Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1. Childhood
- 2. Florence and Cosimo the Elder
- 3. The Cultural Climate of Florence
- 4. First Years in Florence and the Verrocchio Workshop
- 5. First Works in Florence and the Artistic Milieu
- 6. Early Pursuits in Engineering ??? Hydraulics and the Movement of Water
- 7. The Bust of a Warrior and Leonardo's Creative Method
- 8. Early Participation in the Medici Court
- 9. Leonardo's Personality and Place in Florentine Society
- 10. Important Productions and Collaborations in the Verrocchio Shop
- 11. Leonardo's Colleagues in the Workshop
- 12. Leonardo's Madonna of the Carnation and the Exploration of Optics
- 13. The Benois Madonna and Continued Meditations on the Theme of Sight
- 14. The Madonna of the Cat
- 15. Leonardo, the Medici, and Public Executions
- 16. Leonardo and Ginevra de??? Benci
- 17. Leonardo as Portraitist and Master of the Visual Pun
- 18. The Young Sculptor
- 19. The Madonna Litta
- 20. The Adoration of the Magi and Invention of the High Renaissance Style
- 21. The Adoration and Leonardo's Military Interests
- 22. Leonardo and Allegorical Conceits for the Medici Court
- 23. Early Ideas for the Last Supper
- 24. Leonardo and the Saint Sebastian
- 25. Saint Jerome
- 26. First Thoughts for the Virgin of the Rocks and the Invention of the Mary Magdalene-Courtesan Genre
- 27. Milan
- 28. Leonardo and the Sforza Court
- Bibliography with Endnotes
- Index
11. - Leonardo's Colleagues in the Workshop
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1. Childhood
- 2. Florence and Cosimo the Elder
- 3. The Cultural Climate of Florence
- 4. First Years in Florence and the Verrocchio Workshop
- 5. First Works in Florence and the Artistic Milieu
- 6. Early Pursuits in Engineering ??? Hydraulics and the Movement of Water
- 7. The Bust of a Warrior and Leonardo's Creative Method
- 8. Early Participation in the Medici Court
- 9. Leonardo's Personality and Place in Florentine Society
- 10. Important Productions and Collaborations in the Verrocchio Shop
- 11. Leonardo's Colleagues in the Workshop
- 12. Leonardo's Madonna of the Carnation and the Exploration of Optics
- 13. The Benois Madonna and Continued Meditations on the Theme of Sight
- 14. The Madonna of the Cat
- 15. Leonardo, the Medici, and Public Executions
- 16. Leonardo and Ginevra de??? Benci
- 17. Leonardo as Portraitist and Master of the Visual Pun
- 18. The Young Sculptor
- 19. The Madonna Litta
- 20. The Adoration of the Magi and Invention of the High Renaissance Style
- 21. The Adoration and Leonardo's Military Interests
- 22. Leonardo and Allegorical Conceits for the Medici Court
- 23. Early Ideas for the Last Supper
- 24. Leonardo and the Saint Sebastian
- 25. Saint Jerome
- 26. First Thoughts for the Virgin of the Rocks and the Invention of the Mary Magdalene-Courtesan Genre
- 27. Milan
- 28. Leonardo and the Sforza Court
- Bibliography with Endnotes
- Index
Summary
Initially trained as a goldsmith, the stocky, durable Verrocchio considered himself a sculptor first and then a painter. His decisive, midcareer transition from painting to sculpture was probably a preference and not, as Vasari suggested, a retreat. Certainly, his contemporaries admired him foremost as a sculptor, an unrivalled metal caster and engineer. Only in his late twenties, but industrious and diligent, when he opened his independent business, he proved to be an excellent foreman, coordinating the activities of a self-contained shop in accord with time-tested, old-fashioned modes of operation. For sculpture (even relatively small works), he employed the centuries-old assemblage technique, in which many separate pieces were cast and then welded together – every major project involving the contributions of numerous hands.
The collaborative atmosphere and multitasking demands of his shop benefited scores of artists who passed through it, including Perugino and the sculptor Francesco di Simone Ferrucci. Leonardo and Lorenzo di Credi may have been the only assistants who remained for a decade or more; many other workers probably came and left on an “as needed” basis. Leonardo, no doubt, thrived in this environment and would have been galvanized by the challenge of learning so many diverse skills. However, the detailed, sometimes factory-like approach could be a bit stultifying for some, such as Lorenzo di Credi, who, like many Florentine artists, had first apprenticed with a goldsmith. As a painter, he excelled in the small parts but could never quite grasp the whole. Even the generally respectful Vasari had to admit that the well-intentioned Credi was punctilious to a fault.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Young LeonardoArt and Life in Fifteenth-Century Florence, pp. 73 - 78Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011