Derek & Da Vinci

NOVA: Mystery of a Masterpiece

2012-01-24T20:21:00.000-08:00

PBS documentary "NOVA: Mystery of a Masterpiece," airing Wednesday, Jan. 25, at 8 p.m. on KUED

Will attempt to answer if this painting/ drawing was really made by Leonardo da Vinci. It looks like Leo Stevenson will be in it, who I had the pleasure of getting to know after I worked with him for another show about the Mona Lisa (that should be airing early this year) Details about that will be posted when they become available!

My personal take on this work is that it was originally designed or started by Leonardo and then someone else altered it and or colored it. The design on the sleeve is definitely familiar, so is the detailing in the hair and the over-all look of the portrait. There is something about the color and the finishing that doesn't look right. I either think that's because it was preserved better than most of his other sketches or that, like i said, someone else enhanced it. I don't know enough details and dates to say for sure but that was my initial impression after seeing it. Looks like i'll have to watch the documentary!

PBS documentary attempts to identify Renaissance-era drawing as the work of da Vinci

link

Da Vinci's Demons: Tom Riley as Leonardo!

2012-01-24T20:02:00.000-08:00

Tom Riley: April 5, 1981

Has been casted to play Leonardo da Vinci in the upcoming Starz tv show called: "Da Vinci's Demons." I've been curious as to what Leo really looked like - especially in his youth. He has surprisingly little to no self portraits. What did Leonardo da Vinci look like? Is a blog I posted theorizing what he could have looked like. I've never heard of or seen Tom Riley before, but I guess now he'll obviously be someone i'll be following @thisisTomRiley closely! (@derekbair) Leo was Italian and Tom is English but from the pics he seems to have that edgy-genius-aries- thing it would take to pull off someone considered the greatest genius of all time.

Most people think of da Vinci as an old professor with a beard - but not as he would have been in his twenties. Leo was said to be incredibly attractive and "could bend horse shoes with his bare hands." He also went through some very difficult times and that seems to be what this show will focus on "Da Vinci's Demons." I'm very interested to see how far and how dark they will make the show and I am glad it's on starz and won't have to be censored. A lot of what he went through in his youth is what caused him to be secretive and enigmatic later in life. I think that would be great to show Leonardo both before -during- and after his darkest times. Excited!

Tom's Website:

Wikepedia:

Leonardo da Vinci tv show coming..

Riley to play Da Vinci in Starz's 'Demons': BBC Worldwide Prods. co-produces historical fantasy

link

Tom Riley Lands The Lead In Da Vinci’s Demons

link

"Da Vinci's Demons, written by David S. Goyer, is a historical fantasy, following the ‘untold’ story of the world's greatest genius during his turbulent youth in Renaissance Florence. Brilliant and passionate, the twenty five-year old da Vinci is an artist, inventor, swordsman, lover, dreamer and idealist. As a free thinker, with intellect and talents that are almost superhuman, he struggles to live within the confines of his own reality and time. He begins to not only see the future, but invent it.

Goyer commented, “Given that da Vinci was the model for the ‘Renaissance Man,’ these were incredibly large shoes to fill. Leonardo had to be smart, witty, and incredibly confident - without coming across as arrogant. He also had to be tormented, because, as a true visionary and polymath, he was ostracized for his ideas as much as he was celebrated. Tom came in and was able to effortlessly combine all of those elements.”

Carmi Zlotnik, Managing Director at Starz, said “Da Vinci is a near mythic figure in history that fascinates people to this day. It is quite an undertaking to bring to life a role that comes with so many pre-conceived notions. Tom showed us that there are many dimensions to this man yet to be explored, and, at the same time, make him believable, surprising and unique to a world-wide audience.”

Jane Tranter, Head of BBC Worldwide Productions, said, “Tom is a fabulously charismatic, intelligent and versatile actor. His audition displayed an unabashed energy that we are excited to see unleashed in his performance as a reimagined artistic genius in 15th century Florence!”" link

Somebody I used To Know

2012-01-24T19:29:00.000-08:00

The Original

The 5 person 1 guitar version (Genius!)

Now and then I think of when we were together

Like when you said you felt so happy you could die

Told myself that you were right for me

But felt so lonely in your company

But that was love and it's an ache I still remember

You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness

Like resignation to the end

Always the end

So when we found that we could not make sense

Well you said that we would still be friends

But I'll admit that I was glad that it was over

But you didn't have to cut me off

Make out like it never happened

And that we were nothing

And I don't even need your love

But you treat me like a stranger

And that feels so rough

You didn't have to stoop so low

Have your friends collect your records

And then change your number

I guess that I don't need that though

Now you're just somebody that I used to know

Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over

But had me believing it was always something that I'd done

And I don't wanna live that way

Reading into every word you say

You said that you could let it go

And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know...

But you didn't have to cut me off

Make out like it never happened

And that we were nothing

And I don't even need your love

But you treat me like a stranger

And that feels so rough

You didn't have to stoop so low

Have your friends collect your records

And then change your number

I guess that I don't need that though

Now you're just somebody that I used to know

I used to know

That I used to know

Somebody...

2012-01-09T15:31:00.001-08:00

"Art is never finished - only abandoned." Leonardo da Vinci

BBC: Da Vinci - The Lost Treasure

2011-12-20T22:10:00.001-08:00

TIMELINE

2011-12-15T17:33:00.000-08:00

TIMELINE

of Discovering Da Vinci's Daughter

(& It's previous Titles)

How did I start writing a book about Leonardo Da Vinci? What discovories did I make, when, and how? I thought a timeline would be the best way to present what I found. This 'story' - my story, is going to be included in "Interjections" between each chapter but until I'm done w/ my current re-re-write this section of the site will explain what i've gone though while writing this book and why it's taken so long to finish. One thing leads to another - and then another - and at a certain point I stopped trying to update the current version of the book until I was at a point where I could have an ending without having to start again.

Started Itsjustlife.com 2003
- My site started as a "Blog" about my stay in Australia to keep friends and family updated. I would post stories and pictures and practice the digital art skills I was learning at College "Uni."

Bought Da Vinci art book on Sale for Plane Trip
- Before my plane trip - which was going to be 17 Hours! I decided to get some books to read on the way over. There was a book with Da Vinci's art on sale for $9.95 - I read though it and it was the first time I heard that his own Self portrait aligned with the face of the Mona Lisa. I didn't know much about Leonardo at this point and didn't become really interested until I read the Da Vinci Code.

Went to Sydney to Study Digital Media @ KVB Institute of Technology

Wednesday, ‎August ‎27, ‎2003, ‏‎5:22:12 AM

I had been playing around with Photoshop and Photo-Manipulation for years before but while I was in Sydney I started to experiment more - especially with mirroring. This image was something I made for the title of my site.

