Wednesday, April 24, 2019

The "Final" Four: Leonardo da Vinci v. Sargent








Leonardo da Vinci
1452 - 1519
Italian
Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most intriguing personalities in the history of Western art. Trained in Florence as a painter and sculptor in the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo is also celebrated for his scientific contributions. Leonardo’s curiosity and insatiable hunger for knowledge never left him. He was constantly observing, experimenting, and inventing, and drawing was, for him, a tool for recording his investigation of nature. Although completed works by Leonardo are few, he left a large body of drawings (almost 2,500) that record his ideas, most still gathered into notebooks. He was principally active in Florence and Milan, but spent the last years of his life in Rome and France, where he died. His genius as an artist and inventor continues to inspire artists and scientists alike centuries after his death.
- The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
  • Pounded Sir Peter Lely in Round 1.
  • Skunked Stanley William Hayter in Round 2.
  • Beat the Limbourg Brothers in Round 3 by a two-vote swing. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!
  • Made it easily past El Lissitzky, though many voters expressed mixed feelings, in Round 4.
  • Blasted past Klee in Round 5.
  • Trounced Timothy Ely in Round 6.
  • Beat Monet in Round 7.










John Singer Sargent
1856 - 1925
American
Although Sargent painted, showed, and won praise for both portraits and subject pictures at the Salons between 1877 and 1882, commissions for portraits increasingly demanded his attention and defined his reputation. Sargent’s best-known portrait, Madame X, which he undertook without a commission, enlisted a palette and brushwork derived from Velázquez; a profile view that recalls Titian; and an unmodulated treatment of the face and figure inspired by the style of Édouard Manet and Japanese prints. The picture’s novelty and quality notwithstanding, it was a succès de scandale in the 1884 Salon, provoking criticism for Sargent’s indifference to conventions of pose, modeling, and treatment of space, even twenty years after Manet’s pioneering efforts.
- The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
  • Beat Juan Sánchez Cotán easily despite crowd support in Round 1.
  • Skunked Roelandt Savery in Round 2.
  • Skunked Dutch still-life master Rachel Ruysch in Round 3.
  • Crushed Henri Rousseau in Round 4 by a two-vote swing.
  • Encountered some resistance, but prevailed, against Rembrandt in Round 5.
  • Scorched Charles Sheeler in Round 6.
  • Beat Vermeer in Round 7.







15 comments:

Christine M. said...

Sargent

Morgan said...

How could it not be John Singer Sargent?

Nichim said...

da Vinci

DrSchnell said...

Sargent

boonec1974 said...

Wow. I've voted for both artists in every one of their match-ups thus far, and it was never even close. I'm going to go... No... Yes... I guess... Da Vinci.

mrs.5000 said...

Da Vinci.

Elder Moore said...

Sargent

Maddy said...

Sargent.

UnwiseOwl said...

It's going to be Sargent for me.
Sorry, Leo, old pal.

Michael5000 said...

Mariah votes for da Vinci.

Alexandra Shields said...

John Singer Sargent Tailor Soldier Spy

Candida said...

Sargent.

Michael5000 said...

Susan votes for Leonardo da Vinci

Michael5000 said...

Me? Well... I'm going to vote for Leonardo da Vinci, actually. Obviously both of these guys are... quite good.

Michael5000 said...

Sargent takes it by two! Sargent is heading to the finals! It's an 8-6 two-vote swing. YOUR VOTE COUNTS!!!