Surpassing the Master
In the elevator of the temporary art building Yumi Kim told us a pretty interesting story about how as an apprentice Leonardo Da Vinci worked on a painting together with his master Verrocchio.
Verrocchio did most of the painting himself, but he had Leonardo do a minor bit of it — he had him paint one of the angels in the background. Of course, Leonardo’s angel turned out to be the best executed part of the painting, surpassing even Verrocchio’s own work.
It’s said that Verrocchio was so amazed and humiliated by his apprentice’s superior technique that he vowed never to touch a brush again. Others say that Verrocchio never really cared much for painting (he was more of a sculptor) and was merely glad to have someone working in his house that could expertly take care of such things for him.
In the image below I’ve illustrated which sections are believed to have been painted by Leonardo.
Note the clear difference between the folds in the cloth of Leonardo’s angel and the folds in John the Baptist’s white clothing on the right. It’s as if that’s the only part of the painting that contains realistic dimension; everything else seems flat.
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6 Comments
That totally was not my story. But a very cool story, nonetheless, LOSTSOUL_golamco. (That would be your LJ username if you ever had an LJ.)
Whaaat — whose story was that then?
Unless you want to take the credit, which you are welcome to!
YARG, you jerk, I told that story!!!
Fixed, as credit should go to whom it deserves.
Actually, I thought of that story!
Great, now I get to read my name with a slash through it? The pain, the pain!
That’s what you get for not telling the story!