Leonardo da Vinci, Artist/Inventor/Scientist

Artist/Inventor/Scientist
b. April 15, 1452
d. May 2, 1519

Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence

Leonardo Da Vinci was the archetypal Renaissance man. His curiosity and genius led him to make observations, experiments and breakthroughs in a variety of fields including engineering, architecture, math, anatomy, optics, astronomy, geology, biology and philosophy. His artwork and inventions, many of them advanced far beyond normal innovations of the time period, continue to earn him wide acclaim.

Artist Andrea del Verrocchio hired Da Vinci, at age 15, as his apprentice. While working with Verrocchio in Florence, Da Vinci learned a broad range of skills including painting, sculpting and drafting. In 1472, he was accepted into the painters' guild in Florence. Da Vinci lived mostly in Florence and Milan for the rest of his career while working on commissioned art. "Mona Lisa," "The Last Supper" and "Madonna of the Rocks" are a few of his most famous paintings.

Da Vinci left behind a collection of 40 notebooks, of which 31 still remain. He filled these notebooks with diagrams and records of his observations and research in the fields of painting, architecture, mechanics, human anatomy, geophysics, botany, hydrology and aerology.

Da Vinci's documents demonstrate that he conceptualized helicopters, tanks and calculators long before construction of these devices became feasible. He also envisioned solar power and developed a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics.

Da Vinci's professions included civil engineer, musician, military planner and weapons designer. He worked as the court artist for the Duke of Milan. From 1513 to 1516 he lived in Rome. He developed a close relationship with Niccolò Machiavelli and mathematician Luca Pacioli, with whom he helped write "Divina Proportione" (1509).

No evidence suggests that Da Vinci had relationships with women. His closest relationships were with two of his male pupils, Melzi and Salai.

Bibliography


“Leonardo Da Vinci: Painter and Sculpter of Florence (1452-1519).” Life of an Artist: Biographies and Galleries. July 1, 2007
Kemp, Martin. Leonardo da Vinci: Experience, Experiment, and Design. Princeton University Press. 2006
Nicholl, Charles. Leonardo da Vinci: Flights of the Mind. Penguin. 2005

Henry Scott Tuke, (U.K) . Painter

b. June 12, 1858
d. 13 March 1929

Henry Scott Tuke, RA RWS, was a British visual artist; primarily a painter, but also a photographer. His most notable work was in the Impressionist style, and he is probably best known for his paintings of nude boys and young men, some of which are featured below/

Henry Scott Tuke was born in York, England, of Quaker parents. In 1874 he moved with his family to London. Here he enrolled at the Slade School of Art and won a three-year scholsrship.

The Bathers

 In 1880 he traveled to Italy, and from 1881 to 1883 lived in Paris. In 1883 he moved to the fishing village of Newlyn in Cornwall, where he became a founder of the Newlyn School, but in 1885 he settled in another Cornish town, Falmouth, where he was to live for the rest of his life.

Ruby, Gold and Malachite

 Tuke was an accomplished portritist and mantained a studio in London. His sitters included the soldier and author T.E. Lawrence. He was also the grand master of romantic boy painting, and was almost obsessed with the painting of nude youths.

Two Boys and a Dog

Source: 

Matt & Andrej Komasky

Books:

The Life & Work of Henry Scott Tuke: 1858-1929

Catching the Light: Henry Scott Tuke: The Art and Life of Henry Scott Tuke

Wicked Angels (Southern Tier Editions) 

Henry Scott Tuke Paintings from Cornwall

August Blue

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti, Renaissance painter, sculptor and architect

b. March 6, 1475

d. February 18, 1564

"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark."

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni is considered one of the greatest artists of all time. His art typified the High Renaissance style with use of naturalistic light, depiction of realistic figures and emphasis on the beauty of nature. One of the true "Renaissance men," his talent encompassed fine art, architecture and poetry. He was referred to as "Il Divino" ("The Divine One").

Michelangelo was born in the Tuscany region of Italy. At age 13, he started an apprenticeship in Florence with Domenic Ghirlandaio, from whom he learned fresco painting.

He moved to Rome and received a commission from the French ambassador to the Holy See, the central government of the Catholic Church. In 1497, he completed one of Christendom’s most significant artworks, the "Pietà." The lifelike marble sculpture depicts Mary cradling the body of Christ after the Crucifixion.

His colossal marble statue "David" is considered the masterpiece of High Renaissance sculpture. Completed in 1501, the sculpture is 17 feet tall and is exhibited in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Florence.

