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On May 2, 1519, Leonardo da Vinci, artist/scientist, died at the age of 67. From the article:
"Leonardo da Vinci
‘Vitruvian Man’
Art and science intersected perfectly in da Vinci’s sketch of “Vitruvian Man,” drawn in 1490, which depicted a male figure in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart inside both a square and a circle. The sketch represents Leonardo’s study of proportion as well as his desire to relate man to nature.
'The Last Supper'
Around 1495, Ludovico Sforza, then the Duke of Milan, commissioned da Vinci to paint “The Last Supper” on the back wall of the dining hall inside the monastery of Milan’s Santa Maria delle Grazie.
The masterpiece, which took approximately three years to complete, captures the drama of the moment when Jesus informs the Twelve Apostles gathered for Passover dinner that one of them would soon betray him. The range of facial expressions and the body language of the figures around the table bring the masterful composition to life.
The decision by da Vinci to paint with tempera and oil on dried plaster instead of painting a fresco on fresh plaster led to the quick deterioration and flaking of “The Last Supper.” Although an improper restoration caused further damage to the mural, it has now been stabilized using modern conservation techniques.
‘Mona Lisa’
In 1503, da Vinci started working on what would become his most well known painting — and arguably the most famous painting in the world —the “Mona Lisa.” The privately commissioned work is characterized by the enigmatic smile of the woman in the half-portrait, which derives from da Vinci’s sfumato technique.
Adding to the allure of the “Mona Lisa” is the mystery surrounding the identity of the subject. Princess Isabella of Naples, an unnamed courtesan and da Vinci’s own mother have all been put forth as potential sitters for the masterpiece. It has even been speculated that the subject wasn’t a female at all but da Vinci’s longtime apprentice Salai dressed in women’s clothing.
Based on accounts from an early biographer, however, the "Mona Lisa" is a picture of Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a wealthy Florentine silk merchant. The painting’s original Italian name — “La Gioconda” — supports the theory, but it’s far from certain. Some art historians believe the merchant commissioned the portrait to celebrate the pending birth of the couple’s next child, which means the subject could have been pregnant at the time of the painting.
If the Giocondo family did indeed commission the painting, they never received it. For da Vinci, the "Mona Lisa" was forever a work in progress, as it was his attempt at perfection, and he never parted with the painting. Today, the "Mona Lisa" hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, secured behind bulletproof glass and regarded as a priceless national treasure seen by millions of visitors each year.
‘Battle of Anghiari’
In 1503, da Vinci also started work on the “Battle of Anghiari,” a mural commissioned for the council hall in the Palazzo Vecchio that was to be twice as large as “The Last Supper.” He abandoned the project after two years when the mural began to deteriorate before he had a chance to finish it.
Sculptures
Ludovico Sforza also tasked da Vinci with sculpting a 16-foot-tall bronze equestrian statue of his father and founder of the family dynasty, Francesco Sforza. With the help of apprentices and students in his workshop, da Vinci worked on the project on and off for more than a dozen years.
Leonardo sculpted a life-size clay model of the statue, but the project was put on hold when war with France required bronze to be used for casting cannons, not sculptures. After French forces overran Milan in 1499 — and shot the clay model to pieces — da Vinci fled the city along with the duke and the Sforza family.
Ironically, Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, who led the French forces that conquered Ludovico in 1499, followed in his foe’s footsteps and commissioned da Vinci to sculpt a grand equestrian statue, one that could be mounted on his tomb. After years of work and numerous sketches by da Vinci, Trivulzio decided to scale back the size of the statue, which was ultimately never finished.
Painting Techniques
Leonardo da Vinci is well known for his pioneering use of two painting techniques:
Chiaroscuro: a stark contrast between darkness and light that gave a three-dimensionality to da Vinci’s figures.
Sfumato: a technique in which subtle gradations, rather than strict borders, infuse paintings with a softer, smoky aura.
His painting “Virgin of the Rocks,” begun in 1483, is a classic example of both of these techniques.
Flying Machine
A man ahead of his time, da Vinci appeared to prophesy the future with his sketches of machines resembling a bicycle and a helicopter. Perhaps his most well-known “invention” is a “flying machine,” which is based on the physiology of a bat.
Where Was da Vinci Born?
Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, in a farmhouse outside the village of Anchiano, in present-day Italy.
Family, Education and Early Life
Born out of wedlock to respected Florentine notary Ser Piero and a young peasant woman named Caterina, Leonardo da Vinci was raised by his father and his stepmother. At the age of five, he moved to his father’s family estate in nearby Vinci, the Tuscan town from which the surname associated with Leonardo derives, and lived with his uncle and grandparents.
Young Leonardo received little formal education beyond basic reading, writing and mathematics instruction, but his artistic talents were evident from an early age.
Around the age of 14, da Vinci began a lengthy apprenticeship with the noted artist Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence. He learned a wide breadth of technical skills including metalworking, leather arts, carpentry, drawing, painting and sculpting. His earliest known dated work — a pen-and-ink drawing of a landscape in the Arno valley — was sketched in 1473.
At the age of 20, da Vinci qualified for membership as a master artist in Florence’s Guild of Saint Luke and established his own workshop. However, he continued to collaborate with his teacher for an additional five years.
It is thought that del Verrocchio completed his “Baptism of Christ” around 1475 with the help of his student, who painted part of the background and the young angel holding the robe of Jesus. According to Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, written around 1550 by artist Giorgio Vasari, Verrocchio was so humbled by the superior talent of his pupil that he never picked up a paintbrush again. Most scholars, however, dismiss Vasari’s account as apocryphal.
In 1478, after leaving Verrocchio’s studio, da Vinci received his first independent commission for an altarpiece to reside in a chapel inside Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio. Three years later the Augustinian monks of Florence’s San Donato a Scopeto tasked him to paint “Adoration of the Magi.” The young artist, however, would leave the city and abandon both commissions without ever completing them.
Leonardo da Vinci Inventions
In 1482, Florentine ruler Lorenzo de' Medici commissioned da Vinci to create a silver lyre and bring it as a peace gesture to Ludovico Sforza. After doing so, da Vinci lobbied Ludovico for a job and sent the future Duke of Milan a letter that barely mentioned his considerable talents as an artist and instead touted his more marketable skills as a military engineer.
Using his inventive mind, da Vinci sketched war machines such as a war chariot with scythe blades mounted on the sides, an armored tank propelled by two men cranking a shaft and even an enormous crossbow that required a small army of men to operate.
The letter worked, and Ludovico brought da Vinci to Milan for a tenure that would last 17 years. During his time in Milan, Leonardo was commissioned to work on numerous artistic projects as well, including “The Last Supper.”
Leonardo’s ability to be employed by the Sforza clan as an architecture and military engineering advisor as well as a painter and sculptor spoke to da Vinci’s keen intellect and curiosity about a wide variety of subjects.
Like many leaders of Renaissance humanism, da Vinci did not see a divide between science and art. He viewed the two as intertwined disciplines rather than separate ones. He believed studying science made him a better artist.
In 1502 and 1503, da Vinci also briefly worked in Florence as a military engineer for Cesare Borgia, the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI and commander of the papal army. He traveled outside of Florence to survey military construction projects and sketch city plans and topographical maps.
He designed plans, possibly with noted diplomat Niccolò Machiavelli, to divert the Arno River away from rival Pisa in order to deny its wartime enemy access to the sea.
