Shallow Nation » Fine Art

Video: The Hidden Music in Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”

Shallow Nation — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 00:04:00 +0000

Could it be that the real Da Vinci Code is a musical code? Italian musician, Giovanni Maria Pala, discusses the musical notes he has uncovered in Da Vinci’s masterpiece,”The Last Supper“.

From the Associated Press:

It’s a new Da Vinci code, but this time it could be for real. An Italian musician and computer technician claims to have uncovered musical notes encoded in Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” raising the possibility that the Renaissance genius might have left behind a somber composition to accompany the scene depicted in the 15th-century wall painting.
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“It sounds like a requiem,” Giovanni Maria Pala said. “It’s like a soundtrack that emphasizes the passion of Jesus.”

Painted from 1494 to 1498 in Milan’s Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, the “Last Supper” vividly depicts a key moment in the Gospel narrative: Jesus’ last meal with the 12 Apostles before his arrest and crucifixion, and the shock of Christ’s followers as they learn that one of them is about to betray him.

Pala, a 45-year-old musician who lives near the southern Italian city of Lecce, began studying Leonardo’s painting in 2003, after hearing on a news program that researchers believed the artist and inventor had hidden a musical composition in the work.

“Afterward, I didn’t hear anything more about it,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press. “As a musician, I wanted to dig deeper.”

In a book released Friday in Italy, Pala explains how he took elements of the painting that have symbolic value in Christian theology and interpreted them as musical clues.

Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” Online in 16 Billion Pixels of High Resolution

Shallow Nation — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 15:58:11 +0000

No doubt Leonardo Da Vinci would be highly impressed, the futurist that he was, predicting air travel, solar power, and calculators. Now his masterpiece, “The Last Supper” is online, no longer confined to Milan, Italy:

As of Saturday, all you need is an Internet connection. Officials put online an image of the “Last Supper” at 16 billion pixels — 1,600 times stronger than the images taken with the typical 10 million pixel digital camera.

The high resolution will allow experts to examine details of the 15th century wall painting that they otherwise could not — including traces of drawings Leonardo put down before painting.

The high-resolution allows viewers to look at details as though they were centimeters (inches) from the art work, in contrast to regular photographs, which become grainy as you zoom in, said curator Alberto Artioli.

“You can see how Leonardo made the cups transparent, something you can’t ordinarily see,” said Artioli. “You can also note the state of degradation the painting is in.”

Go here to see “The Last Supper.”

Jeremy Blake, Late Video and Digital Artist, Retrospective Exhibit at Corcoran Gallery

Shallow Nation — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 20:16:52 +0000

Jeremy Blake was a pioneering artist whose work was a unique synthesis of abstract painting, digital and video imagery. His untimely, tragic death by suicide earlier this year is a tremendous loss to the art world. A major retrospective exhibit of his art begins today at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. From the Corcoran Gallery Web site:

Jeremy Blake’s (1971–2007) lush digital videos combine representational and abstract imagery to create visual narratives that are dreamy, historical, and richly psychological. Renowned for his shimmering, hallucinogenic “moving paintings,” which loop seamlessly without beginning or end, Blake was influenced as much by Hollywood culture as by the history of modernism. His coolly expressive digital and painted abstractions are slick, non-linear ruminations on topics as wide-ranging as reality television, vernacular architecture, mid-century Colorfield painting, the megamall, and the superchurch.

Blake’s cinematic video portraits are the final development in a career that consistently challenged distinctions between painting, photography, and computer and video art. In his last works, Blake turned to portraiture, plumbing the life, imagination, and aesthetic vision of three extraordinary artists. He honored his subjects’ achievements through an innovative new form that is its own contribution to the history of art.

Jeremy Blake with his companion, writer and filmmaker, Theresa Duncan, whose death by suicide preceded his.

An image from “Berkshire Fangs,” 2001

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