Painting v/s Sculpting

In an earlier blog on Michelangelo, I mentioned that the man synonymous with artistic genius considered himself a sculptor, not an artist (ironically, he said that while he was painting the Sistine Chapel!). Michelangelo took on the famous statue of David assignment “not wanting to be outdone by an artist that he considered only a part-time sculptor”, i.e., Leonardo da Vinci.

 

And therein lies a tale of a rivalry of two forms of art: painting v/s sculpting. In his biography of Leonarda da Vinci, Walter Isaacson writes about Leonardo’s view on which was the greater form of art: paintings or sculptures? As you might have guessed, Leonardo sided with paintings.

 

True creativity, argued Leonardo, “involves the ability to combine observation with imaginations, blurring the boundary between reality and fantasy”. And while he was in comparison mode, he took a shot at poetry, something that “is less noble than painting”. While admitting he was wasn’t well read, he said that “as a painter he did something more glorious, which was to read nature”.

 

Then he reverted to his comparison with sculpting. Unsurprisingly, he argued that “painting is more elevated than sculpture”. Why?

“The painter has to depict “light, shade, and colour”, which the sculptor can generally ignore. Therefore, sculpture has fewer considerations and consequently requires less ingenuity than painting.”

 

The snob in Leonardo shows up when he declares sculpting to be a “messier endeavour, one not suitable for a gentleman of the court”. (At the time, Leonardo was a member of the court of the Duke of Milan). The sculptor is “pasted and smeared all over with marble powder… his dwelling is dirty and filled with dust and chips of stone” whereas the painter “sits before his work at the greatest of ease, well dressed and applying delicate colors with his light brush”.

 

Isaacson points out the time immemorial divide of creativity into mechanical arts and the more exalted liberal arts. Painting has been called a mechanical art because it is based on handiwork. Leonardo protests against that classification arguing that painting isn’t just an art, it is also science. How can you portray a 3D world onto a 2D canvas without an understanding of “perspective and optics”, he counters. In other words, he continues, painting requires a grounding in mathematics!

 

Professional rivalry. I guess it’s been there since ancient times. Even among people at the very top of their fields.