Quotessence
Home / Books / Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci

Book by Walter Isaacson · 12 quotes · Art, Leonardo Da Vinci, Leonardo

Filter quotes by topic

AllArtLeonardo Da VinciLeonardoDrawingImaginationPaintingWishAbleAdultsAgencyArt HistoryAviationBoundsCapableChiaroscuroChildrenCompositionCreativeCreative PowerCreative Problem Solving

Leonardo da Vinci Quotes

“Indeed, the great Leonardo (da Vinci) remained like a child for the whole of his life in more than one way. It is said that all great men are bound to retain some infantile part. Even as an adult he continued to play, and this was another reason why he often appeared uncanny and incomprehensible to his contemporaries.”

MenWayChildrenSaidReasonPlayWholeAdultsBoundsOne WayReason WhyGreat MenUncannyInfantileLeonardo
Book:Leonardo da Vinci
Create image

“When mastering drapery drawings in Verrocchio's studio, Leonardo also pioneered sfumato, the technique of blurring contours and edges. It is a way for artists to render objects as they appear to our eye rather than with sharp contours. This advance caused Vasari to proclaim Leonardo the inventor of the 'modern manner' in painting, and the art historian Ernst Gombrich called sfumato 'Leonardo's famous invention, the blurred outline and mellowed colors that allow one form to merge with another and always leave something to our imagination.' The term 'sfumato' derives from the Italian word for 'smoke,' or more precisely the dissipation and gradual vanishing of smoke into thin air . . . With no sharp lines, enigmatic glances and smiles can flicker mysteriously.”

ArtPaintingTechniqueDrawingsSfumato
Book:Leonardo da Vinci
Create image

“Chiaroscuro, from the Italian for 'light/dark,' is the use of contrasts of light and shadow as a modeling technique for achieving the illusion of plasticity and three-dimensional volume in a two-dimensional drawing or painting. Leonardo's version of the technique involved varying the darkness of a color by adding black pigments rather than making it a more saturated or richer hue.”

ArtLightDarkPaintingDrawingLeonardo Da VinciChiaroscuro
Book:Leonardo da Vinci
Create image