Moved back to Southern California
Read "The Da Vinci Code"
- Dan Brown gave a lot of background information about Leonardo that I didn't know and I became really curious about his art and why there was so much controversy and mystery behind it. I started to research da Vinci more and more after reading this book.

Read "How to think like Leonardo da Vinci"
- This was the next book I bought about Leonardo, I really enjoyed it and it inspired me to hone my writing and art skills into something more than my personal Journals. I startd to write and think about things that were more scientific - especially how images/ photography/ 3d/ and perception works.

Quit my Job to write "Its Just Life" Full time. (Long story)
On a manic spending spree at a book store I bought as many Leonardo da Vinci books as I could carry. I stayed up and didn't eat for 4 days in a row and started to see things in his art pop out and move around. INTERJECTION TEN explains a little bit of what happened. This will be expanded upon and explain in the updated version.

During "The Nights" that started me on my Da Vinci Re-search/ book I filled up 4 poster boards with graphs and drawings. I was trying to figure out how to design a 2d drawing to be encoded with 3d information. Later when I read Leonardo's own journals that I had just bought - I realized he was trying to do the same exact thing. I didn't think this was possible 500 years ago.

First Da Vinci Theory: "The Mona Lisa is 3d"
- My very first "Theory" was that the Mona Lisa was 3d. I was playing around with the painting in photoshop and testing different settings such as levels and curves. I noticed that the painting changed in a sequence that was making her look like a sculpture. I didn't know how to explain it at the time but I seemed to understand what was happening.

‎‎I had remembered reading that Mona's Face and Leonardo's Self portrait aligned. I wondered why he would have done that so I tested it out myself. What I realized was that he had actually designed the faces to not only Align but to COMBINE. Again, I couldn't understand how he did this, but I knew that they were meant to go together.

Wednesday, ‎May ‎31, ‎2006, ‏‎5:14:44 AM (First ancient art Image I ever Mirrored on itself)

I was still reading though the Leonardo books I had just bought and this painting caught my eye. Since I was considering 3d and the only knowledge I had at the time about 3d was that it had something to do with Red and Blue glasses, I thought there might be something special about an artist using red and blue in their paintings.

I scanned this painting in and started to play around with it in Photoshop like I had been doing with the Mona Lisa. I couldn't understand what the artist meant with how he painted Jesus's hands. They seemed like they were trying to allude to some hidden meaning.

How I explained it in an Interjection:

"As I looked through the Da Vinci book a little more I came across a painting called “Jesus with the Doctors” it wasn’t by Da Vinci but at one point they thought it was. Now they say it’s done by Bernardino Luini around 1515. (that name looks funny to me for some reason, there’s something weird about it! It looks like Leonardo Da Vinci but changed??)

I looked at this painting and thought: What is he doing with his hands?Why is one finger pointing to the stone in his shirt? Why did the artist use red and blue? What is going on in this painting? What is the meaning? Does the hand gesture mean 3? Or 1? 1 +3? There is obviously some kind of meaning!

For some reason after I scanned that painting in my computer I thought that it would make an animation if I flashed it how it was, and then mirrored. Why? I have no idea, I was going on 3 days with no sleep and wearing 3d glasses looking at ancient art.. There isn’t really a great explanation for anything at that point…

If you glace back and forth at the hands you’ll see what I mean and maybe why I thought to do this. It kinda freaks your mind out and you might also see what I meant by it being an animation. Left right, left right, left right. Something like that. 1 2 3 ? Do it, look at one side and then the next as fast as you can! Also if you can combine them with your eyes (crossing them) see what happens.. It looks like Jesus is doing gang signs." Interjection from Discovering Da Vinci's Daughter

This was what originally made me start to mirror and cross images on themselves.

Wrote "Terces" ‎Thursday, ‎June ‎01, ‎2006, ‏‎9:30:00 AM
- I was still going on days without sleep and for some reason I thought I had to finish an entire book about what I found IMMEDIATELY. I titled it "Terces" which is S E C R E T spelled backwards. It wasn't even a book, but more like a flyer showing what I had just found. It is pure crazyness and totally embarassing! I had literally lost my mind but thankfully when I finally got some sleep I woke up with a memory of insanity and a weird book and discovories to work with!

I spent the next couple weeks working on a new book about how Leonardo's face combined with the Mona Lisa and why he designed them to do so. I also continued to experiment with his art on the computer to figure out how he encoded his art with hidden images, 3d stereograms, and animations.

RIGHT as I was finishing up the editing of that book I came across a painting of Giacomo Salai on Leonardo's Wikepedia page. It said that it didn't have a known painter. There was still something off about the Mona Lisa and Leonardo's face combining that I couldn't explain. Coincidentally I had just seen one of those images that takes two faces and combines them together to show what their child might look like. I was like, hmmm, I wonder if this painting of Salai would go over the Mona Lisa?

July ‎2006:
I found that when I superimposed Salai's Face over the Mona Lisa's - they also combined. I also realized Mona Lisa's title was an annagram for "Mon Salai" There is more info and pictures about Salai HERE

‎

Terces Changed to "Lisa Mona"
I spent the next couple weeks working on "Lisa Mona" which is Mona Lisa backwards. It ended up being 100pages and calling it a novice attempt would be an understatement. It's barely understandable and is a jumbled mess. I was still in a frantic state of mind and it was put together as fast as possible. I was expecting that what I found was going to be announced in the news and I had to have it done before that happened.

Mona Lisa or Mon Salai?
by Louie Parsons
2006-11-17 08:26:17

http://www.ovimagazine.com/art/1046

In November one of the first article about what I was working on and what I discovered was posted. A lot of it was paraphrased from what I had on my web site. During this entire time I had been updating itjustlife.com with what I found and trying to get people to help announce what I found. Keep in mind I had NO idea how to release a book or an artistic discovery! Everyone in my life thought I was completely crazy and didn't understand what I was doing. That really hindered my progress but I always had this realization of how important what I found would be to some people - even if it wasn't to anyone around me.

I was reading da Vinci's journals during this whole time and I was re-confirming that I wasn't crazy and that he really did mean for this to happen - but also that he used his secret technique in his other art.

More specifically "The Last Supper"

I tried to mirror the Last Supper on itself and discovered that this mirroring process could be used to hide and actually animate hundreds if not thousands of other images within one single painting.

The first thing I noticed when the painting was mirrored on itself was that the green tie that was on the character to the far left's shoulder crossed over and became masks/ and hats on the other characters.

