Film 2: Da Vinci/Bruce

1. Fiona Bruce is the presenter of Leonardo's paintings and his life from start to finish. In this film, she takes us through Leonardo's life as a painter. She also introduces the world to a new painting "The savior of the world." We should believe her stories because she tells Leonardo's life by visiting certain locations where he resided and painted, but also having restorers, curators, art historians, and Leonardo biographers tell the story of the great painter.

2.My favorite painting of Leonardo is The lady with the Ermine. This portrait is the elegant young mistress of Duke Ludovico Sforza. I like this because the young girl is filled with life. To me, it seems as if this was captured through the lenses of a camera. The portrait is so vivid down to the facial structure and the bones and muscles in her hand grasping the ermine. According to Fiona, the ermine symbolizes their relationship, her purity, sex and power. An ermine is said to be pure because it does not get its white coat dirty. It has survived two world wars and resides in Poland. At first glance, I follow the direction that her eyes are pointed toward. Then, I look at her face. Last, I look at the mysterious looking animal that she holds in her hand. The reason that I look at these things in this order because Leonardo places emphasis on each item. He feels like he wants the viewer to follow her eyes, look at her face,and then the animal in her hand.

3. Fiona chooses to use other experts to tell parts of the story because it adds credibility to her story. To listen to these experts we actually get a sense of how each portrait was created, Leonardo's style of painting, and significant parts of his life. The most effective interviews were the ones in which Fiona actually sat down with the curator, restorer, or art historian to discuss the paintings and how they believed it was Leonardo's work. During these interviews, the expert provided us with knowledge based on their experience of his work. These were effective because these individuals shed light on Leonardo's life, but also helped the audience and Fiona understand Leonardo's paintings.

4. Why is only 20% of Leonardo's "The Last Supper" remaining of the fresco painting?