Leonard Da Vinci

Leonard da Vinci was a painter, a sculptor, an architect, a musician, an engineer, and a scientist. He was a man of many talents, a Renaissance man1 in the true sense of the word.

Leonard was born at a small town near Florence, where he was apprenticed to2 a painter. But he soon surpassed his masters in uniting precision of line with rhythm of movement, and in finding new ways to show light and shade.

Although Leonard is generally known as a painter, his actual output was very small. In fact today only about twelve paintings are looked upon as3 having been done by him. This is because his diverse interest, his far-ranging curiosity in nature and his endless scientific experiments and designings. To understand the man one has therefore , to read the 5, 000 notebooks in which he put down his observations in life and his sketch4 drawings.

Nevertheless, Leonard had profound understandings of art, which exerted5 great influence among the painters of his own generation and generations to follow. In painting he stressed the expression of emotional states, which , to him were, the heart of painting:

"A good painter has two chief objects — to paint man and the intention of his soul. The former is easy, the latter hard, for it must be expressed by gestures and the movement of the limbs . .. A painting will only be wonderful for the beholder by making that which is not so raised and detached from the wall."

His major works: Last Supper, many European art masters have painted on the same subject. But none of their versions has been as impressive as da Vinci's. And none has the enduring value in the art world as his.

Mona Lisa, if Last Supper is the most famous of religious pictures, then Mona Lisa probably is the world's most famous portrait. Mona Lisa had as its model wife of a banker. The quietly folded hands, the gaze that is directed at the observer, the ambiguity of the“smile”together help to create a curious effect and a secret effect.

阅读自测

Ⅰ. Read the passage and fill in the blanks with proper words :

Leonard da Vinci is first known as a________ , and he is also a________ , an________ , a ________ , an________ , and a ________ . The amount of da Vinci's paintings is very small. There are only about________ paintings. For da Vinci, a good painter has two chief objects — to paint ________ and the ________ of his soul. In his famous work Mona Lisa , the quietly________ hands, the________ that is directed at the observer, the ambiguity of the "________ " together help to create a curious effect and a secret effect.

Ⅱ. Question :

What are da Vinci's famous paintings?

[page]参考答案

Ⅰ. painter / sculptor / architect / musician / engineer / scientist / 12 / man / intention / folded / gaze / smile Ⅱ. Last Supper and Mona Lisa .

参考译文

达芬奇传奇

列奥纳多· 达· 芬奇是一位画家、一位雕刻家、一位建筑师、一位音乐家、一位工程师 和一位科学家。他多才多艺, 是一位真正的文艺复兴新人。

列奥纳多出生在佛罗伦萨附近的一个小城镇上, 从小给一位画家当学徒。但是, 很快 他就超越了老师。他将清晰的线条与绘画的动态感和谐地结合在一起, 找到了显示光与影 的新方式。

虽然通常列奥纳多是作为画家而闻名, 可他的画作数量并不多。事实上, 今天也只有 12 幅画被认为是他的作品。之所以这样, 是因为他兴趣广泛, 对自然界充满好奇, 还做了 无穷无尽的科学实验及设计。因此, 要了解这个人, 就必须去读那5 000 份笔记。在那些 笔记中, 达· 芬奇记录了他在生活中的观察结果与许多素描。

尽管如此, 列奥纳多对艺术还是有着深刻的理解。这对与他同时代的人及后人都有着深 远的影响。在绘画方面, 他强调对人物情感的传达。对他而言, 这是衡量绘画优秀与否 的灵魂所在:

“ 优秀的画家有两大目标——— 画人和画魂。前者易而后者难, 因为后者必须通过人物姿 态及肢体语言来表达一幅挂在墙上的画, 只有给人以呼之欲出之感, 才算得上是杰作。” 他的主要作品有:

《最后的晚餐》, 许多欧洲艺术大师都作了同样的画。但是, 没有一幅能像达· 芬奇的 那样给人留下深刻印象; 也没有哪幅作品能像达· 芬奇的那样在艺术界拥有持久的价值。

《蒙娜丽莎》, 如果说《最后的晚餐》是最有名的宗教画, 那么《蒙娜丽莎》则算得上世界 上最著名的肖像画。 《蒙娜丽莎》以一位银行家的妻子为模特。她娴静地搭在一起的双手, 凝视着欣赏者 的双眼以及那含义不甚明了的“ 微笑”, 共同创造出一种奇特而神秘的效果。

阅读导评

一生身兼数“职”, 在绘画、雕塑、建筑、科学方面都颇有建树的达·芬奇不愧是位传奇 人物。他的作品不仅给人以感官上的美的享受, 同时给人以无穷无尽的想象空间, 引人深 思。《达·芬奇密码》中对《最后的晚餐》颠覆性的解读即体现了这种启发。难怪他经过了 历史批评的沉淀和净化至今依然光彩夺目。

阅读导释

1. Renaissance, 文艺复兴, 特指14—17 世纪的欧洲正在形成中的资产阶级在复兴希腊罗马 古典文化的名义下发起的弘扬资产阶级思想和文化的运动。名为“ 复兴”, 它本身却也 代表了一种进步。该运动发起于意大利, 波及整个欧洲, 囊括了文学、艺术、科学、哲学等 各个领域。被誉为西欧文学史上的三大天才巨匠———但丁( Dante, 1265—1321 ) 、莎士 比亚( Shakespeare, 1564—1616 ) 和歌德( Goethe, 1749—1832) , 以及“ 美术三杰”——— 达·芬奇、米开朗琪罗( Michelangelo, 1475—1564) 和拉斐尔( Raphael, 1483—1520) 都 是文艺复兴时代的精英。Renaissance man 则指“ 文艺复兴新人,文艺复兴时期的理想完 人”, 也可作“博学的人”,“ 多才多艺的人”,“开拓型人物”解。

2. 英语中很多名词转作动词用时, 很能提高句子质量, 此处的“be apprenticed to”就是一例。

3. 这是个非常有用的词组, 作“看作, 以为”解, 如: The Statue of Liberty is looked upon as the sign of The United States. ( 自由女神像被看作是美国的标志。) 和look 连用的短语很多, 如: look down upon / on 就是“看不起, 轻视”的意思, 而look down one's nose at 在口语中也是 表示“不把……放在眼里, 小看”。我们汉语中常说的“黑脸”, 就是指生气、厌恶或憎恨时 表现的怒容, 用a black look 表示。我们汉语说“三思而后行”, 英语是Look before you leap。

4. 在这里是“ 素描, 草图”的意思。达·芬奇一生不仅进行绘画创作, 还擅长画机械草图, 他认为人类可以模仿鸟类飞行, 就绘制了扑翼机图。

5. 这个词后面常和介词on 连用, 指“用( 某特质、技巧、压力等) , 应用( 某物) ”, 如: Her parents exerted a lot of pressure on her to succeed. ( 她父母殷切希望她成功, 给了她很大压力。
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