Assignment 7- Inspiration and Influences

Assignment 7- Influences

Leonardo da Vinci was 31 years older than Raphael and was a major inspiration and a mentor to Raphael.  It is most evident in his sketch “Woman on a Balcony,” which shows clear resemblance to da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

 Woman on a Balcony,  ink, 1504, Raphael

Mona Lisa, oil, 1503-1505, Leonardo Da Vinci














It is obvious how similar these two pieces are.  The Raphael sketch is very similar to the Mona Lisa.  It is theorized that the sketch was inspired by one of the earlier versions of the Mona Lisa that was painted by da Vinci. This sketch was never painted by Raphael, but a very similar piece was painted, called Young Woman with a Unicorn.                                                            

                                                                      Young Woman with a Unicorn, oil, 1506, Raphael

The way that he portrays facial features is very similar to the way that da Vinci does, for example the Ginevra de' Benci.

Ginevra de' Benci, oil, 1474-1478, Leonardo Da Vinci

I really think that the way the two painters portray eyes is similar.  They both place an emphasis on eyelids.  They also use a lot of the same facial expressions in their paintings.  People never seem to be smiling in a da Vinci or a Raphael painting.  Raphael also seems to use a lot of the stances that da Vinci has his subject take.  The majority of both of their portraiture work involves a woman with her hair out of her face with her shoulders back. 

            Raphael also clearly got the way that he portrays mother and child from the work of da Vinci.  Both of them paint mothers looking lovingly down at their children.  Side by side, some of the mother and child paintings are so similar that you can barely tell which painting belongs to which artist.  For example, looking at the Madonna and Child with a pomegranate by da Vinci,

Madonna and Child with a Pomegranate, oil, 1487, Leonardo Da Vinci

we can see that it bears a resemblance to the Raphael painting Madonna del Granduca, which was painted 18 years after Madonna and Child with a Pomegranate.

Madonna del Granduca, oil,1505, Raphael

The similarities between these pieces are too strong to say that Raphael was not influenced by Leonardo da Vinci.  It is obvious that he drew a lot of inspiration from the pieces that da Vinci had produced before them.  Both artists are incredible in their own rights, and da Vinci had to have been inspired by someone as well, and Raphael in turn inspired the next generation of artists.