Sunday, January 08, 2012

Looking Down

Looking Down by Liza Hirst Not only does the "One New Change" shopping mall offer a great view of St.Paul's but it has interesting aspects of its own, like this opening between two glass walls with slivered reflections - a nearly abstract image. Inspite of it being very crowded, I am glad I got round to visiting the Da Vinci exhibition on Friday. It proved definitely worth queuing for! On show were sketches and paintings created during Leonardo's time in Milan, highlighting his two versions of the "Virgin of the Rocks" and of course the "Last Supper", of which a full scale copy was on display, painted by one of his pupils just before the original work deteriorated. It was interesting to be able to compare the two virgins - shown together for the first time - as they had been painted with a time lag of several years and "reveal a change in Leonardo's ideas from an art rooted in the observation of nature to one where the artist's powers of invention might reveal a glimpse of the devine imagination" (quoted from the exhibition leaflet). Of the two, I personally preferred the first one, because it seemed more alive and warmer than the second one. On the whole, I was more taken by his drawings, of which to my surprise most were very small, if not tiny. (Needless to say anything about the quality...) oil on wood panel - Öl auf Holzplatte - huile sur plaque de bois 15 cm x 15 cm / 5,9" x 5,9" sold

4 comments:

CHRIS MURRAY said...

this is very cool. I'd love to see that exhibit ESPECIALLY the drawings.

Barbara Muir said...

Gorgeous painting. Lovely colour and design. Interesting about Leonardo. We tend to think of him and his work as larger than life. And some of it was -- but small is beautiful clearly -- which flies in the face of our whole need for very large art these days. So glad you got to see it.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxBarbara

Liza Hirst said...

Hi Chris, I am pleased you like the painting - and I cross my fingers for you to get the opportunity some day to see the Da Vinci exhibition!

Liza Hirst said...

Hi Barbara,
I was actually PLEASANTLY surprised about the unexpected scale of Leonardo's drawings. Nowadays, it seems, art is hardly noticed if it isn't large. I remember being equally surprised when seeing paintings by Jan Vermeer years ago. They are also quite small and I LOVE them!Its defintely not the size that matters!