often he will be hectic on one piece of work and ignore everything else. This could be beneficial for one project but also makes an imbalance in the amount of work done. Good specific examples to match your claims. Supporting example? In conclusion I believe the Leonardo da Vinci is the perfect choice for the Court of Francis I. Leonardo is well rounded in his knowledge and all his works are out of this world and you can find no other like it. He is creative and has ideas beyond this time that could benefit King Francis I extremely well. I hope you consider assigning Leonardo da Vinci to work with you in the Court of Francis I. Best regards, Lulu Phan Chief Secretary of Da Vinci Studio
Artist Tuesday, October 16, 2012 8:34 AM Leonardo da Vinci was a brilliant artist and knew many different styles of art during his apprenticeship in Verrocchio's studio. Although he knew how to sculpt and other styles like that all of his most famous works of art were paintings. Below are examples of his most famous paintings, The Lady with an Ermine, The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. All these paintings are considered top class and the best in the world. The first piece of work I am going to talk about is his first big important painting, The Lady with an Ermine. This painting was one of the first paintings to convey emotion and thought in such a complex way. If you look at the posture and facial expressions of the lady and the ermine you can see that they both are looking at something on the side off the painting. If you look at the ermine's left foot you can see that it is raised, a sign showing that it is intrigued by what ever is there and if you look at lady's face you can see that she notices what ever is there but is not cautious of it like the ermine is. His patron for this painting was the wealthy and famous Duke of Milan. Originally Leonardo sent letters to the Duke for his military ideas hoping that his ideas would be used to help him in wars, however the Duke didn't seem very enthusiastic and interested in the ideas and Leonardo could sense that. So he told the Duke that he was a painter and showed him some of his previous artworks. The Duke of Milan was very impressed by the work and asked da Vinci to paint his mistress. He was disappointed but he saw it as an opportunity and did his best. It was not a waste of his time, The Lady with an Ermine became very well known and opened up many chances for Leonardo da Vinci. The Lady with an Ermine is currently behind kept in Wawel Castle, Kraków, Poland. Kraków is the second largest and of the oldest cities in Poland. Art historians argue that The Lady with an Ermine is the most beautiful out of his 4 female portraits. It is also the most durable out of all his works. The Lady with an Ermine lasted for a very long time and is made on top of a walnut board and covered in oil. Good information but remember assignment scenario you are recommending Leonardo to the King of France (try to stay within that time era) The second one I am going to talk about is The Last Supper. This painting was created due to his prior success in The Lady with an Ermine. The Duke of Milan loved his work and gave him this task. Instead of painting on a canvas like normal this time he painted on a wall in the dining hall of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy and it is still there now. The Last Supper was about the last supper that Jesus Christ had before he was put to die on the cross. In this scene it shows that Jesus had just told the 12 disciples that one of them had betrayed him. If you look at all the facial expressions you can see the shock and despair on each of them. If you look at the people on the middle right you can see that their arms are stretched out and tense. The one closest to Jesus has his hand up in surprise. Leonardo da Vinci, unlike many other artists, decided just to capture this small, yet extremely important second instead of the general time that the people spent during a dinner. The facial expressions and body language is just part of his amazing work the perspective in this painting is incredible. You can tell what is at the front and what is at the back. You can see the food on the table and that the people are behind it sitting or standing up. You can also see the shape of the room and how all the people fit in and aren't super tall and tiny. The background is small but still in proportion and this is all because of his work with geometry. Art historians consider it the most realistic painting of the last supper and the best example of perspective painting using geometry from that time period. What techniques did Da Vinci explore in this painting? Were they all successful? 8HP Leo Portfolio Page 2
The final piece of artwork I am going to show you is the Virgin of the Rocks. This painting was done twice by Leonardo, the one on the right is the original. The big difference between the original and the second version is the gaze and right hand of the angel on the right side of the painting. There are lots of smaller differences in the shading, the lighting and some of the colours. In the painting you have the Virgin Mary, baby Jesus, baby Saint John and an angel sitting on the rocks in a beautiful setting. This is a very new idea because often Mary is viewed as the queen of heaven and sitting on the ground isn't queen-like. However portraying Mary in this way was called Madonna of Humility. It was a new idea that started in the Renaissance and caught on quickly. This is the first time that any artist removed halos from a religious painting. Removing halos might have been risky for any other artist because it would be hard for people to tell if the people in the painting were important religious figures or not but Leonardo da Vinci managed to show everyone that these people were important by giving them ideal beauty and grace. You can tell by looking at them that they are not ordinary and Leonardo spent a lot of time perfecting the look of beauty and grace to make sure they stood out from normal people and could easily be identified as religious figures. Interesting point - shows how he tries to do things differently! 8HP Leo Portfolio Page 3
