Clover - Copper Patina Art by COPPERHAND Studio

Is the answer exciting? No more or less exciting than the answer to how Apple Computer started, and the place that was to provide the opportunity for it:

The garage.

The garage in Rancho Bernardo was my sanctuary, my laboratory, and, much like Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, the place I went when I was really up against it.

There I was in the garage one day making an elaborate mirror frame out of copper. I had been juried into the American Craft Council and was getting ready to do the big show in Chicago. It was a lot of work. It was complicated. There were many steps. It took a long time to make a piece.

Suddenly, simplicity seemed like a real good thing. I also wanted to focus more on making things that were not so much useful objects, though beautiful, but art. “I should just take big panels and hit them with a bunch of acid,” I thought, “maybe throw some things on them to create a pattern.”

Then – what did I do about it? Nothing. For years. Isn’t life like that?

The way it was to play out, and the way copper was to interact with my other artistic work as a painter, was something I could never have foreseen.

(TO BE CONTINUED…)

The Baptism of Christ
1472–1475
Oil on wood
177 × 151 cm
Verrocchio and Leonardo
Painted by Andrea del Verrocchio, with the angel on the left-hand side by Leonardo.[2] It is generally considered that Leonardo also painted much of the background landscape and the torso of Christ. One of Leonardo’s earliest extant works. Vasari’s statement that the angel on the left is by Leonardo is confirmed by studies by Bode, Seidlitz and Guthman, and accepted by McCurdy, Wasserman and others.[1]
Uffizi
Florence

Annunciation
c. 1472–1475
Oil on panel
98 × 217 cm
Almost universally accepted
Generally thought to be the earliest extant work entirely by Leonardo. The work was traditionally attributed to Verrocchio until 1869. It is now almost universally attributed to Leonardo. Attribution proposed by Liphart, accepted by Bode, Lubke, Muller-Walde, Berenson, Clark, Goldscheider and others.[1]
Uffizi
Florence

Ginevra de’ Benci
c. 1476
Oil on wood
38.8 × 36.7 cm, 15.3 × 14.4 in
Dependent on attribution of Lady with an Ermine
The work was proposed as a Leonardo by Waagen in 1866, and supported by Bode. Early 20th-century scholars were vociferous in their disagreement, but most current critics accept both the authorship and the identity of the sitter.[1]
National Gallery of Art
Washington, D.C.

Benois Madonna
1478
Oil on canvas
49.5 × 33 cm
Generally accepted
Most critics believe that it coincides with a Madonna mentioned by Leonardo in 1478.[1]
Hermitage Museum
Saint Petersburg

Madonna of the Carnation
1478–1480
Oil on panel
62 × 47.5 cm
Generally accepted
It is generally accepted as a Leonardo, but has some overpainting possibly by a Flemish artist.[1]
Alte Pinakothek
Munich

St. Jerome in the Wilderness
c. 1480
Tempera and oil on panel
103 × 75 cm, 41 × 30 in
Unfinished
Universally accepted
Vatican Museums

Adoration of the Magi
1481
Underpainting on panel
240 × 250 cm, 96 × 97 in
Unfinished
Universally accepted
Uffizi
Florence

Virgin of the Rocks
1483–1486
Oil on panel (transferred to canvas)
199 × 122 cm, 78.3 × 48.0 in
Universally accepted
Considered by most historians to be the earlier of two versions
Louvre
Paris

Lady with an Ermine
1485
Oil on wood panel
54 × 39 cm
Generally accepted
This painting has been subject to continued disagreement since it was first published as a Leonardo in 1889. The attribution of the “Ginevra de’ Benci” has supported the attribution of this painting.[1] The subject has been identified as Cecilia Gallerani.[3]
Czartoryski Museum
Kraków

Madonna Litta
c. 1490
Oil on canvas (transferred from panel)
42 × 33 cm
Disputed
Thought perhaps to be by Marco d’Oggiono
Hermitage Museum
Saint Petersburg

Portrait of a Musician
1490
Oil on wood panel
45 × 32 cm
Disputed
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana
Milan

La belle ferronnière
1490–1496
Oil on wood
62 × 44 cm
Disputed
Louvre
Paris

The Last Supper
1495–1498
tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic
460 × 880 cm, 181 × 346 in
Universally accepted
Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie
Milan

Virgin of the Rocks
1495–1508
Oil on panel
189.5 × 120 cm, 74.6 × 47.25 in
National Gallery, London
Leonardo and Ambrogio de Predis
Generally accepted as postdating the version in the Louvre, with collaboration of de Predis and perhaps others. While the date is not universally agreed, the collaboration of Leonardo’s workshop is.[1]
National Gallery
London

Sala delle Asse ceiling frescoes
circa 1498–1499 [4]
Castello Sforzesco
Milan

The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and St. John the Baptist
c. 1499–1500
Charcoal, black and white chalk on tinted paper
142 × 105 cm, 55.7 × 41.2 in
Universally accepted
National Gallery
London

Madonna of the Yarnwinder
c. 1501
Oil on canvas
50.2 × 36.4 cm
Disputed
Two versions exist,[5] apparently by different hands, perhaps copies of a lost work that is described by Leonardo. The best known, that belonging to the estate of the Duke of Buccleuch, was stolen in 2003, and recovered in 2007.[6]
Private collection

Private collection

Mona Lisa or La Gioconda
c. 1503–1506
Oil on cottonwood
76.8 × 53.0 cm, 30.2 × 20.9 in
Universally accepted
Louvre
Paris

The Virgin and Child with St. Anne
c. 1510
Oil on panel
168 × 112 cm, 66.1 × 44.1 in
Universally accepted
Louvre
Paris