Da Vinci’s Study of Anatomy and Science
Leonardo da Vinci thought sight was humankind’s most important sense and eyes the most important organ, and he stressed the importance of saper vedere, or “knowing how to see.” He believed in the accumulation of direct knowledge and facts through observation.
“A good painter has two chief objects to paint — man and the intention of his soul,” da Vinci wrote. “The former is easy, the latter hard, for it must be expressed by gestures and the movement of the limbs.”
To more accurately depict those gestures and movements, da Vinci began to study anatomy seriously and dissect human and animal bodies during the 1480s. His drawings of a fetus in utero, the heart and vascular system, sex organs and other bone and muscular structures are some of the first on human record.
In addition to his anatomical investigations, da Vinci studied botany, geology, zoology, hydraulics, aeronautics and physics. He sketched his observations on loose sheets of papers and pads that he tucked inside his belt.
Da Vinci placed the papers in notebooks and arranged them around four broad themes—painting, architecture, mechanics and human anatomy. He filled dozens of notebooks with finely drawn illustrations and scientific observations. His ideas were mainly theoretical explanations, laid out in exacting detail, but they were rarely experimental.
Book and Movie
Although much has been written about da Vinci over the years, Walter Isaacson explored new territory with an acclaimed 2017 biography, Leonardo da Vinci, which offers up details on what drove the artist's creations and inventions.
The buzz surrounding the book carried into 2018, with the announcement that it had been optioned for a big-screen adaptation starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Was Leonardo da Vinci Gay?
Florentine court records show that in 1476 da Vinci and four other young men were charged with sodomy, a crime punishable by exile or even death. After da Vinci was acquitted, his whereabouts went entirely undocumented for the following two years.
Final Years
Leonardo returned to Milan in 1506 to work for the very French rulers who had overtaken the city seven years earlier and forced him to flee.
Among the students who joined his studio was young Milanese aristocrat Francesco Melzi, who would become da Vinci’s closest companion for the rest of his life. He did little painting during his second stint in Milan, however, and most of his time was instead dedicated to scientific studies.
Amid political strife and the temporary expulsion of the French from Milan, da Vinci left the city and moved to Rome in 1513 along with Salai, Melzi and two studio assistants. Giuliano de’ Medici, brother of newly installed Pope Leo X and son of his former patron, gave da Vinci a monthly stipend along with a suite of rooms at his residence inside the Vatican.
His new patron, however, also gave da Vinci little work. Lacking large commissions, he devoted most of his time in Rome to mathematical studies and scientific exploration.
After being present at a 1515 meeting between France’s King Francis I and Pope Leo X in Bologna, the new French monarch offered da Vinci the title “Premier Painter and Engineer and Architect to the King.”
Along with Melzi, da Vinci departed for France, never to return. He lived in the Chateau de Cloux (now Clos Luce) near the king’s summer palace along the Loire River in Amboise. As in Rome, da Vinci did little painting during his time in France. One of his last commissioned works was a mechanical lion that could walk and open its chest to reveal a bouquet of lilies.
How Did Leonardo da Vinci Die?
Leonardo da Vinci died of a probable stroke on May 2, 1519, at the age of 67. He continued work on his scientific studies until his death; his assistant, Melzi, became the principal heir and executor of his estate. The “Mona Lisa” was bequeathed to Salai.
For centuries after his death, thousands of pages from his private journals with notes, drawings, observations and scientific theories have surfaced and provided a fuller measure of a true "Renaissance man."
Auction Sale of 'Salvator Mundi'
In November 2017, the art world was sent buzzing with the news that the da Vinci painting "Salvator Mundi" had been sold at a Christie's auction to an undisclosed buyer for a whopping $450.3 million. That amount dwarfed the previous record for an art work sold at an auction, the $179.4 million paid for Picasso's “Women of Algiers" in 2015.
The sales figure was stunning in part because of the damaged condition of the oil-on-panel, which features Christ with his right hand raised in blessing and his left holding a crystal orb, and because not all experts believe it was rendered by da Vinci. However, Christie's had launched what one dealer called a "brilliant marketing campaign," which promoted the work as "the holy grail of our business" and "the last da Vinci." Prior to the sale, it was the only known painting by the old master still in a private collection.
In early December, the mystery buyer was said to be Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, a friend of the country's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. However, the Saudi Embassy in Washington soon clarified matters, saying Prince Bader had acted as an agent for the ministry of culture of Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. Around that time, the newly opened Louvre Abu Dhabi announced that the record-breaking art work would be exhibited in its collection."
"Leonardo da Vinci
‘Vitruvian Man’
Art and science intersected perfectly in da Vinci’s sketch of “Vitruvian Man,” drawn in 1490, which depicted a male figure in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart inside both a square and a circle. The sketch represents Leonardo’s study of proportion as well as his desire to relate man to nature.
'The Last Supper'
Around 1495, Ludovico Sforza, then the Duke of Milan, commissioned da Vinci to paint “The Last Supper” on the back wall of the dining hall inside the monastery of Milan’s Santa Maria delle Grazie.
The masterpiece, which took approximately three years to complete, captures the drama of the moment when Jesus informs the Twelve Apostles gathered for Passover dinner that one of them would soon betray him. The range of facial expressions and the body language of the figures around the table bring the masterful composition to life.
The decision by da Vinci to paint with tempera and oil on dried plaster instead of painting a fresco on fresh plaster led to the quick deterioration and flaking of “The Last Supper.” Although an improper restoration caused further damage to the mural, it has now been stabilized using modern conservation techniques.
‘Mona Lisa’
In 1503, da Vinci started working on what would become his most well known painting — and arguably the most famous painting in the world —the “Mona Lisa.” The privately commissioned work is characterized by the enigmatic smile of the woman in the half-portrait, which derives from da Vinci’s sfumato technique.
Adding to the allure of the “Mona Lisa” is the mystery surrounding the identity of the subject. Princess Isabella of Naples, an unnamed courtesan and da Vinci’s own mother have all been put forth as potential sitters for the masterpiece. It has even been speculated that the subject wasn’t a female at all but da Vinci’s longtime apprentice Salai dressed in women’s clothing.
Based on accounts from an early biographer, however, the "Mona Lisa" is a picture of Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a wealthy Florentine silk merchant. The painting’s original Italian name — “La Gioconda” — supports the theory, but it’s far from certain. Some art historians believe the merchant commissioned the portrait to celebrate the pending birth of the couple’s next child, which means the subject could have been pregnant at the time of the painting.
If the Giocondo family did indeed commission the painting, they never received it. For da Vinci, the "Mona Lisa" was forever a work in progress, as it was his attempt at perfection, and he never parted with the painting. Today, the "Mona Lisa" hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, secured behind bulletproof glass and regarded as a priceless national treasure seen by millions of visitors each year.
‘Battle of Anghiari’
In 1503, da Vinci also started work on the “Battle of Anghiari,” a mural commissioned for the council hall in the Palazzo Vecchio that was to be twice as large as “The Last Supper.” He abandoned the project after two years when the mural began to deteriorate before he had a chance to finish it.
Sculptures
Ludovico Sforza also tasked da Vinci with sculpting a 16-foot-tall bronze equestrian statue of his father and founder of the family dynasty, Francesco Sforza. With the help of apprentices and students in his workshop, da Vinci worked on the project on and off for more than a dozen years.
Leonardo sculpted a life-size clay model of the statue, but the project was put on hold when war with France required bronze to be used for casting cannons, not sculptures. After French forces overran Milan in 1499 — and shot the clay model to pieces — da Vinci fled the city along with the duke and the Sforza family.
