Art Trivia

I found this stuff in a newspaper clipping I'd saved. I finally decided to get rid of all that paper but since this is interesting, I'm typing it out here so I don't lose this information.

Leonardo Da Vinci spent 12 years painting the Mona Lisa's lips.

When the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in 1912, 6 replicas were sold as the original, each at a huge price, in the three years before the original was discovered.

In 1495, Da Vinci designed a pyramid shaped parachute and began painting The Last Supper

Paul Gauguin worked as a labourer on the Panama Canal but was dismissed within 2 weeks. About 25,000 workers died during its construction.

French sculptor Auguste Rodin died due to extreme cold in 1917 when the French government refused him financial aid for a flat. However they kept his statues warmly housed in museums.

The sculpture below is called Gates of Hell and is based on Dante's Inferno


Here's an incredibly useful video on the sculpture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pgZwJ7RJFk

During his entire life, artist Vincent Van Gogh sold just one painting; Red Vineyards at Arles

'Gothic' was originally a term of criticism among the Italian Renaissance artists who coined it. The term implied that, compared to superior classical buildings, the Gothic medieval cathedrals were so crude that only a Goth could produce them.

The word cartoon originally comes from painting terminology. It relates to a preliminary but fully worked sketch from which the outlines could be transferred to be the basis of a design or a fresco or painting.

During World War II the Nazis stole more than 600,000 works of art making this the largest organised theft of art in history.

The Louvre Museum and Art Gallery in Paris was built in 1190 and was used as a fortress.

Pablo Picasso could draw before he could walk and his first word was the Spanish word for pencil.