Half-Naked Birthday: Leonardo and Thomas Hart Benton
Posted by Kathleen Benton on Apr 15, 2010
This Half-Naked Thursday, April 15th, is tax day in the US. So a few diversions from the inevitable are in order and, as always, art does provide.
This day in history is also the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452–1519) and Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889–1975). Little else will align these two artists. Born almost four hundred years apart, their styles are naturally quite different. Leonardo, working at the center of his art world at the same time of Raphael and Michelangelo, strived in his painting for classic beauty, proportion, and composition. Thomas Hart Benton, on the other hand, eschewing the art worlds of New York and Paris for a Midwestern regionalist lifestyle and subject matter, worked in a decidedly mannerist style. Leonardo was probably a homosexual and Thomas Hart Benton was a documented homophobe. I wonder how an astrologist would work out all these contradictions.
Here are examples of each artists approach to myth:
Apple of Discord, 1949. Tempera glazed with oil on gessoed mahogany panel, 33 ½ x 43 ¼ inches, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Thomas Hart Benton, Persephone, ca. 1938, Alternate Title: Rape of Persephone, Tempera with oil glazes on canvas mounted on panel, 72 1/8 x 56 1/16 inches, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, Missouri
For more scholarly information on Leonardo probable homosexuality and an extensive bibliography for further reading click here. For more on Thomas Hart Benton’s life and views read his biography at The Artchive.
Kathleen Benton
© 2010 All rights reserved Kathleen Benton | You Can Hire an Artist
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Clicked your name in comments section of the Goombah because I wanted to say thanks for your “FB” advice and I ended up on your wonderful site. Beautiful! I love your work.
I was drawn to Benton’s name because he is from these parts, and there’s a street in nearby Gumm Crick named for one of his namesake and great uncle, who was a U.S. Senator for 30 years in the early 19th century.
Anyway, thanks.
Thank you for visiting my site and your compliments, Mr Thurmond. The dust has settled a bit now, ay? I think a Facebook page is a helpful tool for a web site, and I hope it works out for you, too.
I was familiar with Thomas Hart Benton’s art work long before I acquired the name. Apparently there are so many Bentons from your area that one might assume they are somehow all related. My husband’s family is orginally from Arkansas, however, and he is not sure of any connection. Perhaps in your spare time you could suss this out for us.
You’ve been listening to Robert Krulwich again, haven’t you Ms. Benton.
I thought I had proved to everyone’s satisfaction that I am neither sleuth nor “forensic picture-watcher.”
But when I get some spare time I’ll look into the Benton connection.
And yes, thank you, the dust is finally settling. But we were very fortunate that we had the windows open when such a strong wind came through to stir it up in the first place.
Now if I can just find that broom….
Hi. I just wanted to let you know that you have labeled a fairly well-known painting by Raphael in the Vatican as being the work of Da Vinci. The work does make an interesting comparison for the time, and Raphael was certainly influenced by Da Vinci, but the work should be attributed solely to Raphael. No need to post publicly – but I just wanted to let you know! … Otherwise, a fun juxtaposition of two interesting artists!
Hello Ro, I’d be interested to see the painting by Raphael from the Vatican to which you refer, but I think my notes are correct. If you copy the title, “Leonardo da Vinci, John the Baptist (with the attributes of Bacchus)”, and use it as search words you will find several results that attribute this painting to Leonardo. To me, it is also very apparent visually that the style is very much that of Leonardo, especially the face of John is similar to many of his madonnas and the background treatment as well.
I’m not an art historian, and I do appreciate any help in correcting errors I may make, but I’m sticking with Leo. Thanks for your interest and the compliment!