On the morning of October 31, Associate Professor Simone Ferrari of the University of Parma, Italy, gave an academic lecture with the theme of The Legendary Life of Leonardo da Vinci to the teachers and students of NKU. As one of a series of activities to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Da Vinci's death, the lecture was co-organized by CFL of NKU and the Cultural Center of the Italian Embassy in China. Huang Huazhen, an undergraduate of Italian major in 2017, served as a translator.
Associate Professor Ferrari gave an introduction with Da Vinci's portrait, telling everyone about his struggling life as a painter. First, he showed two works in 15th century with typical painting styles in Florence to everyone. The characters in the works are clear, solemn and elegant. Later, he introduced how Da Vinci as a student finished the painting “Baptism of Christ” with his teacher Verrocchio. The little angel and natural scenery in the painting were completed by Da Vinci, who was also the first painter who used the natural scenery as background in painting. Afterwards, Associate Professor Ferrari contrasted Botticelli's “Virgin and Child” with Da Vinci's “Adoration of the Magi”. Botticelli’s paintings were clear, bright, and easy to understand. It was a typical style of paintings in Florence at that time, and was well recognized by Laurenzzo Medici and the pope. While Da Vinci's paintings were dim and monotonous, without perspective in their spatial structure. The identity of the figures in the painting was not clear and full of mysteries. In addition, Da Vinci added the characters' emotions and expressions in the paintings, though such a groundbreaking painting method was not understood by the pope, patrons and public at that time. During the same period, Botticelli could paint for the Pope and the Medici family, but Da Vinci could only paint for some unknown families in Florence. Since his artistic talent could not be recognized, Da Vinci left Florence and came to Milan.
Associate Professor Ferrari also compared the altarpiece “Virgin of the Rocks” which Da Vinci created in Milan with a work by Piero Francesca. Both Da Vinci and Francesca were painters from Tuscan, while their painting styles were quite different. Francesca followed the traditional Tuscan style. The characters in his paintings were vividly portrayed, with the architecture as the background, and the perspective of near and far was also strictly used, making the whole painting solemn and beautiful. Da Vinci’s “Virgin of the Rocks” was based on natural scenery, and the main characters in the picture are not prominent, so that the relationship between the characters is mysterious and difficult to understand. Da Vinci did not use the traditional method of putting Jesus in a position higher than that of St. John the Baptist. Instead, he painted Jesus in the lowest right corner of the whole picture, which was not acceptable to the church at that time. Da Vinci’s painting style was unique and groundbreaking, but this made him unable to be understood by the governors at that time. Even when he came to Milan, he was still ignored. it was until the creation of “The Last Supper” that Da Vinci was recognized by the world. Da Vinci took seven years to complete “The Last Supper” by adopting a different method of painting murals than before and changing the way that the previous painter had put Judas in an opposing position to everyone. Instead, he made Judas prominent by painting him in the center, which added a bit of mystery. He also focused on the portray of the expressions and movements of the disciples as if the viewer could hear the discussion of the characters in the painting. Finally, Associate Professor Ferrari introduced Da Vinci’s masterpiece “Mona Lisa”. He introduced that according to Vasari’s records, it can be sure that the painting was indeed made by Da Vinci. The character in the painting is the wife of a businessman who asked Da Vinci to draw a painting to celebrate his wife’s safe birth. However, the painting was not approved by the merchant after the creation, because the image of the woman in the painting was not similar to the wife of the merchant, and there are no elements such as jewelry, gold coins and treasures that symbolize the wealth of the merchant’s wife. In the end, the painting was not accepted by the merchants, but was brought to France by Da Vinci.
Through this lecture, students learned about Da Vinci’s great talent and pioneering creation as a painter. Although his creative painting methods were not widely recognized at his time, with time passing and the subsequent studies, people eventually began to appreciate and understand Da Vinci and his works. During the questioning session, students enthusiastically rose questions and discussed the position of Da Vinci in anatomy research, the relationship between the birth of Da Vinci and the background the time, and his influence on future generations, with Associate Professor Ferrari.
In addition to the teachers and students in Italian majors, this lecture also attracted students from different major such as biology, art design and literature. Associate Professor Ferrari’s lectures were clear, easy to understand, and passionate, from which both teachers and students benefited a lot.