This absolutely blew my mind. Not that it was there or that there were hidden images - BUT the huge amount of thought and time and planning that would go on to make a painting be able to do this. I had absolutely NO prior experience or knowledge of anything like this so it took me a very long time to be able to understand all of this.

In The Da Vinci code it mentioned that the Character to the left of Jesus was "Mary" I had thought that it was obvious that it was a female but after more research with the painting, especially after applying the mirroring technique I found that Leonardo left behind a strew of clues to hint that it was a woman. I purposly kept what was in the painting and any type of biblical history seperate. I didn't want to be controvercial I just wanted to explain what I found in a PAINTING. More on the Last Supper HERE

The Shroud of Truin & The Vitruvian Man

When Jesus from the last supper was mirrored on himself I noticed what appeared to be an upside down skull over his head - this reminded me of The Shroud of Turin that others had suspected Leonardo Created. The Shroud is considered one of the most studied human artifacts of all time, it is so special because it has a 3D image imprinted on it. A 2D image encoded with 3D information - exactly what I had been finding in other Da Vinci art. So I decided to test the Shroud in photoshop like I had with Leonardo's other art and found that it had the mirroring effect as well. That led me to comparing it to the drawing of the Vitruvian Man - and wow. They combined.

Lisa Mona Changed & Was upgraded to "The Anatomy of Mona Lisa: Love's Prison"

Late 2006 Published the first Version of "The Anatomy of Mona Lisa" :331 Pages
Published an updated "The Anatomy of Mona Lisa" April 2007: 400pages
- The first person to both read and review this book was Pramod K. Uday: Read the Review
- At that point I had no idea if what I was writing was good or absolutely terrible. Her review really helped to motivate me to keep going but also to improve my writing and try to make it easier to understand.

I sumitted what I found to Unexplained-mysteries.com and they Featured me as the top story of the day! This generated a lot of traffic to my site which had been almost non-existent at that point.

Around this time my personal life and living situation were completely compromised and I was forced to finish my latest re-write in a matter of weeks. I was essentially home-less during this re-write and I decided to change the name of my book to:

May 2007: The Anatomy of Mona Lisa is changed and updated to "Discovering Da Vinci's Daughter" 444pages

I was so desperate for any kind of recognition or.. well anything to happen that I posted my entire book online for free. I thought that people thought I was trying to sell them on something un-true so I thought the best way to prove that it was legitimate was to post the entire thing online for people to read for free first - then if they liked it they could buy it. That was NOT a very genius move and I didn't sell any books but only succeeded to leak my discovories and everything I had been working on - online for anyone and everyone to read. That combined with the new attention my site was getting from the Unexplained-mysteries.com article motivated me to have someone write and send out an Official press release.

New Discoveries Reveal a real life Da Vinci's Code

I didn't get any responce back from anyone - BUT submitting a "press release" puts the information "out there" and sent to thousands of sources. A month later I was checking AOL and Saw this:

Last Supper Theory Crashes Websites:

" Now Slavisa Pesci, an information technologist and amateur scholar, says superimposing the Last Supper with its mirror-image throws up another picture containing a figure who looks like a Templar knight and another holding a small baby.

by Barry ORegan | July 28, 2007 at 06:32 am"

"I came across it by accident, from some of the details you can infer that we are not talking about chance but about a precise calculation," Pesci told journalists when he unveiled the theory this week.

his Websites ... had 15 million hits on Thursday morning alone, organizers said, adding they were trying to provide a more powerful server for the sites."

I was ... um. Both completely destroyed and completely motivated. What I had dedicated my life to for the last couple years was being released VERY sucessfully - but by someone else. 15 MILLION hits in a day is un-heard of. The motivation came from finally having some validity to what I had been telling everyone in my life who thought I was dillusional "See! People are actually interested in what I found!" Think about how many books I could have sold if those 15million people went to my site instead? I usually got less that 15 hits a day and sold maybe 2 books.

I contacted the person who sent out my press release and asked why Pesci was able to get publicity with the exact same story - and I wasn't? He sent out another release for free:

Author Releases Controversial Information about Last Supper Discovery and Da Vinci's Art

Still nothing happened.

For the first time since I started I gave up. I deleted everything from my web site and only had "Itsjustlife.com is for SALE" - that only lasted a couple days and after giving myself a reallllllllly big reality check and pep-talk. I continued on.

Although I had been emailing with a few people since I started I was contacted by someone who I could finally identify with. She would go on to be one of my best friends and my "online mom" La Jan! She was also discovering hidden images in Leonardo's art and she helped me feel a lot less crazy.http://n2davinciandbeyond.com/

By the end of 2007 I had decided to re-write "the book" yet again. This time combining everything I had learned and the new stuff that I had not yet published. I was finally going to write the book I really wanted to and not be rushed.

Fast Forward >>

DEJA VU

February 2011: Another HUGE news story went out about something that was already in my book - by someone else. This time about "Mon Salai"

The Following links are only a few out of the dozens that are popping up all over the world.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/02/03/2011-02-03_mona_lisa_is_a_man_expert_claims.html

http://jezebel.com/5750953/

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/02/03/Mona_Lisa_DaVincis_Gay_Lover/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110202/ap_en_ot/eu_italy_mona_lisa

http://www.wishtv.com/dpps/news/strange/mona-lisa-was-a-man-says-expert-ob11-tvw_3710513

http://www.wishtv.com/dpps/news/strange/mona-lisa-was-a-man-says-expert-ob11-tvw_3710513

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/mona-lisa-model-male/

http://www.gadling.com/2011/02/02/mona-lisa-was-a-man-says-expert/?ncid=&a_dgi=aolshare_twitter

http://www.kitv.com/entertainment/26708827/detail.html

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/02/is-the-mona-lisa-a-man-5-theories-about-the-famous-da-vinci-p/?icid=sphere_aolnews2&a_dgi=aolshare_twitter

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/02/was-the-model-for-leonardo-da-vincis-mona-lisa-a-man/?icid=sphere_aolnews2&a_dgi=aolshare_twitter

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/8299190/Mona-Lisa-was-a-boy.html

Fast Forward Again: Present Day

Hidden Images in Mona Lisa

Artist Spots Hidden Animals In Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa
LINK
"Oil painter and graphic designer Ron Piccirillo thinks that Leonardo da Vinci meant for the Mona Lisato depict envy, based off of some images of animals he’s discovered in the painting after turning it on its side that relate to some of da Vinci’s thoughts on the subject. From The Daily What:"

Artist Believes He's Found a Secret Code in the Mona Lisa
LINK

Mona Lisa’s Secret: Hidden Animals?
LINK

Artist Finds New Hidden Images in Mona Lisa Painting
LINK

Digital Reconstructive Plastic Surgeon.

