2 Audley Square
London W1k 1DB
Started in 1994, The Course offers Art History, Literature, Music and Opera Lectures.
We have all heard of the great master of the Renaissance – Leonardo da Vinci. Speculation regarding the true life and meaning of his work has been rife for centuries. Books such as the Da Vinci Code and many others only serve to confirm and equally to confuse us. So how much do we really know? How did he become such a great artist, how famous was he in his own lifetime, was he rich and where and how did he learn his craft? This series of lectures will give you an insight into the life of this great artist; charting the beginnings of his career, the highs and the lows, and finding out just how and why he became the ultimate and universal genius we now regard him.
The Art And The Meaning Of Portraiture
We will look at Leonardo’s interest in portraiture; his own image and what that might tell us about the man as well as portraits of ruling families, including La Giocondo or Lisa Gherardini, now known as the Mona Lisa. We will also examine his obsession with the Madonna and child grouping, his sources for these compositions and what he hoped to achieve with his constant revisiting of this subject.