Leonardo da Vinci's "Head of a Bear"

I believe you all know Davinci very well. He is a genius. We also call him a renaissance man. He was an Italian philosopher during the Renaissance. He was not only good at painting, he was also good at architecture, mathematics, anatomy, animal science, astronomy, physics, etc. He was very successful in many fields. He became a representative of humanism during the Renaissance. He is also one of the most famous artists in history. I am very fortunate to be able to work with Davinci again this time. I believe you all still remember that last time, in 2017, we sold The Savior. At that time, we sold it for more than RMB 300 million. This is also a very rare thing. Next, I will tell you why it is so important. First, I will tell you about his time and place of creation. It was around 1480. It was created in Florence. It was Davinci's last time in Florence. Later, he moved to Milan. At that time, his most famous way of painting was to use a silver point pen. He painted on a piece of paper that was prepared in advance. This method was also a technique that was very popular in Florence at that time. The silver point pen is very difficult to modify. It is different from the pen we use now. It requires the artist to be very precise. Another feature is that this painting is called Drew from Life. It is a painting of a bear in a state of writing. Later, I will tell you why this is so important to Davinci. Another important thing is that all the animal sketches painted by Davinci at the same time are now in the museum. I will compare them later. Let's take a look at this painting. In order to depict the bear's head, Davinci used a light gray line to outline the bear's head. Then he used a fine line to depict the details. It is the same as the one we see in most art museums. Davinci used a very low concentration silver point pen to draw the overall structure of the animal. Then he used different forces to draw the smooth and variable lines to explore the structure of the bear's skeletal muscles. He also depicted the rich layers of hair. So we can see that through Davinci's research on the skeleton of animals, as an audience, we can feel his understanding of animal characters and Davinci's infinite love for animals. Later in his life, the famous artist and writer Vasari wrote in his memoirs that Davinci was very passionate about animals. He once passed by the bird market and bought the birds in the farm and released them. So Davinci not only liked to study animal studies, but he was also a person who loved animals. As I mentioned earlier, this painting was completed in Davinci's outdoor studio, the Drew from Life studio, in a state of real observation of the bear. This kind of painting is still very popular in western art today.