2011-12-13T16:56:00.001-08:00

The Human Robot

2011-12-12T12:42:00.000-08:00

Da Vinci's sketches for the
inner-workings of his Robotic Knight

The idea of "Robots" or a mechanical man - or a non-living thing that could move have been around for thousands of years. Aristotle mentioned them as a way to end slavery. The 6th Century Chinese experimented with water clocks which could be considered the first type of "Robotics" There are other myths and legends of mechanical devices but not really any direct evidence that they actually existed or were built.

A rare exception is not surprisingly from Leonardo da Vinci. Although he probably didn't conceive of the idea he did, supposedly, design and create a working robotic man. It wore knight armor and could walk, sit, move it's arms, and head! The greatest limiting factor to a robot of that time, and other Leonardo's designs was the lack of a power source. He pushed the technology of his time to it's limits but there is still only so much you can do with springs, heavy metals, and wood. Electric power and plastics as well as computer processors are the precursors for more advanced robotics.

Today we have robots that can walk and talk and even solve problems. I think the reason that robots haven't really been more prevalent is that they have not advanced to the level of practical uses. When they are able to clean our houses or build houses or mine or bring us a beer - then there would be a huge progression in the technology. Until then they are just expensive toys. The other advancement that has to happen first is their artificial intelligence. We have the processors and the technology for them to process information but the learning and software required to adapt and do more advanced tasks is still lacking. You can have a perfect robot that is capable of doing anything a real man could do but until it's "mind" is able to use it's body independently they won't be of much use. BUT when they do reach that level, which could be anytime in the next 10 years there is going to be a huge change in the world.

There will be a lot of other considerations - what would people do when their jobs could be done by a robot? What would war become with soldiers that could be built? Then as the robot's mind evolves and it could become advanced enough to be self aware or considered "Alive" a whole new set of problems would happen. Does it have rights? Should it be considered a person? If a robot were to look and act and think exactly like a human - would it be a human? Would it be as real as something biologically based?

These potential and probably inevitable problems have been explored in movies and fiction for years. Ai (I wish Stanley Kubrick would have Directed it!), The Matrix, IRobot, Terminator, and especially Blade Runner. The most interesting part of all of this fiction is that it's probably, actually, going to happen!

I don't know about you but I would totally want a robot friend! I think the coolest part of it will be the Ai. With all of the wireless technologies the "home base" or where the memories and processors are (It's brain) could be anywhere. Then all it would take for a very highly advanced Ai to be on a small phone, or in your car, or in your tv, would be for it to be sent' there. That would mean that you could talk to it, or whatever you would do with it, anywhere even if it's core is located somewhere else! I think that is going to be the future of household electronics anyways. One central computer that does everything - then all it does is send a signal to a screen anywhere in the house. The technology for that is already here, but we haven't really implemented it - yet!

A list of Robot Characters LINK

Hidden Images in the Mona Lisa?

2011-12-08T13:54:00.001-08:00

"The Great Ape"

Page 429 Discovering Da Vinci's Daughter: Published: May 2007

http://www.thehiddenhorsehead.com/

Is a new blog about an artist finding hidden animals in the Mona Lisa. Although this is being presented as being a new discovery there have been many sites online that have already presented the same information. http://n2davinciandbeyond.com/ and on my site/ blog/ and book: My book is actually based off of Discovering Hidden images, pictures in pictures, within Leonardo's art.

http://derekbair.blogspot.com/2007/06/celf-centered-conspiracy-theory.html

http://derekbair.blogspot.com/2007/09/noobs.html

Mona Lisa or Mon Salai?
by Louie Parsons
2006-11-17 08:26:17
"For the last few months, Derek Bair has been researching and analyzing the Mona Lisa and other art by Da Vinci and Raphael and has come up with some very intriguing theories. One of which includes that the Mona Lisa is encoded with information to render her in 3D and contains thousands of other images - something which is not be totally off base"

Discovering Da Vinci's Daughter pg 371 Published: May 2007

"This is just like seeing different objects in the clouds. Obviously they couldn’t be a unicorn or giraffe as they might appear but they sure can look like one right? A painting is quite different from a cloud because it was created to look specifically like something. Unlike a photograph or picture, a painting is in complete control of the painter. If he is painting clouds - lets say- if you see a unicorn in those painted clouds it’s probably because he painted it that way. OR you’re just thinking something looks like something. It’s hard to know if what you’re noticing is the artist’s intent or your mind is just making it up. BUT it’s fairly safe to say that if you’re seeing something, it’s for a reason. That’s the purpose of a painting, to be seen. They want you to not only find their waldo - their point - but also as many other waldos they want to put in the painting!"

This image gives a better Idea, and shows that other artists have been seeing things in the Mona Lisa - Unknown

Artist Spots Hidden Animals In Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa
LINK
"Oil painter and graphic designer Ron Piccirillo thinks that Leonardo da Vinci meant for the Mona Lisa to depict envy, based off of some images of animals he’s discovered in the painting after turning it on its side that relate to some of da Vinci’s thoughts on the subject. From The Daily What:"

Artist Believes He's Found a Secret Code in the Mona Lisa
LINK

Mona Lisa’s Secret: Hidden Animals?
LINK

Artist Finds New Hidden Images in Mona Lisa Painting
LINK

Leonardo da Vinci's National Gallery Exhibit coming to a theater near you!

2011-12-08T13:50:00.001-08:00

Leonardo Live

"Beginning February 16, 2012, art lovers around the world will be able to experience LEONARDO LIVE, an HD presentation of the once-in-a-lifetime exhibition “Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan”, captured at the U.K. National Gallery.

LEONARDO LIVE offers an unprecedented opportunity for audiences worldwide to experience these da Vinci works. The historic exhibition is sold out in London and, due to the fragility of the paintings, the exhibition cannot tour.

Captured live on the eve of the exhibition opening in London this fall, LEONARDO LIVE will provide a high-definition walk-through of the landmark exhibition, in-depth commentary about featured pieces in the exhibit and extra content."

Leonardo Live from Emily Baron on Vimeo.

n2davinciandbeyond.com

2011-12-06T19:31:00.001-08:00

This is an example of the type of Image in Image that is featured:

This is my very good friend's and "online Mom's" Web site n2davinciandbeyond.com She found that there are other drawings and paintings hidden within Leonardo's art. Check it out!