Ironically, Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, who led the French forces that conquered Ludovico in 1499, followed in his foe’s footsteps and commissioned da Vinci to sculpt a grand equestrian statue, one that could be mounted on his tomb. After years of work and numerous sketches by da Vinci, Trivulzio decided to scale back the size of the statue, which was ultimately never finished.
Painting Techniques
Leonardo da Vinci is well known for his pioneering use of two painting techniques:
Chiaroscuro: a stark contrast between darkness and light that gave a three-dimensionality to da Vinci’s figures.
Sfumato: a technique in which subtle gradations, rather than strict borders, infuse paintings with a softer, smoky aura.
His painting “Virgin of the Rocks,” begun in 1483, is a classic example of both of these techniques.
Flying Machine
A man ahead of his time, da Vinci appeared to prophesy the future with his sketches of machines resembling a bicycle and a helicopter. Perhaps his most well-known “invention” is a “flying machine,” which is based on the physiology of a bat.
Where Was da Vinci Born?
Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452, in a farmhouse outside the village of Anchiano, in present-day Italy.
Family, Education and Early Life
Born out of wedlock to respected Florentine notary Ser Piero and a young peasant woman named Caterina, Leonardo da Vinci was raised by his father and his stepmother. At the age of five, he moved to his father’s family estate in nearby Vinci, the Tuscan town from which the surname associated with Leonardo derives, and lived with his uncle and grandparents.
Young Leonardo received little formal education beyond basic reading, writing and mathematics instruction, but his artistic talents were evident from an early age.
Around the age of 14, da Vinci began a lengthy apprenticeship with the noted artist Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence. He learned a wide breadth of technical skills including metalworking, leather arts, carpentry, drawing, painting and sculpting. His earliest known dated work — a pen-and-ink drawing of a landscape in the Arno valley — was sketched in 1473.
At the age of 20, da Vinci qualified for membership as a master artist in Florence’s Guild of Saint Luke and established his own workshop. However, he continued to collaborate with his teacher for an additional five years.
It is thought that del Verrocchio completed his “Baptism of Christ” around 1475 with the help of his student, who painted part of the background and the young angel holding the robe of Jesus. According to Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, written around 1550 by artist Giorgio Vasari, Verrocchio was so humbled by the superior talent of his pupil that he never picked up a paintbrush again. Most scholars, however, dismiss Vasari’s account as apocryphal.
In 1478, after leaving Verrocchio’s studio, da Vinci received his first independent commission for an altarpiece to reside in a chapel inside Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio. Three years later the Augustinian monks of Florence’s San Donato a Scopeto tasked him to paint “Adoration of the Magi.” The young artist, however, would leave the city and abandon both commissions without ever completing them.
Leonardo da Vinci Inventions
In 1482, Florentine ruler Lorenzo de' Medici commissioned da Vinci to create a silver lyre and bring it as a peace gesture to Ludovico Sforza. After doing so, da Vinci lobbied Ludovico for a job and sent the future Duke of Milan a letter that barely mentioned his considerable talents as an artist and instead touted his more marketable skills as a military engineer.
Using his inventive mind, da Vinci sketched war machines such as a war chariot with scythe blades mounted on the sides, an armored tank propelled by two men cranking a shaft and even an enormous crossbow that required a small army of men to operate.
The letter worked, and Ludovico brought da Vinci to Milan for a tenure that would last 17 years. During his time in Milan, Leonardo was commissioned to work on numerous artistic projects as well, including “The Last Supper.”
Leonardo’s ability to be employed by the Sforza clan as an architecture and military engineering advisor as well as a painter and sculptor spoke to da Vinci’s keen intellect and curiosity about a wide variety of subjects.
Like many leaders of Renaissance humanism, da Vinci did not see a divide between science and art. He viewed the two as intertwined disciplines rather than separate ones. He believed studying science made him a better artist.
In 1502 and 1503, da Vinci also briefly worked in Florence as a military engineer for Cesare Borgia, the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI and commander of the papal army. He traveled outside of Florence to survey military construction projects and sketch city plans and topographical maps.
He designed plans, possibly with noted diplomat Niccolò Machiavelli, to divert the Arno River away from rival Pisa in order to deny its wartime enemy access to the sea.
Da Vinci’s Study of Anatomy and Science
Leonardo da Vinci thought sight was humankind’s most important sense and eyes the most important organ, and he stressed the importance of saper vedere, or “knowing how to see.” He believed in the accumulation of direct knowledge and facts through observation.
“A good painter has two chief objects to paint — man and the intention of his soul,” da Vinci wrote. “The former is easy, the latter hard, for it must be expressed by gestures and the movement of the limbs.”
To more accurately depict those gestures and movements, da Vinci began to study anatomy seriously and dissect human and animal bodies during the 1480s. His drawings of a fetus in utero, the heart and vascular system, sex organs and other bone and muscular structures are some of the first on human record.
In addition to his anatomical investigations, da Vinci studied botany, geology, zoology, hydraulics, aeronautics and physics. He sketched his observations on loose sheets of papers and pads that he tucked inside his belt.
Da Vinci placed the papers in notebooks and arranged them around four broad themes—painting, architecture, mechanics and human anatomy. He filled dozens of notebooks with finely drawn illustrations and scientific observations. His ideas were mainly theoretical explanations, laid out in exacting detail, but they were rarely experimental.
Book and Movie
Although much has been written about da Vinci over the years, Walter Isaacson explored new territory with an acclaimed 2017 biography, Leonardo da Vinci, which offers up details on what drove the artist's creations and inventions.
The buzz surrounding the book carried into 2018, with the announcement that it had been optioned for a big-screen adaptation starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Was Leonardo da Vinci Gay?
Florentine court records show that in 1476 da Vinci and four other young men were charged with sodomy, a crime punishable by exile or even death. After da Vinci was acquitted, his whereabouts went entirely undocumented for the following two years.
Final Years
Leonardo returned to Milan in 1506 to work for the very French rulers who had overtaken the city seven years earlier and forced him to flee.
Among the students who joined his studio was young Milanese aristocrat Francesco Melzi, who would become da Vinci’s closest companion for the rest of his life. He did little painting during his second stint in Milan, however, and most of his time was instead dedicated to scientific studies.
Amid political strife and the temporary expulsion of the French from Milan, da Vinci left the city and moved to Rome in 1513 along with Salai, Melzi and two studio assistants. Giuliano de’ Medici, brother of newly installed Pope Leo X and son of his former patron, gave da Vinci a monthly stipend along with a suite of rooms at his residence inside the Vatican.
His new patron, however, also gave da Vinci little work. Lacking large commissions, he devoted most of his time in Rome to mathematical studies and scientific exploration.
After being present at a 1515 meeting between France’s King Francis I and Pope Leo X in Bologna, the new French monarch offered da Vinci the title “Premier Painter and Engineer and Architect to the King.”
Along with Melzi, da Vinci departed for France, never to return. He lived in the Chateau de Cloux (now Clos Luce) near the king’s summer palace along the Loire River in Amboise. As in Rome, da Vinci did little painting during his time in France. One of his last commissioned works was a mechanical lion that could walk and open its chest to reveal a bouquet of lilies.
How Did Leonardo da Vinci Die?
Leonardo da Vinci died of a probable stroke on May 2, 1519, at the age of 67. He continued work on his scientific studies until his death; his assistant, Melzi, became the principal heir and executor of his estate. The “Mona Lisa” was bequeathed to Salai.
