Who Was Leonardo da Vinci 达·芬奇 Chapter 2 The Art Studio

During the 1400s, Florence was the most important, most exciting city in all the world. It was one of five city-states in what is now Italy. Being a city-state meant Florence had its own government. It was called the Signoria. But for many years the city was really ruled by one very rich, very powerful family called the Medici.

The Medici men were art lovers. They built beautiful homes and churches and libraries in Florence. They wanted works of art to go inside all those buildings. Andrea del Verrocchio was one of the most famous artists working in Florence at the time. He had plenty of jobs. Leonardo was very lucky to study under such a master.

Leonardo was an apprentice¹. He was twelve at the time he went to Verrocchio’s studio. All apprentices² were boys. No girls were allowed. The apprentices were not paid. But they were given free room and food and a little money. At the studio they learned to become artists. For the first year, they had classes in drawing. After about seven or eight years they knew how to paint pictures, create frescoes³ (paintings done directly onto walls), make statues out of marble or bronze, design pottery⁴, silverware, objects of gold, and even design buildings.

Apprentices started at the bottom and worked their way up. They swept the studio, ran errands for the older artists, and cleaned up at the end of the day. There were no art supplies stores. So Leonardo and the other apprentices learned to make paintbrushes and paints. For the brushes, hairs from different animals were stuck into wooden handles. Hog⁵ bristles⁶, for instance, made good, hard brushes. Squirrel fur was used for softer brushes. The artists painted with a kind of paint called tempera. Its base was egg, not oil. (Painting with oil paints first started in the Netherlands; in Italy, artists did not start using oil paint until the 1470s.) Leonardo was taught to make colors. Blue came from grinding a stone called lapis lazuli into dust. Red came from crushing tiny beetles⁷. Yellow came from the juice of one kind of berry.

At that time, canvas was not used for paintings. An artist painted on a flat panel of wood instead. But the wood had to be prepared first. Boiling kept it from splitting or cracking later on. Then glue was brushed on. After that, a coat of fine plaster called gesso was put on. This gave the panel a nice, smooth surface for painting. All these steps were jobs for the apprentices.

Verrocchio’s studio was always busy.



At any one time the master and his assistants would be working on many different projects. Whatever Verrocchio’s customers ordered, they’d make. As head of the studio, Verrocchio ran the business and drew up the contracts. The contract said exactly what the job was to be (for example, a statue of a soldier on horseback), how long it would take to finish it, how much it would cost, and what materials would be used. (Marble was more expensive than wood. Using wafer-thin pieces of gold called “gold leaf” on a painting added to its cost.) And only Verrocchio, the master, signed the works of art.

Right away Verrocchio saw that young Leonardo had special talent. He was a natural. So soon after he learned the basics of the trade, Leonardo was allowed to do more important work.

Customers—or patrons, as they were called—often gave religious paintings to one of the important churches in Florence. A painting might be of Mary and the baby Jesus in the manger with Joseph and the Wise Men and shepherds. Sometimes the patron would have his wife and himself put into the picture, too. They might appear at the sides, kneeling and praying. They were almost always smaller in size than the saints.

On Sundays, when people came to church, they saw the beautiful painting of Mary and her baby and the patron who had paid for it. It was a lovely gift to the church. It also showed how rich and important the patrons were.

Verrocchio received a commission to do a painting of the baptism of Jesus. In it, Jesus is standing⁸ in a rocky stream. Saint John pours water over his head. At the left in the painting are two angels. Verrocchio himself painted almost everything except one of the angels. The angel is staring at Jesus in a way that shows he understands the importance of what he is watching. His face is sweet and wise. Leonardo painted the angel, and he is so full of life that everything else in the painting looks stiff. Verrocchio realized Leonardo was a genius. He had talent like no one he had ever seen before. Verrocchio understood that even he himself was not as good as his young apprentice. The story is that after he saw Leonardo’s angel, Verrocchio never took up a paintbrush again. He went on to do more statues and items of gold. But he never did another painting.

1 apprentice   

n.学徒，徒弟

参考例句：

• My son is an apprentice in a furniture maker's workshop.我的儿子在一家家具厂做学徒。
• The apprentice is not yet out of his time.这徒工还没有出徒。

2 apprentices   

学徒，徒弟( apprentice的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They were mere apprentices to piracy. 他们干海盗仅仅是嫩角儿。
• He has two good apprentices working with him. 他身边有两个好徒弟。

3 frescoes   

n.壁画( fresco的名词复数 )；温壁画技法，湿壁画

参考例句：

• The Dunhuang frescoes are gems of ancient Chinese art. 敦煌壁画是我国古代艺术中的瑰宝。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The frescoes in these churches are magnificent. 这些教堂里的壁画富丽堂皇。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 pottery   

n.陶器，陶器场

参考例句：

• My sister likes to learn art pottery in her spare time.我妹妹喜欢在空余时间学习陶艺。
• The pottery was left to bake in the hot sun.陶器放在外面让炎热的太阳烘晒焙干。

5 hog   

n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占

参考例句：

• He is greedy like a hog.他像猪一样贪婪。
• Drivers who hog the road leave no room for other cars.那些占着路面的驾驶员一点余地都不留给其他车辆。

6 bristles   

短而硬的毛发，刷子毛( bristle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the bristles on his chin 他下巴上的胡楂子
• This job bristles with difficulties. 这项工作困难重重。

7 beetles   

n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Beetles bury pellets of dung and lay their eggs within them. 甲壳虫把粪粒埋起来，然后在里面产卵。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This kind of beetles have hard shell. 这类甲虫有坚硬的外壳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。