"Leonardo da Vinci said, "There are three classes of people: Those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see." This site is dedicated to sharing the discovery of amazing hidden images and optical illusions found within ALL of Leonardo da Vinci's works of art. Special techniques such as the "Hologram Effect" are skillfully employed by the ingenious artist/inventor to hide layer upon layer of hidden images throughout All of his paintings, drawings, study sheets and sketches... Incredibly beautiful hidden images that appear suddenly right before your eyes then fade and form into another, then another astounding work of art. Learn the simple secrets to seeing an endless array of hidden images and illusions as well as a possible theory of how this secret has eluded our attention for over 500 years. Distance, angles, time and patience are all that's needed to view this hidden world of Leonado da Vinci. There are many new discoveries still to be posted as well as many more amazing discoveries found within my archives and the many different published Photo Albums listed below." - n2davinciandbeyond.com

Example:

da Vinci: The Art of Illusion

PROFILE OF AN OLD MAN: Leonardo da Vinci

Just in case you missed this very special illusion from my August 2007 archives, it bares repeating.

Sit back and tilt your head just slightly to the left staring intently at the corner of the old man's mouth.

Suddenly the chin of the old man appears as the large round nose of another face. See it?

The illusion of a hidden face with eyes and mouth outlined in white. There are many, many more hidden images and amazing illusions lurking within this sketch. Can you find them?

Click on the following link to see a more detailed examination of this sketch and many more hidden images I've actually outlined for you: http://www.n2davinciandbeyond.com/n_2_da_vinci_and_beyond_b/2007/10/da-vinci-art-of.html

Trippin' Mantis

2011-12-06T16:02:00.001-08:00

DaVinci THD | NVIDA Tegra3 | Transformer 2 | ETC

2011-12-01T17:30:00.001-08:00

I don't really see anything particularly "Leonardo" about this First Person Shooter (FPS) online-multi-player game other than it's set in a quazi-Renaissance. It's real significance isn't its content but its graphics. It will be the first official full Tegra 3 game. For those who don't keep up on Graphic Processors in Smart phones and tablets, or pc's, or.. everything else they go in, Tegra 3 is the newest Processor from NVIDA which features 4 Cores.

"The world’s first mobile super processors, NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 quad-core and Tegra® 2 dual-core processors deliver unprecedented performance in a wide range of mobile devices. Extreme multitasking. The best Web experience, with up to two times faster browsing and hardware-accelerated Flash. Console-quality gaming with an integrated ultra-low power (ULP) NVIDIA GeForce® GPU. Even HD video capabilities unlike anything seen before in mobile processors." LINK

Apples first Ipad had a single core. The Ipad2 had 2 cores. The same upgrade went into Apples IPhone 4 compared to the 4s. So the Tegra's quad core would be doubling the potential processing power compared to the Ipad2 and other similar dual core processors. ASUS's Transformer 2's Tablet (I want, I want!) will be the first to feature this processor and the first to have 4 cores.

Basically this new game, Davinci THD, is the first game to be designed to take advantage of the new Tegra 3. The amount of processing power required to render high quality and HD 3d graphics is evolving at an incredible rate. From building-sized computers to Atari to Game Boy to X-Box to X-Box 360 the trend has been to decrease size and increase the level of graphic's performance and quality. What has been happening in the last couple years is that the power and efficiency of smaller processors - is begging to match those of MUCH larger game consuls and full sized PC's. This means that we will be able to play the most advanced and complex 3D (Both graphically (3d environment) and virtually(3d glasses type)) in the palm of our hands. What used to require non-portable and bulky devices to play will be much smaller than the first cell phones.

It should be noted that these quality graphic are not 'impressive', advanced, or revolutionary by any means. They can be far exceeded and are at a mid-level quality compared to gaming PC's. The significance is that it's a MOBILE processor. This is a area where size does matter and smaller is better.

The Tegra 3 has both it's CPU and GPU on the same chip. So it has 4 CPU cores and 12 Graphic Processor cores.

A top of the line Desktop Computer could have two separate products in it that separates graphics and computer processors.

Intel® Core™ i7-3930K (CPU): 6 Cores
AND

NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 590 (GPU): 1024 Cores

The PC will then delegate the Graphic processing to the GPU and the Computer processing to the CPU. Graphic processing is for HD Video, 3d Rendering, and how many monitors you can have, the resolution, and things of that 'nature'.

It's obviously very complicated but also interesting that the first game to utilize this revolutionary mobile technology is titled: DaVinci. He was ahead of his time. This game is, perhaps, right on time. But then again in about a month it will be behind the times and something newer, more advanced, smaller, and better will be out.

Every time I play a new video game I remember playing my Nintendo NES (Super Mario Brothers) and think: WOW I can't even imagine what video games are going to be like in 3 years, let alone 10... Excited!

LINK
DaVinci Shows Up In Tegra Zone – Bringing Renaissance Style Online First Person Shooting Jan 2012

Leonardo's Val di Chiana Map in the Mona Lisa

2011-12-01T14:50:00.001-08:00

Leonardo's Val di Chiana Map in the Mona Lisa

Is an article published in Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization by University of Toronto Press

Written by: Donato Pezzutto

LINK to Article

Abstract:

"Leonardo arranged the landscape in the Mona Lisa to hold two disjoined halves of one image. That image can be reassembled by juxtaposing two copies of the painting side by side. The newly reconstituted landscape corresponds to an actual place, as depicted in Leonardo's Val di Chianamap. In this article, the identity of the sitter and opinions relevant to the background landscape are considered, Leonardo's developments in the depiction of depth outlined, and his technique of topographic perspective introduced. Analysis of these observations, along with Leonardo's investigations in perception, perspective, monocular and binocular vision, and cartography, lead to understanding of his technique. Speculation as to Leonardo's motivation include a pun on La Gioconda and his attempt at stereoscopy."

LINK to News Story Mona Lisa’s mystique may be all in background
LINK to News Story Exclusive - The Mona Lisa's mystery solved?

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This article is about the background of the Mona Lisa and where it could have been based on. The bridge, the landscape etc. It also gets into stereoscopy and other technical information about the painting.

"The painting has deliberately been created in such a way that the view of the balcony and the landscape on one edge continues on the other (Bair, 2007, 173–77)."

I was referenced in this article because a couple years ago while working with the Mona Lisa I noticed that her edges aligned when the painting was rolled up.

It's been a strange mystery why the master of perspective had an "error" in perspective in the background of the Mona Lisa. It inexplicably rises. It should be like this:

I had actually unknowingly made an image that showed the edges aligning even earlier when I first started on my Leonardo research. In the image below I was playing around with the Mona Lisa for artistic effect and didn't notice until way later and under very different circumstances that the edges actually aligned. Even though I had aligned the opposite edges already. I didn't realize it until I rolled the image up.

The background's perspective is "off" and the edges align when they are met - but why would he do this? It would have had to specifically designed to do so, but for what purpose? I will explain in a future post but there is more about the background, the pillars that may or may not have been there, and the Mona Lisa in general on my site HERE.

