Famous lefty birthday, April 15

Leonardo Da Vinci – Italian polymath, scientist, inventor, artist, writer 

Leonardo da Vinci is famous for his masterful paintings Mona Lisa, The Last Supper and The Vitruvian Man.

He was a painter, sculptor, engineer and architect. His notebooks also revealed he was a remarkable scientist and inventor. Interestingly, Leonardo da Vinci was constantly on the move between various Italian cities.

Experts who have studied closely the lines and shading in Leonardo Da Vinci’s works have verified that he drew with his left hand. However, there is disagreement over whether Leonardo Da Vinci was naturally left-handed or whether he started using his left hand later in life as a result of paralysis in his right arm.

His Childhood Life in Tuscan Town of Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci was born illegitimate on April 15, 1452 in the small Tuscan town of Vinci. His father had little time for him. He was mainly looked after by his grandparents and an uncle.

As a child, Leonardo Da Vinci proved extraordinarily gifted. He played the lyre and sang beautifully. He was great at horse riding, and he had a brilliant aptitude for mathematics.

Anywhere he went, Leonardo da Vinci carried a notebook in which he wrote an account of his observations and sketched anything that interested him.

Read the article — Leonardo da Vinci Moves to Italian Cities

Lefty Painter Raphael (Rafaello)

Famous Left-hander Birthday, April 6

Raphael Santi (Raffaello Sanzio or Santi),  is one of the greatest Italian painters of the High Renaissance. He painted frescoes in the Vatican and was active in Perugia, Florence and Rome where he painted for secular patrons. Youngest of the three most famous artists of the Italian High Renaissance, he was strongly influenced by the other two, Michelangelo Buonarroti and Leonardo da Vinci.

How Raphael differs from Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo

There were distinct differences between Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo:

• Raphael was not fiery and moody but was sociable, elegant and sophisticated.
• Leonardo da Vinci was said to be the most sociable.
• Michelangelo was the most reclusive.

Raphael’s personality is revealed in his art. Harmony and grace are shown in his religious and mythological scenes and his dignified portraits enhance the character of his sitters.

Raphael (April 6, 1483 – April 6, 1520), was born in Urbino. He was the son of Giovanni Santi, a court painter. Urbino that time was a cultural centre of Renaissance Italy and so he was exposed to the fine works of art at an early age.

At 16, Raphael went to Perugia and worked with the artist Perugino, whose graceful style is reflected in Raphael’s Marriage of the Virgin, 1504 (Brera, Milan).

Continue reading … Biography of Raffaello Santi or Sanzio, Renaissance Painter

Famous Left-handed Artists

• Albrecht Dürer

• Hans Holbein

• LeRoy Neiman

• Paul Klee

• Raphael (High-Renaissance Painter)

 

 

Famous Left-handed Birthday, March 6

Michelangelo Buonarroti, Italian Renaissance Artist

Left-handed artist Michelangelo started painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel for Pope Julius II. This was in 1508, and he was only 33 years old.

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), or Michelangelo, as he is commonly called, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer.

His versatility in the fields of disciplines he took up was exceedingly in high order that he is often considered with the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, that is, along with fellow Italian, Leonardo da Vinci.

Michelangelo’s output in every field was just a prolific including sketches, volume of correspondence, and reminiscences that survive, as documented. His best-known works, the Pietà and David, were sculpted before he turned thirty. He also created two of the most influential works in fresco in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling and The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

As an architect, Michelangelo pioneered the Mannerist style at the Laurentian Library. At the age of 74, he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Scholars see proof of Michelangelo Buonarroti’s left-handedness in his depiction of Adam extending his left hand toward God on the ceiling of the Sisteine Chapel.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Famous Left-hander Birthday, March 3

Ronald Searle – Artist, Illustrator and Cartoonist

Ronald William Fordham Searle, CBE, RDI, is born on March 3, 1920, in Cambridge, England. He is an influential English artist and cartoonist best known as the creator of St Trinian’s School, the subject of several books and seven full-length films. He is also the co-author (with Geoffrey Willans) of the Molesworth series.

He started drawing at the age of five and left school at the age of 15. In April 1939, he abandoned his art studies to enlist in the Royal Engineers, after realizing that was was inevitable.

Searle trained at Cambridge College of Arts and Technology, currently Anglia Ruskin University, for two years, and in 1941, published the first St Trinian’s cartoon in the magazine Lilliput.

Famous Left-hander Birthday, March 3

English artist and cartoonist Ronald Searle

Ronald William Fordham Searle, CBE, RDI, born 3 March 1920, Cambridge, England, is an English artist and cartoonist. He is best known as the creator of St Trinian’s School. He is also the co-author with Geoffrey Willans, of the Molesworth series.

His father was a porter at Cambridge Railway Station. He started drawing at the age of five and left school at the age of 15. In April 1939, he abandoned his art studies to enlist in the Royal Engineers. He trained at Cambridge College of Arts and Technology, currently Anglia Ruskin University, for two years, and in 1941, published the first St Trinian’s cartoon in the magazine Lilliput.

Lefty Celebrants, December 18

• Betty Grable, Actress

• Paul Klee, Artist

• Brad Pitt, Actor

Trivia:

Betty Grable was the original pin-up girl. Theis beautiful lefty’s legs were insured wit Lloyds of London for a quarter million dollars. In 1941 she was voted “Best Figure.”

Lefty Quote:

“[The object of painting is] not to reflect the visible but to make visible.” ~ Paul Klee, Artist

Drawing Hands,  a Lithograph by M.C. Escher, Artist

I’ve always been fascinated by this sketch of Dutch artist M.C. Escher entitled “Drawing Hands.”  A lefty himself, Escher shows a left hand drawing a right hand, in turn, drawing the left hand.

Image Source: “Drawing Hands” sketch at  en.wikipedia.org

Famous Lefthander Birthday, January 15

American Clergyman and Leader in African-American Civil Rights

Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He was an American minister, a leader in the African-American civil rights movement. He is considered an icon of human rights.

King was a Christian minister, Baptist denomination. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott. He founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, becoming it’s first president.

His leadership led to the March on Washington in 1963, where he delivered his now famous “I Have a Dream” speech in which he raised public awareness of the civil rights movement.

In 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial discrimination through non-violent means. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenessee, and posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1977) and Congressional Gold Medal (2004.)

In 1986, the U.S. established Martin Luther King, Jr Day as an American National Holiday.

Quote from Martin Luther King, Jr:

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

As often quoted or listed, Pablo Picasso is not a leftie.  Thanks to Allison Clark for calling my attention through her recent comment, April 28, 2010.

And Mike1942, a contributor at answers.yahoo.com has confirmed this. We only need to consider Picasso’s several dozen pictures working with his right hand in “Goodbye Picasso” alone, says Mike.

Painter, Sculptor, Draughtsman – Artist Pablo Picasso

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