How Stealing the Swag of Artists That Came Before You Builds on Art History
Find Your Voice Like a Thief
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- All great artists, from Da Vinci to Michelangelo, built on the ideas of those who came before them, transforming rather than merely imitating.
- Leonardo da Vinci’s genius lay in synthesizing multiple disciplines, borrowing from ancient texts and contemporary thinkers to refine and reinterpret existing ideas.
- By obsessively copying past artists and studying human anatomy, Michelangelo developed a distinctive style that surpassed his influences.
- Learning from both Da Vinci and Michelangelo, Raphael combined their innovations with his own sensibilities to create The School of Athens.
- To find your own artistic voice, deeply internalize diverse influences, analyze what captivates you, blend those elements into something new, and ultimately evolve beyond your inspirations.
Tracing is cheating! That's what they said about the music industry using auto-tune as well. Except art isn't a sport. There's no such thing as cheating unless you're plagiarizing. And if you, as an artist, can steal inspiration as elegantly as you create your own work you may discover your own voice through the noise.
The societal myth of originality says that you have to come up with something completely from your own imagination. But that isn't how art history unfolded. Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like An Artist, wrote:
"Nothing is truly original—all creative work builds on what came before it."
The greatest artists in history did the same thing. Michelangelo, Rapael, Leonardo da Vinci, and even a Silicon Valley legend like Steve Jobs all have one thing in common. They stole ideas that came well before them. The late Apple CEO once said, "good artists borrow. Great artists steal." Which is often accredited as a quote originally by Picasso. But knowing these blokes, I wouldn't be surprised if Picasso stole it from somewhere else. But why isn't that a problem? And how did it lead to the most unique voices in art and tech history? Because the elegance of swag theft isn't through imitation, but by internalizing and reenvisioning your favorite themes and elements. It's like my first philosophy professor told me:
"Intelligence is the ability to retain information. Genius is the ability to make new patterns with it."
I.
What made Leonardo Da Vinci great wasn't his mastery of a single discipline. It was his proficiency across disciplines that he welded together with his work. His synthesis of the work in his era is what made him the face of the Renaissance.
You've seen the Vitruvian Man before. Everybody's seen it. This might just be the first time you're hearing the title of the piece. I'm bad with names too, don't worry. The famous man in a circle by da Vinci, who looks like he's about to impress us with some circus hula hoop tricks, was a deeply symbolic image to art connoisseurs of the era. Renaissance was a time that beauty was a subject front and center. The idea that a human body reflected the mathematical abstractions of the universe was closely tied to the notion of beauty. Which is why da Vinci would often depict human forms imitating geometric shapes. The circle was a mathematical icon of divinity. The Vitruvian Man perfectly fitting into a circle was an indication that the human form was perfect.
It was also stolen. Italian architectural historian, Claudio Sgarbi, thinks one of Leonardo's close friends was actually the first to begin drafting the idea. Giacomo Andrea de Ferrara, Renaissance architect, had dinner with da Vinci in 1490--the same year they both made their attempts at depicting the Vitruvian Man. But for being first Ferrara didn't do as good a job as da Vinci who seems to crush every medium he touched. The discipline-fluid visionary surpassed his friend's drafts which were mostly false starts and revisions. Leonardo's superior grasp of anatomy made his completed work the one that would survive the test of time. And although Ferrara might've been the Vitruvian expert who had the idea of the image, they were both clearly chasing the vision of ancient Roman architect Vitruvius who was the first to envision the human form fitting perfectly in either a circle (indicating divinity) or a square (indicating the Earth).
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da Vinci didn't get his nickname, Renaissance Man, by staying in his lane. Ahead of his time, Leonardo internalized influences from various sources and improved upon them. His mentor, Marcantonio della Tore, impressed upon him a revolutionary advancement in illustration to pursue the medical hegemony of Galenic anatomy notes. Tore was known as being “one of the first to begin to illustrate matters of medicine by the teachings of Galen and to throw true light on anatomy." Galen was one of the most accomplished medical researchers of antiquity who's work would become mainstream and perceived as infallible to the public. It made sense that da Vinci's pursuit of anatomical precision would follow Galen's medical research. By internalizing it, Leonardo would prove to be one of the most proficient and anatomically accurate illustrators of his day.