Michelangelo was a primary architect of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican and the sole designer of its dome. From 1508 to 1512, he painted what would become his most famous work, the ceiling frescoes of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. The frescoes include "The Creation of Adam," in which God’s finger stretches out to give Adam life. These murals are considered the most magnificent and spiritual art of the Roman Catholic Church.

A lover of male beauty, Michelangelo's lyrical poetry described his same sex-affection. He wrote: 

            The flesh now earth, and here my bones,

            Bereft of handsome eyes, and jaunty air,

            Still loyal are to him I joyed in bed,

            Whom I embraced, in whom my soul now lives



 Bibliography
“Accademia Gallery Collections.” Firenze Musei. July 1, 2008
http://www.firenzemusei.it/00_english/accademia/collezioni.html
Hood, William. “Michelangelo Buonarroti.” GLBTQ: an Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer Culture. July 1, 2008
http://www.glbtq.com/arts/michelangelo_art.html
“Michelangelo.” Sculpture Thailand. July 1, 2008
http://www.sculpturethailand.com/Sculpture-Michelangelo.php
Articles
“Times Topics: Michelangelo Buonarroti.” The New York Times.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/michelangelo_buonarroti/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=michelangelo&st=cse
Artworks
Pietà (1499)
http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/Pieta/Pieta.htm
David (1504)
http://www.firenzemusei.it/00_english/accademia/index.html
The Sistine Chapel (1512)
http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/CSN/CSN_Volta.html
Other Resources
Saslow, James M. “Ganymede in the Renaissance: Homosexuality in Art and Society” (1988)
http://www.amazon.com/Ganymede-Renaissance-Homosexuality-Art-Society/dp/0300041993/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219333308&sr=1-1
Saslow, James M. “The Poetry of Michelangelo: An Annotated Translation” (1991)
http://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Michelangelo-Annotated-Translation/dp/0300055099/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219333279&sr=8-3

Donatello (1386 -1466 ), Italian Sculptor

b.  c. 1386
d.  December 13, 1466

Italian artist and sculptor from Florence, and the most inventive, prolific sculptor of the early Renaissance. Donatello was both technically versatile and adept at powerfully expressive effects. His most famous work is his bronze David, the first free-standing nude statue known to have been produced since ancient times, but his varied oeuvre includes other figures of beautiful male youths imbued with homoerotic sensuality.

Some have perceived the David as having homo-erotic qualities, and have argued that this reflected the artist's own orientation. Yet, details of Donatello's relationships remain speculative. The historian Paul Strathern makes the claim that Donatello made no secret of his homosexuality, and that his behaviour was tolerated by his friends.

Evidence about Donatello's sexuality comes from the sculptures themselves and from anecdotes collected around 1480, sometimes attributed to Poliziano. Seven of these anecdotes concern Donatello, who was renowned for a sharp wit and called "very tricky (intricato)" by the Duke of Mantua.

Three anecdotes eroticize Donatello's relations with apprentices. He hired especially beautiful boys, and "stained" them so that no one else would find them pleasing; when one assistant left after a quarrel, they made up by "laughing" at each other, a slang term for sex. Two of these anecdotes were omitted from some sixteenth-century editions, and the one on laughter was glossed as "licenzioso."

Evidence about Donatello's sexuality comes from the sculptures themselves and from anecdotes collected around 1480, sometimes attributed to Poliziano. Seven of these anecdotes concern Donatello, who was renowned for a sharp wit and called "very tricky (intricato)" by the Duke of Mantua.

Other than the bronze David, other works with an homoerotic streak include Atys/Amorino (ca 1440), a laughing boy faun with exposed genitals, while clothed youths with a sensual appeal include the marble David (1408-1416), St. George (ca 1415-1417), and St. Louis of Toulouse (ca 1418-1422). In the mid-sixteenth century, the Florentine poet Lasca praised the St. George as an ideal substitute for a living boyfriend, providing constant amorous pleasure to his gaze.

Louise Abbéma (1853 - 1927), France: Artist

b. October 30th, 1853
d.  1927

Born in Estampe, at the age of 18 Louise received her first public recognition for her portrait of the actress Sarah Bernhardt - who was her lover at that time (see at left).

Louise went on to paint the portraits of many leading members of Society as well as murals in the Hotel de Ville and the Opera House in Paris.

Her work was exhibited in the Women's Building at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

One of the exhibits was a bust that Sarah Bernhardt had sculpted of her. She wrote for the journals "L'Art" and "Gazette des Beaux-Arts".

Louise was made Official Painter of the Third Republic and in 1906 received the Legion d'Honneur.

Source: Matt and Andrej Koymasky Living Room - LGBT Biographies