The Evolution of Anatomy

2011-11-16T16:04:00.001-08:00

Leonardo da Vinci's Sketches of Bears and Feet

Leonardo was one of the first people to ever document the Human bodies internal anatomy.

His sketches' detail were unrivaled until modern photography and the MRI machine. He dissected over a dozen bodies but also had a fascination with the animal kingdom. Which he also dissected and studied and sketched.

If you understand what I am hinting at - about what Leonardo was hinting at with his sketch of the Bear foot - (lower right hand corner) then you understand why he was only permitted to "hint" and not explain openly. That didn't happen until a couple hundred years later with Darwin.. .

"If you are as you have described yourself the king of the animals — it would be better for you to call yourself king of the beasts since you are the greatest of them all! — why do you not help them so that they may presently be able to give you their young in order to gratify your palate, for the sake of which you have tried to make yourself a tomb for all the animals? Even more I might say if to speak the entire truth were permitted me.. " - da Vinci

It's for these reasons that one of the most advanced robotic surgery system we have today is called, you guessed it. The DaVinci! http://www.davincisurgery.com

"You've just been diagnosed with a condition requiring surgery. Until very recently your options included traditional surgery with a large open incision or laparoscopy, which uses small incisions but is typically limited to very simple procedures. Thanks to a breakthrough surgical technology, there is a new category of minimally invasive surgery for which you may be a candidate. It is an effective, minimally invasive alternative to both open surgery and laparoscopy. Through the use of the da Vinci® Surgical System, surgeons are now able to offer a minimally invasive option for complex surgical procedures. Imagine major surgery performed through the smallest of incisions. Imagine having the benefits of a definitive treatment but with the potential for significantly less pain, a shorter hospital stay, faster return to normal daily activities – as well as the potential for better clinical outcomes. With the da Vinci Surgical System, surgeons and hospitals are re-writing accepted standards for surgical care. da Vinci is changing the experience of surgery." LINK

"And you, who say that it would be better to watch an anatomist at work than to see these drawings, you would be right, if it were possible to observe all the things which are demonstrated in such drawings in a single figure, in which you, with all your cleverness, will not see nor obtain knowledge of more than some few veins, to obtain a true and perfect knowledge of which I have dissected more than ten human bodies, destroying all the other members, and removing the very minutest particles of the flesh by which these veins are surrounded, without causing them to bleed, excepting the insensible bleeding of the capillary veins; and as one single body would not last so long, since it was necessary to proceed with several bodies by degrees, until I came to an end and had a complete knowledge; this I repeated twice, to learn the differences.

And if you should have a love for such things you might be prevented by loathing, and if that did not prevent you, you might be deterred by the fear of living in the night hours in the company of those corpses, quartered and flayed and horrible to see. And if this did not prevent you, perhaps you might not be able to draw so well as is necessary for such a demonstration; or, if you had the skill in drawing, it might not be combined with knowledge of perspective; and if it were so, you might not understand the methods of geometrical demonstration and the method of the calculation of forces and of the strength of the muscles; patience also may be wanting, so that you lack perseverance. As to whether all these things were found in me or not, the hundred and twenty books composed by me will give verdict Yes or No. In these I have been hindered neither by avarice nor negligence, but simply by want of time. Farewell." Leonardo da Vinci

"Leonardo: Painter at the Court of Milan" NEWS

2011-11-09T19:20:00.000-08:00

"Leonardo: Painter at the Court of Milan"

"Discovering da Vinci's Daughter"

London's National Gallery will be exhibiting 9 of 15 known Leonardo da Vinci paintings along with various sketches. This could very well be the first and possibly only time this many of his works of art have been displayed together. Pieces from around the world will be shown November 9-February 5, 2012. It's already nearly sold out with only a couple hundred tickets available at the door.

The top two paintings the Last Supper & Mona Lisa will not be able to attend. The Last Supper being painted on a wall and the Mona Lisa, well, being worth almost a billion dollars isn't worth the risk.

Mona Lisa

Perhaps the biggest sensation will be the newly authenticated "Christ as Salvator Mundi" which was sold a few years back for only 45 pounds which, since shown to be a Leonardo is now estimated to be worth 200$ Million! The estimated total value of all the works being displayed is over 2 Billion..

An exhibition with the actual paintings of Leonardo is more significant than most any other artist because of his Sfumato Technique for painting. Some of his paintings are actually made up of hundreds if not thousands of layers of paint, some of which are translucent. This quality of the paintings cannot be properly seen in a photograph or any kind of copy of the original. The best way to think of it would be to imagine that he was building up a 3d sculpture inside the layers of paint. This means that it would appear different when seen at different distances and angles similar to a sculpture.

Mirror Mirror, Mona!

"These are miracles...forms already lost, mingled together in so small a space it can recreate and recompense by expansion (Dilation). Describe in thy anatomy what proportion there is between diameters of all the lenses in the eye and the distance from these to the crystalline lens." - Leonardo da Vinci

What are these "Miracles" ? Leo wrote in detail about the proportion between our eyes - which is what enables modern 3d technology, but also described a new form of artistic technique that has yet to be re-revealed. That's basically what my book/ site are about.

For those new to my blog/site check out itsjustlife.com for more about what I discovered and a preview of my book "Discovering da Vinci's Daughter"

Leonardo's St. Ann Cartoon Animations?

Leonardo da Vinci gets celebrity billing with UK show LINK

"(Reuters) - Move over George Clooney. Lady Gaga? So yesterday. The new celebrity in town is Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, subject of a major exhibition at London's National Gallery that has generated the hype of a Hollywood blockbuster."

Leonardo Da Vinci The Star Of Major London Show LINK

LONDON -- It has masterpieces, media frenzy, a contested gem -- everything but the "Mona Lisa." London's latest blockbuster art show confirms Leonardo da Vinci as a Renaissance rock star.A new exhibition of the artist's paintings at London's National Gallery is opening amid A-list levels of hype and anticipation. The BBC asked viewers: "Is this the greatest art exhibition ever?" Tuesday's VIP preview is being broadcast live on television and in 40 British movie theaters.

Leonardo da Vinci – the Greatest Show on Earth LINK

"A rash claim, I know, but there really is something very strange going on at the National Gallery, where the most comprehensive Leonardo show ever opens today. The press show I went to yesterday was the oddest I've been to. Already the queues were building up for the tiny number of tickets that haven't been sold. The warders seemed keyed up with excitement, with a sort of modest pride at being close to something so celebrated."