For centuries after his death, thousands of pages from his private journals with notes, drawings, observations and scientific theories have surfaced and provided a fuller measure of a true "Renaissance man."
Auction Sale of 'Salvator Mundi'
In November 2017, the art world was sent buzzing with the news that the da Vinci painting "Salvator Mundi" had been sold at a Christie's auction to an undisclosed buyer for a whopping $450.3 million. That amount dwarfed the previous record for an art work sold at an auction, the $179.4 million paid for Picasso's “Women of Algiers" in 2015.
The sales figure was stunning in part because of the damaged condition of the oil-on-panel, which features Christ with his right hand raised in blessing and his left holding a crystal orb, and because not all experts believe it was rendered by da Vinci. However, Christie's had launched what one dealer called a "brilliant marketing campaign," which promoted the work as "the holy grail of our business" and "the last da Vinci." Prior to the sale, it was the only known painting by the old master still in a private collection.
In early December, the mystery buyer was said to be Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, a friend of the country's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. However, the Saudi Embassy in Washington soon clarified matters, saying Prince Bader had acted as an agent for the ministry of culture of Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. Around that time, the newly opened Louvre Abu Dhabi announced that the record-breaking art work would be exhibited in its collection."
Leonardo da Vinci
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People always think of him as an artist but he was also an exceptional scientist
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Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
Leonardo Da Vinci And The Invention Of Airplane
Leonardo Da Vinci And The Invention Of Airplane Leonardo Da Vinci lived from the period of April 15, 1452 to May 2, 1519. Known as one of
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Leonardo da Vinci: The Renaissance Man
Check out Brilliant: https://brilliant.org/Biographics/ - First 200 people to visit through the link will get 20% off their annual subscriptionSubscribe for...
Thank you my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that on May 2, 1519 Italian painter, sculptor, scientist, and visionary Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci died at the age of 67.
Leonardo da Vinci: The Renaissance Man
https://youtu.be/rO8ZD-LVisc?t=14
Images:
1. Leonardo da Vinci self-portrait
2. Mona Lisa (1505) by Leonardo da Vinci - Oil on a Poplar Panel [Mona Lisa is a painting of Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of Italian silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo. The couple commissioned the painting to hang in their new home, and to celebrate the birth of Andrea, their second son.]
3. Leonardo da Vinci 'The Last Supper'
4. The Virgin on the Rocks (c. 1505-1508) by Leonardo da Vinci - Oil on Wood Pane
Background from {[leonardodavinci.net biography of Leonardo da Vinci]}
Leonardo da Vinci was a prominent name not only during the Italian Renaissance, but is still recognized as one of the most well-known names in the art world today. He was a prominent figure, intellectual, and one of the leading artists that made a name for themselves during the Renaissance. Not only is he known for some of the most famous pieces to come out of this period in the art world, but throughout any period of time in art history. Of course, The Last Supper, and The Mona Lisa, are a couple of his most famous pieces, but Leonardo da Vinci also worked on a series of other works during his career, and crafted plenty of pieces which have withstood the test of time, and are still considered masterpieces to this day.
Early Life
Born in 1452 in Vinci, Italy, Leonardo da Vinci focused on the laws of sciences and nature early in his life. This respect and knowledge allowed him to depict these things in his artwork. They not only helped inform him as a painter, but also as a sculptor, draftsmen, and an inventor. Not only have his works become some of the most well known in the art world, but they also served as inspiration to many other artists during his time, and still to this day. Further, they made him a prominent figure during the Renaissance period, for his forward-thinking, and distinct view on images he created during the period.
Young Career
At the age of 14 Leonardo da Vinci worked as an apprentice to Verrocchio. During this six year period he learned several different techniques and technical skills. This included in metal working, working with leather, the arts, carving, sculpting, and of course drawing and painting. By the age of 20 he had become a master craftsman of the guild, and had opened his own studio at this young age. For a couple years he remained out of the public eye, following the period where he was charged with and acquitted of having committed sodomy. Up until about the age of 22, he really did not focus much on his works.
The Last Supper
Lorenzo de Medici commissioned Leonardo da Vinci in 1482, to create a piece for the Duke of Monaco, which was being done as a gesture of peace. In addition to creating the piece, he wrote a letter explaining how he would be the perfect painter, and how he could work for the court. After the piece and his letter were accepted, Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to work from 1482 up until 1499 by the court. Although he worked on many individual pieces during this time, a few which did become famous pieces, it was also during this time when he crafted one of his most well-known pieces, The Last Supper.
Mona Lisa
Between 1505 to 1507 Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned for private work. It was during this period that he not only created his most famous piece of artwork, but also possibly one of the most well known, and the most famous pieces of artwork which has ever been crafted in the world, The Mona Lisa. There were many theories and stories behind this piece. Some included that she had jaundice, many thought it was a piece of a pregnant woman, and others claim it is not a woman at all, but a man dressed in drag. Although no accounts are proven, there are many theories surrounding this piece, and this is what gives it so much allure.
The Mona Lisa was also a constant work in progress for Leonardo da Vinci; it was a piece he never quite finished, and was always trying to perfect. The painting itself was never given to the commissioner who had hired him for the work, and was kept with him until his death. It is currently in the Louvre in Paris, and is protected by the thickest bulletproof glass. It is not only considered to be a national treasure, it is also considered the most famous art piece to have been created, by any artist, during any period or form of art.
More than an Artist
Leonardo da Vinci was said to be a Renaissance man, who had far more to offer to the world during his period than just art. His talents were noted to greatly exceed the arts of work that he created during his career. He did not create a divide between science and art, like many humanists of the time, which is what gave his work such depth, and so much character. Over 13,000 pages of notes documented his inventions, creations, observations, and drawings. Architecture and anatomy, designs for flying machines, plant studies, and other work he was involved in, were all documented in these pages.
Most of his ideas were theoretical and very rarely if ever experimental. He was also known to have been one of the first to document the human body in the form of a child, as he stayed as close as possible to the actual anatomy, and did not drift away from the sciences in his works. One of the last commissioned works that he created during his career was a mechanical lion. It could walk, and open its chest, which revealed a bouquet of lilies. He died soon after in 1519.
There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see. ”- Leonardo da Vinci
Not only was Leonardo da Vinci one of the most influential figures during his time, but he was a leading Renaissance man. He was well ahead of his time, and he was more than just an artist. He was a great thinker, and he developed a series of great works and inventions during the course of his career. Although he did have a few issues early in his career, he moved past these and became one of the most well-known artists throughout history. Still to this day, his works remain some of the most famous throughout history, and still influence young artists working during this period in the art world."
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Leonardo da Vinci: The Renaissance Man
https://youtu.be/rO8ZD-LVisc?t=14
Images:
1. Leonardo da Vinci self-portrait
2. Mona Lisa (1505) by Leonardo da Vinci - Oil on a Poplar Panel [Mona Lisa is a painting of Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of Italian silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo. The couple commissioned the painting to hang in their new home, and to celebrate the birth of Andrea, their second son.]