In The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man (2006) by Martin Kemp, he detailed how da Vinci wasn't reinventing the wheel, but refining and reinterpreting existing ideas. Kemp would use the word "disegno" to describe the master's visual process. Disegno was a Renaissance term used to refer to drawing or design. Leonardo's method of disegno combined fantasia, or subjective imaginative faculty, with intellect which allowed him to build scientia, or the Renaissance concept of science. Which is all to say that the guy had a good eye. By combining his interpretations of Galenic texts with what he saw in cadavers the prodigy built something more respectable for medical science than the drafts produced by the artists that came before him.
II.
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was also no stranger to imitation, or the genius it takes to remix that internalization into new masterworks.
He spent what many would call an unhealthy amount of time copying Giotto’s frescoes and Donatello’s sculptures. And unlike most artists of his time, Michelangelo wouldn't stop at drawing references and sculptures. Like da Vinci, Michelangelo wasn't afraid of getting his hands dirty with dissections. But instead of dwelling on the organs, like some of his peers, he focused on muscle and bones to understand the dynamics of movement.
That focus on muscle and bones gave the legend a strong grasp of the contours that appeared on the skin and clothing due to the movement of those masses near the surface of the flesh. Without that discipline-fluid approach he would've never imagined the heroic nudes decorating the Sistine Chapel.
By thoroughly copying the masters that came before him Michelangelo was able to ride on the shoulders of giants on the path to his name becoming a legend in history. He didn't just steal from one great artist. Several influences went into his vision. Plus the added interdisciplinary approach to dissections gave his outlook on the human form a distinct angle that other artists weren't replicating at the time. By putting all of this together Michelangelo assured that history wouldn't forget his name.
III.
Raphael, inspired by the former 2 thieves we discussed, understood the assignment.
The School of Athens is considered the greatest work by Raphael as it combines techniques from both da Vinci and Michelangelo while also using Raphael's preference for color.
Leonardo and Michelangelo were thrown into competition by the city of Florence. The city was obsessed with Renaissance competition and had an appetite for a rivalry they manufactured between Michelangelo and da Vinci. That obsession went to the point that the city commissioned both artists to paint frescoes on opposing walls in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.
Raphael grew up in this environment understanding a perceived rivalry between two of his favorite artists. Combining the sfumato techniques of da Vinci and the human forms from Michelangelo's sculptures, Raphael envisioned his legendary masterpiece while balancing his personal tastes.
IV.
Between legendary artists theft is a craft. A craft carried with as much elegance as their art. You can steal this theft-craft for your own artistic path. Just don't conflate this with plagiarism and tell people Derek said you could steal someone else's work and pass it off as your own.
When you're beginning your artistic journey it's important not to dwell in any particular genre or technique. Adopt as many influences as possible. Basically just take all of your aesthetic favorites and internalize them deeply. Saturate your days with admiration for everything you find beautiful. Even if it's outside your medium. da Vinci and Michelangelo would've never ascended to visual art mastery if they hadn't dared to try their hand in the dissection of cadavers. Let inspiration become your obsession. Look for the extraordinary in the ordinary. Find every excuse to be amazed.
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Bring those influences together to alchemize the mosaic of artistry swimming in your head. This is where you have to get really particular. Sure you like this and that, but why? You're going to want to dissect art the way a surgeon dissects a body. Really identify what about the art impresses you. Specifically what themes or elements allure you to keep fascinating over it? After you have a list of those aesthetic tastes it's time to Frankenstein them. Stitch your preferences together to form an altogether new visionary pattern the world hasn't seen before. Is the world ready for abstract surrealist dadaism? Only you could say, if that's your thing.
Finally, you need to depart from your influences. This whole time you've been internalizing artwork like a baby bird internalizing worms from its mother securely in the nest. Now you need to fly away. If you've taken the first two steps seriously then you have the wings to become your own artist. Fly away from the inner child who's jaw-dropped at your inspirations for the first time. Emerge from the nest ready to bring new sights from the skies to the Earth-walkers waiting for escapism. The first half of your career will be trying to catch up with the greats before you. The second half will be trying to pronounce your path distinctly from the giants that paved the road before you.