Rare da Vinci exhibition opens; works valued at $2 billion LINK

"LONDON— A "once-in-a-lifetime" exhibition of paintings and drawings by Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci opened in London Wednesday. The show, "Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan," at London's National Gallery includes nine of da Vinci's 15 surviving paintings -- the first time so many of the artist's paintings have been exhibited together. The estimated insurance value of the works on show is $2 billion. "I think this is maybe a once-in-a-lifetime experience," said Luke Syson, curator of Italian painting before 1500 for The National Gallery. "(The exhibition) sort of tops everything, it's a moment in history really."

itsjustlife.com

Leonardo da Vinci: Action Hero!

2011-11-09T17:20:00.000-08:00

With three different big budgeted movies/tv shows potentially coming out in the next few years featuring Leonardo it shows that da Vinci is only increasing in popularity. Although he was fairly well known in his time he became even more popularized after the Mona Lisa was stolen on 21 August 1911. With the crazy success of Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" Leonardo has been catapulted into a re-freshed Renaissance modern day super star.

Universal pictures recently announced it could be making a Leonardo da Vinci action movie. Described “comedy action-adventure feature.” It could include themes of Leo being a super -hero type character that is trying to prevent the Rennesance from digressing back into the "Dark Ages"

"Variety is reporting that Universal has purchased the Leonardo spec, which was penned by Jonny Kurzman (M.I.High). The project will be produced by Oscar-nominees Lawrence and Charles Gordon, whose joint production credits include the first two Die Hard movies andThe Rocketeer; the former also worked behind-the-scenes on Watchmen, while C. Gordon’s most recent production effort was Hitman, back in 2007." Link

This is in addition to both a Starz Tv Show and WB's project possibly titled "Leonardo Da Vinci and the Soldiers of Forever"

"The Hollywood Reporter has the news that WB is planning to feature Da Vinci as an action hero in an untitled project. The studio picked up a treatment entitled Leonardo Da Vinci and the Soldiers of Forever from Prime Universe producer, Adrian Askarieh, who came up with the idea and wrote the treatment himself." Link

Imaginary Heights

2011-11-08T21:41:00.000-08:00

"The great bird will take its first flight;-- on the back of his great swan,--filling the universe with wonders; filling all writingswith his fame and bringing eternal glory to his birthplace." -Leonardo da Vinci

"The Wright brothers, Orville (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were two Americans credited[1][2][3] with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903"

It's unclear if Leonardo was actually able to build and fly one of his "flying machines" but there is no doubt that his ideas and designs would eventually be realized. Like most of Leo's inventions and designs, they were conceived of hundreds of years before anyone one else would. The tank, the parachute, the submarine, the automobile, robots.. there is a surprisingly long list. There is a reason he is considered the greatest genius of all time. He is also considered one of the most innovative and revolutionary painters. So you could only imagine how advanced and complex his art would become.

Most of da Vinci's inventions and ideas were locked away within his Journals that have only relatively recently been available to the general public. We are only now beginning to unlock the secrets that he left behind for us to discover 500 years later. Ready?

"Science is the observation of things possible, whether present or past. Prescience is the knowledge of things which may come to pass, though but slowly." - da Vinci

Lost Leonardo

2011-11-03T17:32:00.000-07:00

Link

"Leonardo – The Lost Painting

Concluding a dedicated week of CNN International programming on Italian Renaissance artist, Leonardo da Vinci, a half-hour special ‘Leonardo – The Lost Painting’ charts the amazing discovery of a newly-found Da Vinci painting.

Earlier this year the art world made an extremely rare discovery: a painting byLeonardo da Vinci. Experts believe only 15 paintings by the artist still exist, including the iconic ‘Mona Lisa’ and ‘The Last Supper’. The newly-discovered work – known as 'Salvator Mundi ' or ‘Saviour of the World’ – depicts the head and shoulders of Christ, and though 500 years old, after cleaning and restoration, is in remarkably good condition."

I'm going to go ahead and agree it's a Leonardo. More coming, soon..

Leonardo da Vinci: The Wonder Years

2011-10-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

There is an article on http://www.telegraph.co.uk about Leonardo. It's good.

Link to article

"Leonardo da Vinci: the wonder years
The time that Leonardo da Vinci spent in Milan saw him develop from an erratic young painter into the extraordinary polymath we know today. As a new exhibition focusing on those years opens, Martin Gayford reports from the city where it happened."

...

“There was already something temperamentally peculiar about Leonardo, even at that early stage,” says Syson. The problem, he suggests, was that “he was trying to do so much more than other artists. Even in his twenties, his ambition for painting was higher than perhaps anyone else’s. Leonardo says in his notebooks that the task of the painter is to paint everything: the visible and invisible, the human soul and the natural world. It’s not surprising that he sometimes got stuck. There’s a mixture of extraordinary boldness in him with moments of uncertainty and distraction and boredom, even. It’s very human.”

National Gallery of Art - Washington DC (Ginevra de' Benci)

2011-10-18T16:33:00.000-07:00

The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC is home to the only Leonardo da Vinci painting in the western hemisphere. Her name is Ginevra de' Benci. These are some pictures I took on a trip to visit her. I included some pictures of other paintings that seemed to be da Vinci related. Enjoy!

This is the view walking into her section.

This is her, she is very white and someone cut off her arms.

This is the back of the painting, I didn't know about it until I walked around the wall she was hanging on.

More about the painting!

This painting was HUGE. I only included it because it has a painting of a painting of the Mona Lisa on it. See if you can find her.

This reminded me of the Shroud of Turin. Click here for how that relates to Leonardo.

Yet another version of the "Last Supper" themed art.

St. Jerome

St. Jerome

There were a lot of paintings of St. Jerome that I saw.

More about St. Jerome

This is Leonardo's version of "St. Jerome" Being the rebel he was he was the only person to portray him without a beard.

What did Leonardo da Vinci Look like?

2011-10-18T13:54:00.001-07:00

This is thought to be a self portrait he included in the lower right hand corner of "Adoration of the Magi"

Leonardo da Vinci was born in a town called Vinci in 1452. He left behind thousands of pages of journals and hundreds if not thousands of works of art. He was obsessed with mirrors and painted more portraits than anything else (that we know of) so it's been sort of a mystery as to what he really looked like. Why aren't there more, if any, obvious portraits of himself?

Almost every artist, especially painters, and even more so - painters who paint portraits paint themselves a lot. If you have the urge to start painting, and there is no one around - you are always there. I know personally that I have more pictures of myself than anything else. Why? Cause i'm there, all the time.