3. Leonardo da Vinci 'The Last Supper'
4. The Virgin on the Rocks (c. 1505-1508) by Leonardo da Vinci - Oil on Wood Pane
Background from {[leonardodavinci.net biography of Leonardo da Vinci]}
Leonardo da Vinci was a prominent name not only during the Italian Renaissance, but is still recognized as one of the most well-known names in the art world today. He was a prominent figure, intellectual, and one of the leading artists that made a name for themselves during the Renaissance. Not only is he known for some of the most famous pieces to come out of this period in the art world, but throughout any period of time in art history. Of course, The Last Supper, and The Mona Lisa, are a couple of his most famous pieces, but Leonardo da Vinci also worked on a series of other works during his career, and crafted plenty of pieces which have withstood the test of time, and are still considered masterpieces to this day.
Early Life
Born in 1452 in Vinci, Italy, Leonardo da Vinci focused on the laws of sciences and nature early in his life. This respect and knowledge allowed him to depict these things in his artwork. They not only helped inform him as a painter, but also as a sculptor, draftsmen, and an inventor. Not only have his works become some of the most well known in the art world, but they also served as inspiration to many other artists during his time, and still to this day. Further, they made him a prominent figure during the Renaissance period, for his forward-thinking, and distinct view on images he created during the period.
Young Career
At the age of 14 Leonardo da Vinci worked as an apprentice to Verrocchio. During this six year period he learned several different techniques and technical skills. This included in metal working, working with leather, the arts, carving, sculpting, and of course drawing and painting. By the age of 20 he had become a master craftsman of the guild, and had opened his own studio at this young age. For a couple years he remained out of the public eye, following the period where he was charged with and acquitted of having committed sodomy. Up until about the age of 22, he really did not focus much on his works.
The Last Supper
Lorenzo de Medici commissioned Leonardo da Vinci in 1482, to create a piece for the Duke of Monaco, which was being done as a gesture of peace. In addition to creating the piece, he wrote a letter explaining how he would be the perfect painter, and how he could work for the court. After the piece and his letter were accepted, Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to work from 1482 up until 1499 by the court. Although he worked on many individual pieces during this time, a few which did become famous pieces, it was also during this time when he crafted one of his most well-known pieces, The Last Supper.
Mona Lisa
Between 1505 to 1507 Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned for private work. It was during this period that he not only created his most famous piece of artwork, but also possibly one of the most well known, and the most famous pieces of artwork which has ever been crafted in the world, The Mona Lisa. There were many theories and stories behind this piece. Some included that she had jaundice, many thought it was a piece of a pregnant woman, and others claim it is not a woman at all, but a man dressed in drag. Although no accounts are proven, there are many theories surrounding this piece, and this is what gives it so much allure.
The Mona Lisa was also a constant work in progress for Leonardo da Vinci; it was a piece he never quite finished, and was always trying to perfect. The painting itself was never given to the commissioner who had hired him for the work, and was kept with him until his death. It is currently in the Louvre in Paris, and is protected by the thickest bulletproof glass. It is not only considered to be a national treasure, it is also considered the most famous art piece to have been created, by any artist, during any period or form of art.
More than an Artist
Leonardo da Vinci was said to be a Renaissance man, who had far more to offer to the world during his period than just art. His talents were noted to greatly exceed the arts of work that he created during his career. He did not create a divide between science and art, like many humanists of the time, which is what gave his work such depth, and so much character. Over 13,000 pages of notes documented his inventions, creations, observations, and drawings. Architecture and anatomy, designs for flying machines, plant studies, and other work he was involved in, were all documented in these pages.
Most of his ideas were theoretical and very rarely if ever experimental. He was also known to have been one of the first to document the human body in the form of a child, as he stayed as close as possible to the actual anatomy, and did not drift away from the sciences in his works. One of the last commissioned works that he created during his career was a mechanical lion. It could walk, and open its chest, which revealed a bouquet of lilies. He died soon after in 1519.
There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see. ”- Leonardo da Vinci
Not only was Leonardo da Vinci one of the most influential figures during his time, but he was a leading Renaissance man. He was well ahead of his time, and he was more than just an artist. He was a great thinker, and he developed a series of great works and inventions during the course of his career. Although he did have a few issues early in his career, he moved past these and became one of the most well-known artists throughout history. Still to this day, his works remain some of the most famous throughout history, and still influence young artists working during this period in the art world."
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(3)
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History Documentary BBC Leonardo DaVinci, behind a Genius
History Documentary BBC Leonardo DaVinci, behind a Genius
History Documentary BBC ❖ Leonardo DaVinci, behind a Genius
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yT4IkPtTRo
Images:
1. Leonardo da Vinci's water wheel
2. Leonardo da Vinci creative process Invention begins with abstract thinking
3. Leonardo da Vinci creative process An invention in its early stages
4. Leonardo da Vinci Detailed anatomical studies
Background from {[https://philosophynow.org/issues/137/Leonardo_da_Vinci_1452-1519]}
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
Mark Willingham looks at the philosophy of the great artist.
Leonardo da Vinci died five hundred years ago last year, and galleries all over the world commemorated this quincentenary. However, it was only long after his death – after the re-discovery of his collection of notebooks – that other academic fields could legitimately start to claim Leonardo as one of their own. So, what does this polymath, Renaissance man, genius, have to add to the study of philosophy?
Well, surely if being a philosopher is anything, it is using enquiry to test claims and hypotheses from first principles, including using experiments to discern whether or not truth can be reached from them. Indeed, as Ludwig Wittgenstein stated, “Philosophy is not a body of doctrine but an activity” (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1923) – in which case we might have plenty to learn, not from a systematic exposition of a doctrine or the expounding of a theory, but from Leonardo’s life, his methods, and his spirit. From the select highlights of his life and work in this brief summary, I think anyone who holds even a fraction of Leonardo’s restlessness or curiosity can find something within his vast field of enquiry to deepen their own understanding.
Leonardo Observes Life
Born on April 15 1452, Leonardo was not obviously destined for greatness. The small, provincial town of Vinci is not where one might expect a Renaissance master to hail from. Being left-handed was an inconvenience which had to be overcome (by writing backwards). He was also an illegitimate child (of a local notary), and because of this, did not receive formal schooling. Winston Churchill once quipped that his own education was briefly interrupted by his attendance at school and perhaps in this light we should view these circumstances of Leonardo’s early life as one of history’s luckiest turns of events. Rather than receiving a traditional education, Leonardo had to educate himself, and as such, became the epitome of an independent learner. Unrestricted by subject boundaries, he became a master across an incredible range of disciplines. Indeed, part of Leonardo’s appeal is that he seemingly did not distinguish between the arts and the sciences. Life, nature, and knowledge were for him all interconnected. If we fast forward four hundred years to the early twentieth century, we reach the logical positivist philosophers of the Vienna Circle, and the idea that all theories must be verifiable, or else are meaningless. They rejected the idea that philosophers should sit in ivory towers, emitting unprovable metaphysical ideas. Leonardo too had a thirst for verifiable knowledge produced through observation, hypothesis, and repeated experimentation. He held that ‘wisdom was the daughter of experience’, and his notebooks are incredible testimony to his use of hypotheses and observations rather than a priori intuitions. So, philosophically, perhaps we should label Leonardo as an early empiricist, more than a hundred years before Locke et al. As he wrote, “The eye, the window of the soul, is the chief means whereby the understanding can most fully and abundantly appreciate the infinite works of Nature.” A.J. Ayer and his Vienna Circle friends would surely approve.
