GayHeroes.com GayHeroes.com: Gay and Lesbian People in History

Welcome to the GayHeroes.com Leonardo Gallery.

Here you'll find a few paintings which show just one facet of the amazing genius of Leonardo da Vinci... including the most famous religious painting in the world and the most famous portrait ever painted! Enjoy!

(it'll take a minute to download the paintings. Perhaps you can get yourself a refreshing beverage.)

 

Leonardo da Vinci Last SupperInstead of the usual water-based fresco, for "The Last Supper", Leonardo wanted to try a tempera mixture, which he hoped would give him the richness and detail of an oil painting on canvas. Huge mistake. This amazing masterpiece began to decay immediately; the paint discolored, cracked, and chipped off the wall. Everyone tried to fix it over the centuries, but it got so bad that the monks who lived in the building thought nothing of cutting a doorway through the bottom of it, and being bombed in WWII didn't help. Now it's been restored with the best modern techniques; what we see is still one of the most beautiful and universally recognized paintings in history. In the calm, triangular Leonardo da Vinci Last Supperform of Jesus, the use of architecture to give him a window for a halo, the apostles grouped in threes, interacting in a way never seen before upon hearing Jesus tell them "One of you will betray me" -- Leonardo depicts men's souls by way of their expressions and gestures.

GayHeroes.com

 

 

Leonardo da Vinci Painting

 

    

Madonna of the Rocks
1527

Baby Jesus meets baby John the Baptist in a rocky grotto. His mom looks on and an angel helpfully points, looking right at us. An amazing composition of hands and faces in a mysterious landscape.


GayHeroes.com

 

 

Leonardo da Vinci Painting

 

Virgin and Child
with St. Anne
1543

Mary, sitting on her mom's lap, tries to keep Baby Jesus away from the sacrificial lamb for now anyway.The painting is unfinished, especially Mary's dress. Set in another mysterious landscape, same as....


GayHeroes.com

 

  

Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa

 

 

  

Mona Lisa
1539
The Louvre

 

 

GayHeroes.com

  

back to Leonardo Page                        GayHeroes.com


Jay Spears
jay@gayheroes.com
Date Last Modified: 12/21/04