Bacchus
1510–1515
Oil on walnut panel transferred to canvas
177 × 115 cm
Disputed
Generally considered to be a workshop copy of a drawing.[1]
Louvre
Paris

St. John the Baptist
1513–1516
Oil on walnut wood
69 × 57 cm, 27.2 × 22.4 in
Generally accepted
“Anonimo Gaddiano” wrote that Leonardo painted a St. John. This is generally considered Leonardo’s last masterpiece.[1]
Louvre
Paris

[edit]Lost works

Image Details Notes
Medusa
A juvenile work described by Giorgio Vasari.
Angel of the Annunciation
c. 1503
The painting is described by Vasari. A drawing survives among studies for the Battle of Anghiari (see below), and a copy is in the Kunstmuseum Basel.[7]

The Battle of Anghiari
1505
The remains of Leonardo’s fresco have been discovered in the Hall of the Five Hundred (Salone dei Cinquecento) in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.
Peter Paul Rubens, The Battle of Anghiari (pictured). Black chalk, pen and ink heightened with lead white, over-painted with watercolour, 54.2 x 63.7 cm. Musée du Louvre
Salvator Mundi
1506–1513
The painting is described by Vasari.

Leda and the Swan
1508
There are nine known copies of the painting, including:
Cesare Cesto, Leda and the Swan (pictured). Oil on wood, 69.5 x 73.7 cm. Wilton House, Wiltshire, United Kingdom
Anonymous, Leda and the Swan. Tempera on wood, 115 x 86 cm. Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy
[edit]Disputed or recent attributions

Image Details Attribution status Location

Tobias and the Angel
1470–80
Egg tempera on poplar
83.6 × 66 cm
Verrochio and workshop (including Leonardo?)
A painting by Verrocchio while Leonardo was in his workshop. Martin Kemp suggests that Leonardo may have painted some part of this work, most likely the fish. David Alan Brown, of the National Gallery in Washington, attributes the painting of the dog to him as well.
National Gallery
London

The Dreyfus Madonna
c. 1475–1480
Oil on panel
15.7 × 12.8 cm, 6.13 × 5 in
Disputed
Previously attributed to Verrocchio or Lorenzo di Credi. The anatomy of the Christ Child is so poor as to discourage firm attribution by most critics while some believe that it is a work of Leonardo’s youth. This attribution was made by Suida in 1929. Other art historians such as Shearman and Morelli attribute the work to Verrocchio.[1] Daniel Arasse discusses this painting as a youthful work in Leonardo da Vinci, (1997).[8]
National Gallery of Art
Washington, D.C.

The Holy Infants Embracing
c. 1486–1490
Several versions in private collections.

Christ Carrying the Cross
c. 1500
Oil on poplar
Previously attributed by Sotheby’s to Gian-Francesco de Maineri.[9][10] Attributed to Leonardo by its present owner.[9] Attribution based on the similarity of the tormentors of Christ to drawings made by Rubens of the Battle of Anghiari. According to Forbes Magazine, Leonardo expert Carlo Pedretti said that he knew of three similar paintings and that “All four paintings, he believed, were likely the work of Leonardo’s studio assistants and perhaps even the master himself.”[9]
Private collection
San Francisco

Madonna and Child with St Joseph or Adoration of the Christ Child
Tempera on panel
Diameter 87 cm
Previously attributed to Fra Bartolomeo. After recent cleaning, the Borghese Gallery sought attribution as a work of Leonardo’s youth, based on the presence of a fingerprint similar to one that appears in The Lady with the Ermine. Result of investigation not available.[11]
Galleria Borghese
Rome

Mary Magdalene
Recently attributed as a Leonardo by Carlo Pedretti. Previously regarded as the work of Giampietrino who painted a number of similar Magdalenes.[12] Carlo Pedretti’s attribution of this painting is not accepted by other scholars, eg Carlo Bertelli, (former director of the Brera Art Gallery in Milan), who said this painting is not by Leonardo and that the subject could be a Lucretia with the knife removed.[13]
Private collection

Young Girl in Profile in Renaissance Dress, or Profile of a Young Fiancée
Identified as a Leonardo by Martin Kemp and confirmed using the evidence of a fingerprint.[14]Other experts have not agreed with this attribution. As of 2010 the methods used to analyse the fingerprint have come into question.[15]
Private collection

Lucan Portrait of Leonardo
Discovered in 2008 in a private collection and identified as a self-portrait by Peter Hohenstatt and others. A date in the late 15th or 16th century has been confirmed by scientific testing. Fingerprints match those found on the Lady with the Ermine. Alternately attributed to Cristofano dell’Altissimo..[16]

"Windswept", 46 x 46 inches overall, two panels

Collector coming down from LA today to pick up his commissioned diptych. Looking forward to meeting Branden. This piece was a pleasure to do, one of my favorite subjects, as it truly shows the energy of the wind. Plus, he was clear and thoughtful about what he wanted. At the same time, he understood about leaving the process open to serendipity, letting the unforeseen contribute in the co-creation, so great!

“Light dances across the surface as hues and textures blend and shift in a never-ending performance of glimmering metal and rich blue greens. Patterns and markings eddy and dissipate, hinting at some sort of calligraphy in which the forces of nature speak a language all their own.

Creation, 24x24 inches

Exotic and yet familiar, as old as the world itself, the varied voices of copper make it different at every meeting. Somehow quiet and bold at the same time, thrilling and calming, beautiful, serene and turbulent, the surface of copper challenges us to know it.

With the changing light and our changing vantage point as we move, copper continually reveals itself. In the hands of the artist, in concert with nature, copper pleases the senses and soothes the soul.”

Are you feeling it?