In his early teenage years, showing discernible talent, Leonardo was placed as an apprentice to the artist Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-88) in Florence. Being in Florence at this time was serendipitous for Leonardo, as it widened his horizons significantly. He was not only surrounded by masters of painting and sculpture, it was also a tolerant, vibrant, multicultural city – a far cry from sleepy, rural Vinci. He had access to the great artists of the day, and was immersed in the cultural explosion at the very epicentre of the Renaissance. From his work there, under the tutelage of Verrocchio, we can observe the beginning of Leonardo’s epoch-changing contributions to art; notably, his unique ability to capture movement in his paintings. We can interpret this as his way of blending his art with his particular diagnosis of the human condition. In this we can sense Leonardo’s awareness that life is transient and fluctuating, not idealised and overly posed, as in paintings more typical of the early Renaissance.
One instructive painting in this regard is Verrocchio’s Baptism of Christ (1475). Commissioned as an altar piece, Jesus and John the Baptist lean towards each other in this solemn moment which marks the commencement of Christ’s ministry, the dove of the Holy Spirit hovering over Jesus as he receives the approval of the Father. Yet it is largely a static piece: it inspires reflection and contemplation, but does not depict life as it is lived. The angel on the bottom left, however, is believed to have been painted by Leonardo. One can immediately see that it has been painted by an artist with a different agenda: Leonardo’s angel is more alive, and, in what became distinctive in Leonardo’s style (culminating in the Mona Lisa) he captures his subjects on the turn, showing life in motion; capturing life in its change and impermanence. After his painting this, realising his apprentice’s genius, legend has it that Verrocchio was left in a state of despair.
Leonardo Looks Deeper
Another insight into Leonardo’s thirst for knowledge and understanding of what it means to be human comes from his multiple dissections. These were not without controversy. Although not absolutely prohibited by the church at this time, they were hardly encouraged. In many ways this perfectly sums up Leonardo’s attitude to the church and systematic religion: interested in the same subject matter, but not one to be constrained by a doctrinal straitjacket, and learning by doing things himself from first principles rather than from established, orthodox authority. In one notebook entry he writes in response to the controversy surrounding his dissections that instead we should “rejoice that our creator has provided an instrument of such excellence”. If indeed we were made in God’s image, Leonardo wanted to see what lay underneath the canvas, again blending his ability to capture beauty externally when painting alongside developing his scientific knowledge of the human body. Giving advice to others undertaking the same investigation, he notes that “You will perhaps be deterred by your stomach”, and even if you can withstand that “you may be deterred by the fear of living through the night hours in the company of quartered and flayed corpses”.
Leonardo followed the dominant Aristotelian tradition of believing that the physical bodies he was dissecting were in some way intermingled with the spiritual component we refer to as the mind or soul. But, typically for Leonardo, he was not content to accept purely speculative argument, and so his dissections sometimes focused on finding out where the soul might be located and how it operated. He linked this investigation closely to his study of optics and neurology, and established that the brain was the recipient of stimuli – so perhaps beginning to develop an understanding of the link between consciousness and the brain a hundred or so years before Descartes set us ‘thinking things’ off in a dualistic direction. Leonardo’s dictum that ‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’ has an Ockhamist vibe [‘The simplest possible explanation is to be preferred’, Ed], and his observational approach would certainly have led him towards an empirical rather than metaphysical explanation for the soul. Who knows what impact his findings may have had on the mind-body debate had they been printed and circulated? But his notebooks lay unread, and his work as a scientist was therefore largely unknown, until many years after his death.
Leonardo’s astounding drawings of his dissections were crucial for his portraiture. His later paintings show a sophisticated understanding of anatomy and how the muscles worked in certain poses (especially in and around the neck, given his penchant for capturing his subjects on the turn). Art scholars such as Kenneth Clark have sometimes expressed frustration that Leonardo was so distracted by his other interests that as a result there are so few of his paintings for us to see. But Leonardo saw painting as only one string to his bow. In fact, in the early 1480s, when he was seeking employment in the Court of Ludovico Sforza in Milan, he set out a full curriculum vitae of his interests and abilities, notably in engineering and military equipment design. His artistic talent is mentioned only briefly towards the end of his letter, almost as an addendum. This may have been because he was more likely to be employed because of his other talents; but surely if he saw himself as primarily a painter, he would have introduced himself as such. More recently, scholars such as Walter Isaacson examine how his interest in other disciplines such as anatomy enhanced his art, and argue that we simply would not revere his capturing of human beauty and form in the Mona Lisa and other works if he had not acquired such knowledge.
Leonardo Lasts
Leonardo’s depiction of The Last Supper (1496) provides more insight into his philosophical understanding of the human condition and our need for rhythm, order, and beauty. The scene captures the bombshell moment when Jesus reveals to his disciples that one of them is shortly to betray him. Judas is caught recoiling, unable to conceal his reaction to being rumbled. Besides the artistic genius on display, in particular the creation of light and Leonardo’s use of accelerated perspective (which he understood from his work in stage productions), his use of geometry provides rhythm and order in this otherwise noisy scene. Christ is slightly larger than the other figures, and his head, at the precise centre of the painting (and again caught on the turn), captures the eye first. He encapsulates our human vulnerability and tenderness even when telling his closest friends that one of them is a traitor. Leonardo’s art is here like a Socratic dialogue in action: we are invited to fill in the backstory and action, not simply be the recipient of instruction, as is more typical of paintings of the early Renaissance.
This further demonstrates Leonardo’s relationship with the Church: much more buttress than pillar – a supporter, but from the outside. Leonardo’s homosexual relationship with Salai would have made it impossible to have been in communion with the Catholic Church, and one senses that he would have struggled with some of the other doctrines of Catholicism too. In Lives of the Artists, written in 1550 (and so our first biographical record), Giorgio Vasari writes that Leonardo’s “cast of mind was so heretical that he did not adhere to any religion, thinking perhaps that it was better to be a philosopher than a Christian.” But Leonardo did not write systematically about either philosophy or his religious beliefs, and it would be speculative to piece together the sayings from 7,200 pages of notebooks to attempt to form a coherent narrative about his beliefs. As a result we have an incomplete picture; but it seems that at the very least he was a man with a deep understanding of the faith, if not its most rigid adherent.
Leonardo’s church designs were of the Florentine style, and so based on strict geometrical order, in recognition of Vitruvius’s dictum that the design of a temple should reflect the proportions of a human body – hence Leonardo’s drawing of Vitruvian Man (probably a self-portrait), which blends the shape of man and the rules of geometry. One senses that Leonardo felt that religion provided order and purpose, and therefore its architecture should reflect that. However, in his artistic masterpieces, even when depicting sacred moments, he eschewed traditional religious decoration, such as the use of haloes. This could simply reflect his discomfort with convention, or the manifestation of his uncertainty over some the Church’s teachings. However, Vasari’s account of his death records Leonardo dying in a state of communion with the Church, having taken the sacraments. This only serves to perpetuate the uncertainty over his thought in this regard.
Any discussion of Leonardo normally begins or ends with his masterpiece, the Mona Lisa. He worked on it during the last sixteen years of his life, so clearly this was a painting of immense personal value and interest to him. In this portrait of a silk merchant’s wife, Lisa Gherardini, we can see the apotheosis of his knowledge and the blending of all his disciplines. The enigmatic smile is the zenith of Leonardo’s anatomical, optical, scientific, and artistic genius. He creates depth and perspective through the winding river, whose gentle undulations are continued through her clothing, showing her and us to be inextricably linked with nature. The eyes famously follow the viewer, and her pose is informal rather than austere, capturing life as it is. Most strikingly, though, is this theme of impermanence and transition, captured in the fleeting smile. We catch Lisa, again on the turn, not static or posing, but caught in a moment, and we are invited to develop our own interpretation about what her expression or emotions are. Perhaps in many ways Leonardo’s art reflects his restlessness and inquisitiveness; life is short and we should make the most of it.