Inventor Leonardo da Vinci was not only an amazing artist like he set out to be but also a gifted inventor. A lot of his inventions were beyond his time period and people thought he was crazy. However a lot of his inventions were used and were extremely helpful. Not all of his inventions were created. Here are some examples of his different inventions Here we have a design for a paddle boat that would be used for scooping up silt and sludge from canals, rivers and harbors. The sludge would block up rivers and boats couldn't go through quickly thus being a major set back for anything related to using rivers as passages. Leonardo da Vinci noticed this problem and knew that it would take to long to clean rivers by people using buckets, and being the genius he is, started inventing ways to make life easier and more efficient. This invention had one crucial element, to make the invention work and clean up the sludge the user would a crank to turn a wheel that was connected to four scoops that would rotate and pick up sludge then dump it off in another part of the boat where the user wasn't in. There were some variations to the design where instead of offloading the silt into the boat where the user was a third mini boat would be used. This invention was very useful and efficient and as you can see only someone like Leonardo da Vinci could create something like that. Why would the King of France find this interesting? During da Vinci's time there was a lot of war and tension so natural he designed weapons that would assist who ever hired him. Leonardo did a lot of research and found out that the psychological effect of weapons could damage the enemy more than a weapon that did a lot of damage. He used his newly gained knowledge to design one of his most famous and creative inventions, the giant crossbow. The giant crossbow was huge, around 25m across and have six wheels along the center part. There were 3 wheels on each side and the pairs were spread across to make the weapon easy to transport. To make the weapon work the thin wood and rope would be pulled back by a soldier using a crank. Then other soldiers would load the weapon with rocks, most people think there would be a giant arrow but that wouldn't be as efficient because transporting huge things only to use them once would be a huge waste. After the weapon was loaded the soldier would use a small mallet to hit the trigger and then the rocks would fire and hit the opposition. This invention is a great example of how da Vinci can use a different/new idea and turn it into something brilliant. Sadly this invention was never made but that doesn't mean it wasn't magnificent. The final invention I am going to show you is the triple barrel cannon or the early machine gun as people call it now. This weapon was an improvement of the traditional canon. Da Vinci believed that mobility was a big part of warfare and could make the difference between a victory or a loss. That s why he invented the triple barrel cannon. The normal cannon was very heavy and took a long time to load and stayed far away from the battle and stayed there. This could be very inconvenient if the battle moved to a different location or the enemy went out of range. The triple barrel cannon was light and could be moved along the warzone and was loaded simultaneously. It was front loaded and since there were 3 barrels to load you could load one while the other one fired so long as you didn't get hit. That system allowed shots to be fired more frequently and because the wheels were larger and lighter the cannon could be transported to where it was needed most. In conclusion Leonardo da Vinci not only made his own ideas and create things based on those he also improved on others ideas. Good point - a flexible thinker! 8HP Leo Portfolio Page 4
Scientist Tuesday, October 16, 2012 8:34 AM Leonardo da Vinci researched many things that assisted him with his inventions and paintings. In the following paragraphs I will discuss how he found information and how he used it in different subjects of work. Study of Nature (animals and botany) Leonardo da Vinci was really into nature and often spent hours observing it and making sketches and notes. He used his research to make realistic paintings for his artwork and use some techniques that animals use for his machines. An example where he used his botany research was in Virgin of the Rocks, the plants there were extremely accurate and a convincing representative of real plants. An example where he applied his research on animals was when he created designs for flying machines, he observed bird's flight patterns and attempted to recreate them for people. Da Vinci loved animals and plants and his adoration for these things allowed him to develop his ideas so much more. Good connection! Architecture Da Vinci had many ideas for buildings and improvements to other people's designs. However almost all of his designs were just theoretical and he didn't attempt any of them in a real life situations. He did have design ideas for cathedrals and other types of buildings, some of which were extraordinary and extremely ambitious. Some of these designs included things like intricately designed staircases with double spirals or four staircases going together into one place. Not surprisingly these things were never built because of the difficulty and lack of technology to build them. His most famous elaborate idea was the "Ideal City" a complete redesign of Milan, Italy. He included canal systems to be used for commercial purposes or as a sewage system. He also added new road systems and new building designs, since this idea was a huge thing and if it were to be made it would mean rebuilding Milan and since that was impossible it was denied by Ludovico il More. Although not all of his ideas were actually made some of his ideas are adapted now and are being made. Astronomy Leonardo da Vinci isn't well known for his astronomy but although he did research related to astronomy he is technically not an astronomer. His research for astronomy relate to unimportant events and were not taken notice of. Although you must take into consideration that there was no such thing as a telescope during da Vinci's time and the closest thing to a telescope were concave and convex lenses. Some researchers claim that he invented his own telescope but it is unlikely because he wouldn't have realized the potential for a telescope and wouldn't have made important notes about it. 8HP Leo Portfolio Page 5
telescope were concave and convex lenses. Some researchers claim that he invented his own telescope but it is unlikely because he wouldn't have realized the potential for a telescope and wouldn't have made important notes about it. 8HP Leo Portfolio Page 6
8HP Leo Portfolio Page 7 Citations Sunday, October 07, 2012
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