Leonardo Da Vinci at The National Gallery London
Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 12:53 pm
This, despite the crowds and queues, is a must see show, there are paintings that you will probably never get to Warsaw or someplace to see. The magical da vinci is better on idealised beauty, pretty girls and women, than on supernatural beauty, jesus and co. Somehow doing a portrait of a lady reigned him to create paintings that are tantalisingly alive, hushed in their perfect blending and just about to turn their heads. He could paint roughly with the same technique when he was 12, like learning latin or greek or calculus, people of his time were more equipped with standard skills, what many may admire about Da Vinci is what most artists of his time had: the ability to draw, blend, and colour neatly. So what is the extra quality, the x factor, that at times leaves us exhilarated 500 years later, not sure really, he seems to have been pretty clever at other stuff, not got many paintings done, perhaps he looked harder, or felt more. I am not helping much, of course the standard excuse is you need to look yourself. Book 10 years in advance, elbow your way past the grannies, and drink in the beauty. It's beauty, how it works still seems like magic.