Leonardo died, possibly of a stroke, at the Château du Clos Lucé, Amboise, in central France, on 2 May 1519, at the age of sixty-seven. He was buried in the church of the Chateau, which was later demolished. What are hoped to be his remains now reside in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert.
© Mark Willingham 2020
Mark Willingham teaches Religion & Philosophy at Bancroft’s School, London.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yT4IkPtTRo
Images:
1. Leonardo da Vinci's water wheel
2. Leonardo da Vinci creative process Invention begins with abstract thinking
3. Leonardo da Vinci creative process An invention in its early stages
4. Leonardo da Vinci Detailed anatomical studies
Background from {[https://philosophynow.org/issues/137/Leonardo_da_Vinci_1452-1519]}
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
Mark Willingham looks at the philosophy of the great artist.
Leonardo da Vinci died five hundred years ago last year, and galleries all over the world commemorated this quincentenary. However, it was only long after his death – after the re-discovery of his collection of notebooks – that other academic fields could legitimately start to claim Leonardo as one of their own. So, what does this polymath, Renaissance man, genius, have to add to the study of philosophy?
Well, surely if being a philosopher is anything, it is using enquiry to test claims and hypotheses from first principles, including using experiments to discern whether or not truth can be reached from them. Indeed, as Ludwig Wittgenstein stated, “Philosophy is not a body of doctrine but an activity” (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1923) – in which case we might have plenty to learn, not from a systematic exposition of a doctrine or the expounding of a theory, but from Leonardo’s life, his methods, and his spirit. From the select highlights of his life and work in this brief summary, I think anyone who holds even a fraction of Leonardo’s restlessness or curiosity can find something within his vast field of enquiry to deepen their own understanding.
Leonardo Observes Life
Born on April 15 1452, Leonardo was not obviously destined for greatness. The small, provincial town of Vinci is not where one might expect a Renaissance master to hail from. Being left-handed was an inconvenience which had to be overcome (by writing backwards). He was also an illegitimate child (of a local notary), and because of this, did not receive formal schooling. Winston Churchill once quipped that his own education was briefly interrupted by his attendance at school and perhaps in this light we should view these circumstances of Leonardo’s early life as one of history’s luckiest turns of events. Rather than receiving a traditional education, Leonardo had to educate himself, and as such, became the epitome of an independent learner. Unrestricted by subject boundaries, he became a master across an incredible range of disciplines. Indeed, part of Leonardo’s appeal is that he seemingly did not distinguish between the arts and the sciences. Life, nature, and knowledge were for him all interconnected. If we fast forward four hundred years to the early twentieth century, we reach the logical positivist philosophers of the Vienna Circle, and the idea that all theories must be verifiable, or else are meaningless. They rejected the idea that philosophers should sit in ivory towers, emitting unprovable metaphysical ideas. Leonardo too had a thirst for verifiable knowledge produced through observation, hypothesis, and repeated experimentation. He held that ‘wisdom was the daughter of experience’, and his notebooks are incredible testimony to his use of hypotheses and observations rather than a priori intuitions. So, philosophically, perhaps we should label Leonardo as an early empiricist, more than a hundred years before Locke et al. As he wrote, “The eye, the window of the soul, is the chief means whereby the understanding can most fully and abundantly appreciate the infinite works of Nature.” A.J. Ayer and his Vienna Circle friends would surely approve.
In his early teenage years, showing discernible talent, Leonardo was placed as an apprentice to the artist Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-88) in Florence. Being in Florence at this time was serendipitous for Leonardo, as it widened his horizons significantly. He was not only surrounded by masters of painting and sculpture, it was also a tolerant, vibrant, multicultural city – a far cry from sleepy, rural Vinci. He had access to the great artists of the day, and was immersed in the cultural explosion at the very epicentre of the Renaissance. From his work there, under the tutelage of Verrocchio, we can observe the beginning of Leonardo’s epoch-changing contributions to art; notably, his unique ability to capture movement in his paintings. We can interpret this as his way of blending his art with his particular diagnosis of the human condition. In this we can sense Leonardo’s awareness that life is transient and fluctuating, not idealised and overly posed, as in paintings more typical of the early Renaissance.
One instructive painting in this regard is Verrocchio’s Baptism of Christ (1475). Commissioned as an altar piece, Jesus and John the Baptist lean towards each other in this solemn moment which marks the commencement of Christ’s ministry, the dove of the Holy Spirit hovering over Jesus as he receives the approval of the Father. Yet it is largely a static piece: it inspires reflection and contemplation, but does not depict life as it is lived. The angel on the bottom left, however, is believed to have been painted by Leonardo. One can immediately see that it has been painted by an artist with a different agenda: Leonardo’s angel is more alive, and, in what became distinctive in Leonardo’s style (culminating in the Mona Lisa) he captures his subjects on the turn, showing life in motion; capturing life in its change and impermanence. After his painting this, realising his apprentice’s genius, legend has it that Verrocchio was left in a state of despair.
Leonardo Looks Deeper
Another insight into Leonardo’s thirst for knowledge and understanding of what it means to be human comes from his multiple dissections. These were not without controversy. Although not absolutely prohibited by the church at this time, they were hardly encouraged. In many ways this perfectly sums up Leonardo’s attitude to the church and systematic religion: interested in the same subject matter, but not one to be constrained by a doctrinal straitjacket, and learning by doing things himself from first principles rather than from established, orthodox authority. In one notebook entry he writes in response to the controversy surrounding his dissections that instead we should “rejoice that our creator has provided an instrument of such excellence”. If indeed we were made in God’s image, Leonardo wanted to see what lay underneath the canvas, again blending his ability to capture beauty externally when painting alongside developing his scientific knowledge of the human body. Giving advice to others undertaking the same investigation, he notes that “You will perhaps be deterred by your stomach”, and even if you can withstand that “you may be deterred by the fear of living through the night hours in the company of quartered and flayed corpses”.
Leonardo followed the dominant Aristotelian tradition of believing that the physical bodies he was dissecting were in some way intermingled with the spiritual component we refer to as the mind or soul. But, typically for Leonardo, he was not content to accept purely speculative argument, and so his dissections sometimes focused on finding out where the soul might be located and how it operated. He linked this investigation closely to his study of optics and neurology, and established that the brain was the recipient of stimuli – so perhaps beginning to develop an understanding of the link between consciousness and the brain a hundred or so years before Descartes set us ‘thinking things’ off in a dualistic direction. Leonardo’s dictum that ‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’ has an Ockhamist vibe [‘The simplest possible explanation is to be preferred’, Ed], and his observational approach would certainly have led him towards an empirical rather than metaphysical explanation for the soul. Who knows what impact his findings may have had on the mind-body debate had they been printed and circulated? But his notebooks lay unread, and his work as a scientist was therefore largely unknown, until many years after his death.
