“The Battle of Angiari” and “The Battle of Marciano”: student versus teacher, symbolism versus realism
Both Leonardo and Vasari have felchen swords in their paintings (falsion). But they began to draw them in miniatures long before that. And they looked absolutely incredible! Here, for example, horsemen with falsions. Thumbnail from the Bodleian Apocalypse. 1250-1275 years
Art should always be accompanied by a graceful lightness and excellent purity of flowers, and the work as a whole should not be perfected with the strain of cruel passion, so that people who look at it do not have to suffer from passions, which, as you can see, were overwhelmed by the artist, but so that they rejoice in the happiness of the one whose hand is bestowed with heaven with such mastery, thanks to which things get completed, however, with science and work, but without any tension, and so much so that where they are placed, they don’t They were dead, but alive and truthful. Let them beware of sloppiness and achieve that each object depicted by them does not seem written, but alive and protruding from the picture. These are true, well-founded drawing and true ingenuity, which is recognized for those who put it into paintings that have received high recognition and appreciation.
Giorgio Vasari Biographies of famous painters. Giotto, Botticelli and others
Giorgio Vasari Biographies of famous painters. Giotto, Botticelli and others
Art and story. How did contemporaries appreciate the work of the great maestro? Biographer Leonardo Giorgio Vasari (and future author of The Battle of Marciano) later wrote that the Senoria commission recognized his work “outstanding and executed with great skill because of the amazing observations he used in the image of this dump, because in this image people show such the same fury, hatred and revenge, like the horses, of which two are intertwined with their front legs and fight with teeth with no less bitterness than their riders fighting for the banner ... "
This is not to say that Leonardo da Vinci thoughtlessly rushed to copy the ancient technology. That's it - I read it, he liked it, and he repeated it. Leonardo also took precautions, tested this technology in advance and did everything exactly according to the description: first, a layer of plaster was applied, which was primed to achieve a solid, even surface; then a layer of resin was added over the primer, which was applied with sponges. The combination of these materials was to provide a suitable base for applying oil paints. Leonardo wrote very quickly, using his scaffolding, but here the weather interfered with the work. It began to rain, and it became very damp. As a result, the paints refused to dry and began to leak. Then Leonardo decided to dry the mural with fire, and braziers were lit under the wall. However, if the upper sections of the fresco dried up even too quickly, below the fresco flowed very much, and Leonardo had to give up. There were many suggestions as to why his project failed in such a terrible way. Perhaps the master tried to get ahead of his younger rival and therefore decided to speed up the process, or poor-quality linseed oil was used, or the stucco was defective, to which the paint did not stick. But there is an opinion that Leonardo did not pay attention to the important part of Pliny's instructions, which said: “Among the paints that require a dry chalk coating and refuse to adhere to a damp surface are purple, Indian, cerulean, magenta, horn, appian , cerus. Wax is also stained with all of these coloring materials, for encaustic painting; a process that does not allow application to walls ... ”And he just used purple paint, and even put it on an insufficiently dried surface on a rainy day.
Morion was one of the most popular helmets of the time. Take any and draw ... Here, for example, is one of the many morions of the late 1326th century. from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. On it we also see beautiful images of battle scenes of spearmen, arquebuzirs and horsemen. Flanders Copper, leather. Weight XNUMX g
As a result, little remains of the mural over the next few years. Rather, there are eight studies of her composition, three large studies of the heads depicted on her, her written description and several not-so-exact copies made by different artists at different times.
The horseman helmet, an assault habure in German, but also known as bourguignot, "burgundy helmet". Pay attention to the finish - this is a real work of art. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Around 1603, Rubens wrote a copy of The Battle of Angiari based on an engraving made by Lorenzo Zaccia in 1558. It is believed that in it he achieved something that no other artist could convey before him, namely the feeling of power characteristic of Leonardo’s brush: the confusion, rage and fury of the fighting. It is interesting that this picture is often written both in books and on the Internet, that this is an original painting by Leonardo, which she certainly is not.
Interestingly, in accordance with the terms of the contract, Leonardo was supposed to draw the battle itself, starting with the approach of the Milanese troops in a cloud of dust. Then he had to portray St. Peter, who appeared to the commander of the papal troops, then the struggle for the bridge over the Tiber River, the defeat of the enemy and the burial of the dead. All this had to be shown in one picture (!), That is, it was necessary to depict the beginning, middle and end of the battle on one canvas! Interestingly, the author of the Battle of Grunwald, Jan Matejko, also did approximately the same later. But Leonardo would not be himself if, by agreeing, he would not do everything his own way, and Senoria simply did not have the strength to argue with him.
