LEONARDO DA VINCI AND MICHELANGELO NOTORIOUSLY DISLIKED EACH OTHER

[Mark M]

"Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo notoriously disliked each other -- most acidly when Michelangelo aggressively dismissed Leonardo's arguments that painting was superior to Michelangelo's beloved sculpture."

--Martin Kemp in his Foreword to Noah Charney's The Devil in the Gallery: How Scandal, Shock, and Rivalry Shaped the Art World, 2021

"In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, artists and intellectuals liked to debate the relative merits of painting versus sculpture versus poetry.... Back in the day, this was a hot topic of conversation, referred to as the ut pictura poesis debate, drawing from a line by the Latin author Horace, which translates roughly as "as in painting, so in poetry." p.114

The author points out this painting (Velazquez, 1650) and bust (Bernini, 1650) of Pope Innocent X:


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-goEL5JsFL50/YdpYPdJNaEI/AAAAAAAAAMU/4JVXz9Xn5dU8gjhHiP870BM7PYFFkyOlACNcBGAsYHQ/image.png


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-QRadTl5Op6Y/YdpYFusFwDI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/EKOBcBKtzP8c_w0CzRCpzZni3RvCPf38wCNcBGAsYHQ/image.png


(Ironically, the book informs us that Leonardo "rarely completed anything -- he was known to have lingered over paintings. Mona Lisa, for instance, was touched up so often and so slowly that it was never actually given to its patron. There are around fifteen extant Leonardo paintings, ten of which might be described as 'finished.'"
 
(So we have more paintings from Michelangelo than Leonardo, given, for instance, the Sistine Chapel alone.)


Jane Roberts' Seth (who on this issue sided with Leonardo):

"Music, or rather a musical composition also achieves this state. Sculpture does not, for reasons that I will go into at a later time. The camouflage here however in the matter of a statue is too much like a prison. I am going to suggest a break. You may fly in as many pieces as you like at once."

—TES1 Session 19 January 27, 1964

"I mentioned once that I found sculpture to be a more imprisoning form than say painting, music or a poem, and here I will mention my reasonings. You will have to look at this in an opposite manner than is usually used when discussing such arts. I believe that it is usually considered that an art is more powerful if it appeals to as many outer senses as possible. That is, you would perhaps think that a statue would be extremely lifelike because it exists in space and depth, having width and girth. That is, you can feel it, see it and touch it."

—TES1 Session 22 February 4, 1964

"These capsules can be seen by you under certain circumstances, and have been called astral bodies—a term which does not meet with my pleasure. I would like to repeat again the fact that in many instances, and with exceptions, ideas not fully constructed on your plane not only have great force but are also freer from the effects of physical laws. The idea has at its command then greater and varied methods of expression, and from it varieties of construction can be attempted. I have mentioned the advantages of a painting over a piece of sculpture, and an idea not fully captured will find further expression."

—TES1 Session 40 April 1, 1964

"Your body is your own living sculpture — not only the shape, structure and nature of its form, but the miraculous sense-knowledge of its being and the unique effect it has upon others. The sculpture itself is also endowed with the power of creativity given to it by yourself."

—NoPR Chapter 10: Session 640, February 14, 1973

[Mark M]

The Devil in the Gallery shared that competition among artists for commissions back then was quite fierce.

[Bora137]

To me music is superior. You have audio, visual (words are visual) and vibrational. If asked between painting and sculpture I'd choose painting.

[Deb]

Thanks for the education on da Vinci and Michelangelo, I had no idea. I think they were both amazing artists. I appreciate good sculpture, but painting is my interest. And music is magical. It can affect people in ways, physically, that the other arts cannot.