I would imagine that Leonardo painted himself, a lot. I would go so far as to say he was his own greatest subject. He was obsessed with mirrors, he painted a lot, he wasn't always around a lot of people, and getting people to stay still for long amounts of time is very difficult. When you are looking in a mirror, and painting, you have a subject that will pose for you for as long as you can paint. I would think that in the same way that I taught myself to take portraits, by taking self portraits, da Vinci used his own reflection to do the same.

The logic is sound, but the evidence is evidently lacking. There is really only one sketch that is considered to be a self portrait, and that was in 1516ish when he was already old. Even this sketch is slightly controversial, although I am confident it was by his hand and his face. There is something magic about it and it is one of my favorite images of all time.

We'll start with his older self portrait in red chalk. It at first appears to be a simplistic and almost rudimentary sketch of a face. If you were to imagine it as a real face or a photograph, you would be hard pressed to imagine skin and the color eyes, and tone etc. There is this static appearance that almost look like it was drawn on messy and stained paper and the drawn lines almost look rapid and erratic. That would be our first impression. But on a much closer and imaginative examination we will see that this drawing is more complex than you would ever imagine it to be.

The Mona Lisa and Leo's Self portrait combined.

First, which I will only graze past is the fact that this face aligns with the face of the Mona Lisa. Why would Leonardo design his self portrait to combine with the face of the Mona Lisa, who was a woman? To explain would make this much more longer. It's already explained on my site itsjustlife.com where there are images and links to previous blogs that explain it.

Second: The seemingly random dots and lines are not as random as they appear. When you apply the mirroring technique to it, they align and create other images. The full explanation will be in my book but the amount of talent and technique required to achieve this is immense. Keep in mind Leonardo is considered the greatest genius who has ever lived, so you could only imagine how intellectually immense he would make his self portrait. Especially after he spent his life perfecting his technique.

Getting back to what he really looked like, as he would look in a photograph. We are left surprisingly vague. Like I said before there is a huge chance he painted himself many many times. But! We really don't have any clear cut idea of what he looked like. He was such an amazing painter that if he were to paint himself it would almost appear to be more photographic than artistic. But there are no painted self portraits. Why? What did he look like?

This is suppose to be of Leonardo. Who made it? Did da Vinci pose for it?

Its said that he was incredibly attractive. (By his Biographer Vasari) So why not show himself off? My explanation, besides we haven't found these lost paintings, is that he was such a perfectionist, and possibly so 'vain', that he was hesitant to leave behind any image of himself that did not fully (in his mind) live up to a proper representation of himself. I would compare it to a model who is very beautiful, who has both pictures they love and pictures they absolutely hate. But since he wasn't a model but a painter, he was unable to create an image of himself that he was both happy with, and represented his skill as a painter. This would be my explanation for the lack of self portraits. Why Else? Other explanation are welcomed!

I've been researching da Vinci for over 6 years now. I've seen most of his sketches, all of his paintings, and read his bioraphies. During this time I've developed an image of him in my mind. Its based off the images that might be self portraits and my own imagination. Obviously his appearance would vary from year to year and most people imagine him as an old and balding professor. But like everyone else in the world, at one point, in his prime. He probably had a 6pack, he dressed nice, he could sing, play music, and was a party planner for royalty. He wasn't always an old man!

This is "Alex Karev" From Grey's Anatomy played by Justin Chambers

Whenever I see him in Grey's Anatomy, especially from certain angles -he always reminds me of what Leonardo probably looked like when he was 20-35ish.

More at http://www.itsjustlife.com/davinci.html

This is an attempt to turn Leonardo's Self portrait into something more photo-realistic. I'm not nearly finished.

Face on - Face off: Salai vs. St. John vs. Mona Lisa vs. Da Vinci

2011-09-15T15:14:00.000-07:00

This is an animation I made showing how each of the faces from these different paintings combine and align. Read More:

From Left to Right:

Portrait of Salai: 1495 -1503
Mona Lisa: 1505-1507 (or up till 1519)
St. John the Baptist: 1514
Leonardo's Self Portrait: 1512-1515

In my 'blook' (blog + book) I try and explain why these faces align. Showing that they do is pretty obvious, but trying to show that there was intent is a little more complicated.

"It's a coincidence."

"Artists find a certain position or formula for painting a face."

So although its apparent these painting's faces align it's not apparent why. Most people chalk it up to coincidence but I didn't stop there. I thought that for two faces to align in the way that these do that it would have to be intentional. That Leonardo meant for these faces to be viewed when they were combined together.

This is a sketch from da Vinci's journals, it shows three faces/ paintings being placed over each other. Leonardo also wrote about transparencies and superimposition. This can be done without a computer by crossing the faces together with your eyes. The effect is actually enhanced this way since the combined image is not equally transparent as it is on the computer but different parts of each face are seen by each eye at the same time. Meaning that your left and right eye will exchange visual dominance and as they do this it enables more of a special effect. It gets very complicated, but that's what makes it so intriguing - that it came from someone 500 years ago who didn't even have a light bulb let alone a computer.

"“Therefore make the hair on the head play in the wind around youthful faces, and gracefully adorn them with many cascades of curls.”

Another Mundi?

2011-09-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

I received an email from an art collector who has had this painting in their family for a long time. We are trying to figure out who painted it and when. If you have any ideas please leave a comment!

When this Painting is mirrored you will notice that it does not exhibit the same perfect symmetry of the Leonardo Mundi's. It's actually almost as difficult to paint a perfectly symmetrical face as it is to find a perfectly symmetrical face... think about it.

Salvator Mundi (The Savior of the world) by Leonardo da Vinci? (Update)

2011-08-23T16:52:00.000-07:00

In a previous post I confused this painting of Salvator Mundi

Salvator Mundi

With this one below. The one above is obviously very similar and was by Bernardino Luini who was said to have worked directly with Leonardo. I had thought it was the painting to have been authenticated to be by da Vinci. I tried the mirroring technique and it worked almost identically on both paintings - both Luini's and da Vinci's. They definitely shared techniques and these paintings were inspired by each other. It would be interesting to know who painted which -first. I would go with Luini trying to emulate Leo.

I believe that Leo and his fellow artists would try to compete with each other to see who could paint a more complicated and "better" painting. Not only that but Leonardo was trying to teach his friends and apprentices and what better way than "Try to do this!"

Salvator Mundi

The curls in the hair are reminiscent of St. John the baptist, and the hands and skin look like the Mona Lisa and other Leonardo paintings. There is something really haunting about the eyes.

The mirroring effect is apparent. The face looks different when it's been mirrored on itself. You'll also notice how it appears like he is opening up the fabric to reveal what's on his chest.

Stare between his eyes for a few seconds. You'll see it start to change and animate... check out my web site itsjustlife.com for more!

Lets just say that I have little doubt that this painting was painted by Leonardo da Vinci...