Autoportrait, Leonardo da Vinci

Pendant cet atelier de 3 heures, nous allons explorer la dimension de Leonardo da Vinci en tant que peintre et inventeur.

Après une brève introduction de l’une des personnes les plus érudites de son temps, les enfants auront le choix de:

  • expérimenter le façonnage d’un portrait, en peignant leur propre version de la célèbre Mona Lisa, ou
  • de construire une version en 3D et simplifiée de la machine volante.

En effet, Leonardo da Vinci (1452 –  1519) n’était pas seulement un peintre de génie, mais encore un écrivain, un mathématicien, un architect, un inventeur, un ingénieur militaire et un inventeur.

Il peut être considéré comme l’exemple parfait de l’homme de la Renaissance.

(Le texte ci-dessous est seulement disponible en anglais.)

Leonardo da Vinci, the Painter

He was not a prolific painter, because of the wide scope of his interests. In addition to the “Mona Lisa”, his most famous works include the “Vitruvian Man” and “The Last Supper”.

The ‘Vitruvian Man’ (image to the right) is a sketch drawn in 1490 that depicts a study of male human proportions, set inside both a square and a circle. With this work, Leonardo attempts to relate man to nature.

To more accurately depict gestures and movements, da Vinci began to study anatomy seriously and dissect human and animal bodies  in the 1480s). His drawings of a fetus in utero, the heart and vascular system, sex organs and other bone and muscular structures are some of the first we know of.

Painting Techniques

“Virgin on the rocks” (1485), by Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci is well known for his pioneering use of two painting techniques:

  • Chiaroscuro: a stark contrast between darkness and light that gave a three-dimensionality to da Vinci’s figures.
  • Sfumato: a technique in which subtle gradations, rather than strict borders, infuse paintings with a softer, smoky aura.

His painting “Virgin of the Rocks,” begun in 1483, is a classic example of both of these techniques.

The  ‘Mona Lisa’

“Mona Lisa” (1503), by Leonardo da Vinci

The Mona Lisa is one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s most famous painting— and arguably the most famous painting in the world. This painting was privately commissioned and mystery surrounds the identity of the subject.

It is likely – but not certain – that it is a portrait of  Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a wealthy Florentine silk merchant. Some art historians believe the merchant commissioned the portrait to celebrate the pending birth of the couple’s next child. However, if the Giocondo family did indeed commission the painting, Leonardo da Vinci never delivered it.  He considered it a work in progress. It was his attempt at perfection. He never parted with the painting. Today, the “Mona Lisa” hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. This particular work of art draws millions of visitors each year.

Leonardo da Vinci, the Inventor

Leonardo da Vinci made  sketches of machines resembling a bicycle and a helicopter. Perhaps his most well-known “invention” is a “flying machine,” (image to the left)  which is based on the physiology of a bat.

He also studied botany, geology, zoology, hydraulics, aeronautics and physics. He sketched his observations and placed the papers in notebooks and arranged them around four broad themes—painting, architecture, mechanics and human anatomy. He filled dozens of notebooks with finely drawn illustrations and scientific observations. His ideas were mainly theoretical explanations, laid out in exacting detail, but they were rarely experimental.

For centuries after his death, thousands of pages from his private journals with notes, drawings, observations and scientific theories have surfaced and provided a fuller measure of a true “Renaissance man.”

Informations pratiques

Date: samedi 16 septembre 2017

Heures: 13:30 à 16:30

Ages: cet atelier est recommandé aux enfants de 6 à 13 ans.

Lieu: Atelier du Square, rue François Bonivard 4, 1201 Genève. Google maps.

Tarif par après-midi: CHF 65.-  par enfant matériel et snacks inclus.

Inscriptions : Merci de télécharger la fiche d’inscription ici: Leonardo da Vinci Inscription FR.
SVP la compléter et signer, la scanner ou la photographier, et la retourner à [email protected]. Le paiement est du à la signature de la fiche d’inscription (voir la partie consacrée aux paiements par e-banking). Merci.

Information : Eurydice Labaki, [email protected], +41 (0) 78 696 12 45