Chasing, figures ... Everything is under antiquity! If only our helmets would paint such helmets on their frescoes! Bourguignot. Augsburg, 1594-1599 Dresden Armory
By agreement of 1503, he promised to complete work by February 1505 or return all payments. Despite his incompleteness and the absence of signs that he had made significant progress, payments continued after this time. The end result was a short letter about his work, which was sent from Pierre Soderini to Charles d'Amboise. It stated that "Da Vinci did not behave towards the Republic as it should, because he accepted a large sum of money and barely began the great work that he had to do."
It is interesting, however, to note that other paintings commissioned by various artists were not finished. Michelangelo began work on the mural in 1504, but was recalled by Pope Julius II to Rome. All that remains of his work is a copy of his cardboard, which depicts bathing soldiers.
And these are the Landsknecht pants! Vienna Armory
And then Giorgio Vasari painted his “Battle of Marciano” on top of what was believed to be the frescoes of Leonardo.
In 1976, they performed her ultrasound examination, but did not find anything. However, the Italian art critic Maurizio Seracini, who conducted this study, considered that Vasari simply could not ruin the work of Leonardo, whom he admired and literally idolized. New studies have shown that there is some space behind the wall on which the Vasari mural is painted. Finally, on March 12, 2012, Maurizio Seracini announced that there was another surface behind the wall with his fresco. Six holes were drilled into the wall, probes were thrown into them, samples were taken, and black and beige paints were found among the samples, as well as red varnish, typical for the beginning of the XNUMXth century. However, no one wants to destroy the wall, although everyone wants to find a picture of Leonardo. There are “movements” and “for” and “against” the continuation of work. Pickets and demonstrations are held. What will happen next, while no one knows.
This is the story of these two paintings. Well, now you can well deal with them closely. Let's look at the picture of Rubens and see that besides perhaps even the flagpole on it, in fact, is the shaft of a knightly spear. That is, using it as a flagpole for a banner would simply be inconvenient. For some reason, all the riders are depicted bare-footed and sit astride without stirrups. All riders are dressed in armor, but extremely strange. The rider on the left has some absolutely fantastic marine-style armor, but with a lamb head on his chest. The rider’s armor in a red turban is more acceptable, moreover, it is known that at that time such or similar turbans were worn in the cavalry of the Swiss, and not only among them. The second rider on the right seems to have a Morion helmet, but usually the riders did not use such helmets. It was a helmet of foot spearmen, but not cavalrymen at all!
There are saddles on horses, but there is no harness, no bridles, and how then do riders manage them?
It is interesting that all three riders are armed with felchen swords (or falsion in the Russian language), but the rider on the right also has a classic sword. Moreover, such felchins, although they often painted, did not reach us in a single copy. All surviving specimens, firstly, are few in number, and secondly, they don’t look like Leonardo at all! That is, it is possible that they existed. They existed as a fashion for everything Turkish at the beginning of the Turkish conquests in Europe. And maybe, again, maybe Leonardo armed them with his “heroes” in order to once again emphasize the “atrocious nature” of the war, which, they say, has no place for Christian mercy, it’s just as wild as the Turks.
Duel on falsions. Engraving from the tournament book of Maximilian I "Freudal." 1512-1515
Of course, I personally would have been much more interested if the great Leonardo decided to combine his talent for depicting the muscular flesh of men and horses with the realistic ability to draw weapons and armor of that era, and not fantasize in such a wild and exotic way. That would be a picture for posterity! Say, on one horseman the armor is from Helschmid, on the other from Anton Peffenhauser, Valentin Siebenbürgeran or Konrad Lochner, and on the third there is something purely Milanese from the Negroles family ... But there isn’t that. Only mastery in transmitting overwhelming people and horses of emotions, and zero historical information - this is his picture!
Here is such an inscription (“Look and find out”) for some reason Vasari brought on one of the flags of his fresco. What is it? Hint that if you search, you can find a picture of Leonardo?
Giorgio Vasari in his fresco was nevertheless somewhat closer to realism. However, we begin by paying attention to the extreme horseman on the left. Both he and his horse are a clear redraw of the horseman from the fresco of Leonardo, well, of what is on the right. Of course, she is just similar, but very similar. And he, too, depicted a pheasant on the model of Leonard, as well as a completely mythological shield, painted a warrior in the very center. Maybe this is an allegory, and it contains the whole meaning of this mural, that is, there is not only a fantastic sword, but also an equally fantastic shield? At the same time, we see here quite realistic armored men riding horses with scarves over their shoulders. We see two arquebuzirs and terrible fights of warriors lying on the ground, one of whom stabs his opponent with a dagger in his mouth, while at the same time he stabs his dagger in his thigh. And again, this is a pretty recognizable scene from a painting by Leonardo. That is, it turns out that the student followed the tradition of the teacher, and what he did not leave behind was added to them, Giorgio Vasari? Be that as it may, we will never know this now!
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