Page 271 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

LEONARDO AND DURER
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and
Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) were the
quintessential artist-scientists of the
European Renaissance, whose wide-
ranging explorations of the natural world
epitomize the period's quest for knowl-
edge. There is no record that these men
ever met. Durer's notebooks reveal,
however, that he was acquainted with
Leonardo's studies of human anatomy
and physiognomy and of the horse, prob-
ably from reproductions of Leonardo's
drawings.
The two masters shared a remarkable
variety of interests, from the science of
perspective, to the study of human and
equine proportions and anatomy, to
landscape and the details of plant and
animal life. Each counted prominent sci-
entists and mathematicians among his
friends. Each believed that painting must
be raised to the level of a liberal art
rather than remain a mere craft; each
consequently required the artist to
acquire broad knowledge of the theo-
retical foundations of his discipline. Both
Leonardo and Durer worked on written
treatises addressed to the needs of the
artist, though only Durer's were actually
published.
Despite the many similar subjects that 169
appear in their art and writings, however, (Uf f izi, Florence) was in the house of Amerigo,
Leonardo and Durer had fundamentally Leonardo da Vinci the son of Giovanni. Ginevra was born in 1457
different outlooks on the world. Durer's Florentine, 1452-1519 and married Luigi di Bernardo di Lapo Nicolini in
focus was always on the individual and PORTRAIT OF GINEVRA DE' BENCI 1474. She was the subject of ten Petrarchan poems
the specific. He was fascinated by the (on reverse) Emblematic Motif by Cristoforo Landino and Alessandro Braccesi,
incredible diversity of God's creation, and c. 1475-1476 extolling her virtues and recounting the devotion
his studies of landscapes, plants, and oil on poplar panel of Bernardo Bembo, who was Venetian ambassa-
animals are as much portraits as are his 38.8 x 36.7 (i5 /4 x i4 /2J (cut down at base) dor to Florence in 1475-1476 and 1478-1480.
2
2
paintings and drawings of people. He saw inscribed on the reverse: VIRTUTEM FOR/MA DECORAT Lorenzo de' Medici also dedicated two sonnets to
the artist's role as interpreting for man references: Walker 1967; Richter 1970/1977, 416; her (Walker 1967). The motto on the reverse of
God's presence in the endlessly varied Shapley 1979, 251-255; Brown 1985; Fletcher 1989 the painting, "she adorns her virtue with beauty,"
phenomena of nature. Leonardo's glacial National Gallery of Art, Washington, Ailsa Mellon is in the form of the opening of a hexameter verse
intellect always concentrated on the Bruce Fund and is entirely consistent with the tone of the
unity underlying nature's diversity. Prob- poetic devotions. The porphyry background of
ing beneath surface appearances, he The identification of this portrait (Washington the heraldic motif is probably meant to signify
The motif of
aimed at uncovering the fundamental i967-6.i.a-b) with the picture of Ginevra de' the enduring nature of her virtues. reverse has
early sources (Antonio
Benci described in the
of bay and palm on the
the wreath
laws governing the physical world. By Billi, the Anonimo Gaddiano, and Vasari; see recently been identified as the personal device of
mastering nature's first causes, he Shapley 1979) has been widely accepted since the Bernardo Bembo, and Bembo himself has been
believed, man could use them to remake nineteenth century and seems entirely secure. proposed as the patron of the portrait (Fletcher
the world. The juniper bush (ginepro) is an emblematic play 1989). However, the "license" for the use of a
on her name. The Benci were wealthy and prom- personal device could be given to someone else as
inent members of Florentine society. Giovanni a special favor, and the replacement of Bembo's
d'Amerigo de' Benci, Ginevra's brother, is men- motto — virtus et honor—by Ginevra's suggests
tioned four times in Leonardo's memoranda as just such a transfer of the emblem to her. There is
possessing items of interest, including Leonardo's no evidence that Bembo ever possessed the por-
own "map of the world" (Richter 1970/1977, trait, and it does not appear to have been known
1416,1444,1454, and p. 416). Vasari indicates in Venice. Although Bembo's devotion to Ginevra
that Leonardo's unfinished Adoration of the Kings cannot be doubted, given the evidence of the

270 CIRCA 1492