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Leonardo da Vinci (4/5): Rivalry with Michelangelo and birth of the Mona Lisa

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By Video Editor

October 21, 2023
3:26 pm
Los Angeles, CA

The painter Leonardo da Vinci and the sculptor Michelangelo, whose rivalry was well known, met to work on the painting of two huge murals in the most emblematic room of the Palazzo Vecchio. It was during this period that Leonardo painted two of his most famous works: “Madonna and Child with St. Anne” and “Mona Lisa”. When Leonardo da Vinci returns to Florence, the city is no longer ruled by the Medici or any other family, having once again become a republic. There lives the successful Michelangelo, an artist who had become famous among connoisseurs. The Florentine authorities immediately sought to take advantage of the presence in the city of two of these great geniuses and commissioned them to create two murals based on war-related themes. Leonardo starts working

When Leonardo da Vinci returns to Florence, the city is no longer ruled by the Medici or any other family, having once again become a republic. There lives the successful Michelangelo, an artist who had become famous among connoisseurs. The Florentine authorities immediately sought to take advantage of the presence in the city of two of these great geniuses and commissioned them to create two murals based on war-related themes. Leonardo starts working on his own mural, but after a while he destroys it, using an incorrect drying technique. He does not mind losing that piece, because his main interest lies in developing human flight.

It is then that he writes a treatise on the flight of birds, prepares a project to channel the Arno River, makes a proposal to raise the Florentine baptistery to restore its original base and paints two magnificent works: “Madonna and Child with St. Anne” and “Mona Lisa”. He then goes to Rome, where both Michelangelo and Raphael are active. However, Leonardo is not commissioned to create any new works there. The Roman clergy is offended by his study of anatomy in the Santo Spirito Hospital, to the point that he is forbidden to continue accessing the premises.