Leonardo’s astounding drawings of his dissections were crucial for his portraiture. His later paintings show a sophisticated understanding of anatomy and how the muscles worked in certain poses (especially in and around the neck, given his penchant for capturing his subjects on the turn). Art scholars such as Kenneth Clark have sometimes expressed frustration that Leonardo was so distracted by his other interests that as a result there are so few of his paintings for us to see. But Leonardo saw painting as only one string to his bow. In fact, in the early 1480s, when he was seeking employment in the Court of Ludovico Sforza in Milan, he set out a full curriculum vitae of his interests and abilities, notably in engineering and military equipment design. His artistic talent is mentioned only briefly towards the end of his letter, almost as an addendum. This may have been because he was more likely to be employed because of his other talents; but surely if he saw himself as primarily a painter, he would have introduced himself as such. More recently, scholars such as Walter Isaacson examine how his interest in other disciplines such as anatomy enhanced his art, and argue that we simply would not revere his capturing of human beauty and form in the Mona Lisa and other works if he had not acquired such knowledge.
Leonardo Lasts
Leonardo’s depiction of The Last Supper (1496) provides more insight into his philosophical understanding of the human condition and our need for rhythm, order, and beauty. The scene captures the bombshell moment when Jesus reveals to his disciples that one of them is shortly to betray him. Judas is caught recoiling, unable to conceal his reaction to being rumbled. Besides the artistic genius on display, in particular the creation of light and Leonardo’s use of accelerated perspective (which he understood from his work in stage productions), his use of geometry provides rhythm and order in this otherwise noisy scene. Christ is slightly larger than the other figures, and his head, at the precise centre of the painting (and again caught on the turn), captures the eye first. He encapsulates our human vulnerability and tenderness even when telling his closest friends that one of them is a traitor. Leonardo’s art is here like a Socratic dialogue in action: we are invited to fill in the backstory and action, not simply be the recipient of instruction, as is more typical of paintings of the early Renaissance.
This further demonstrates Leonardo’s relationship with the Church: much more buttress than pillar – a supporter, but from the outside. Leonardo’s homosexual relationship with Salai would have made it impossible to have been in communion with the Catholic Church, and one senses that he would have struggled with some of the other doctrines of Catholicism too. In Lives of the Artists, written in 1550 (and so our first biographical record), Giorgio Vasari writes that Leonardo’s “cast of mind was so heretical that he did not adhere to any religion, thinking perhaps that it was better to be a philosopher than a Christian.” But Leonardo did not write systematically about either philosophy or his religious beliefs, and it would be speculative to piece together the sayings from 7,200 pages of notebooks to attempt to form a coherent narrative about his beliefs. As a result we have an incomplete picture; but it seems that at the very least he was a man with a deep understanding of the faith, if not its most rigid adherent.
Leonardo’s church designs were of the Florentine style, and so based on strict geometrical order, in recognition of Vitruvius’s dictum that the design of a temple should reflect the proportions of a human body – hence Leonardo’s drawing of Vitruvian Man (probably a self-portrait), which blends the shape of man and the rules of geometry. One senses that Leonardo felt that religion provided order and purpose, and therefore its architecture should reflect that. However, in his artistic masterpieces, even when depicting sacred moments, he eschewed traditional religious decoration, such as the use of haloes. This could simply reflect his discomfort with convention, or the manifestation of his uncertainty over some the Church’s teachings. However, Vasari’s account of his death records Leonardo dying in a state of communion with the Church, having taken the sacraments. This only serves to perpetuate the uncertainty over his thought in this regard.
Any discussion of Leonardo normally begins or ends with his masterpiece, the Mona Lisa. He worked on it during the last sixteen years of his life, so clearly this was a painting of immense personal value and interest to him. In this portrait of a silk merchant’s wife, Lisa Gherardini, we can see the apotheosis of his knowledge and the blending of all his disciplines. The enigmatic smile is the zenith of Leonardo’s anatomical, optical, scientific, and artistic genius. He creates depth and perspective through the winding river, whose gentle undulations are continued through her clothing, showing her and us to be inextricably linked with nature. The eyes famously follow the viewer, and her pose is informal rather than austere, capturing life as it is. Most strikingly, though, is this theme of impermanence and transition, captured in the fleeting smile. We catch Lisa, again on the turn, not static or posing, but caught in a moment, and we are invited to develop our own interpretation about what her expression or emotions are. Perhaps in many ways Leonardo’s art reflects his restlessness and inquisitiveness; life is short and we should make the most of it.
Leonardo died, possibly of a stroke, at the Château du Clos Lucé, Amboise, in central France, on 2 May 1519, at the age of sixty-seven. He was buried in the church of the Chateau, which was later demolished. What are hoped to be his remains now reside in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert.
© Mark Willingham 2020
Mark Willingham teaches Religion & Philosophy at Bancroft’s School, London.
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Da Vinci Inventions Documentary
Renowned as the Mind of the Renaissance, the genius of Leonardo da Vinci reaches beyond the centuries. Painter, sculptor, engineer, and scientist, in each fi...
Da Vinci Inventions Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDR1Auc3ajc
Images:
1. Portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci, circa 1515
2. Leonardo da Vinci adored water
3. Leonardo da Vinci wrote in 'mirror-script' most likely because he was left-handed
4. Leonardo Da Vinci 'The Baptism of Christ Detail' 1472-75 expanded
Background from {[https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/502202/12-masterful-facts-about-leonardo-da-vinci]}
12 Masterful Facts About Leonardo Da Vinci BY JAKE ROSSEN
JUNE 29, 2017
(UPDATED: MAY 2, 2019)
There are few historical figures in the world with a creative reputation comparable to that of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), the celebrated figurehead of the Italian Renaissance. A polymath, Leonardo alternated stunning paintings (The Last Supper, Mona Lisa) with prescient sketches of inventions and engineering theory.
Although his life could fill several books (and has), we've rounded up some of the more compelling facts about Leonardo da Vinci's work.
1. YOU (PROBABLY) SHOULDN'T CALL HIM DA VINCI.
In modern American culture, it's customary to refer to people by their last name—though not always. Dante is a first name, as are Galileo, Michelangelo, and many other Italians from the period are known by first names. But historians have a different problem with Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci. You might think that it's obviously Mr. da Vinci—but da Vinci just means "of Vinci," in reference to where he was from, like Geoffrey of Monmouth or Philip of Macedon. Everywhere from great museums (like the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art) to auction houses and scholars refer to him as Leonardo (many blame The Da Vinci Code for the widespread usage of da Vinci as a last name).
There are other historians, though, arguing people can be overzealous in their quest for linguistic purity. According to journalist and historian Walter Isaacson, the "da Vinci" usage is incorrect, but not that terrible. "During Leonardo's lifetime, Italians increasingly began to regularize and register the use of hereditary surnames," Isaacson wrote in his 2017 biography Leonardo da Vinci. "When Leonardo moved to Milan, his friend the court poet Bernardo Bellincioni referred to him in writing as 'Leonardo Vinci, the Florentine.'"
Dr. Jill Burke of the University of Edinburgh argues that while da Vinci "might not be thought of as a 'proper' surname," it does "seem to be established as some kind of family name during Leonardo's lifetime. His father, after all, is called Ser Piero da Vinci. Contemporary documents use 'Vinci' pretty much as a surname … People don't ever call him just 'da Vinci' in the documents. But they don't call Lorenzo de' Medici just 'Medici' either. It's not a convention to use surnames in this way in the fifteenth century."
But, conventionally, Leonardo wins out.
2. LEONARDO WAS AN ILLEGITIMATE CHILD BORN DURING WHAT SCHOLARS HAVE CALLED A "'GOLDEN AGE' FOR BASTARDS."
Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452 to a fifth-generation notary, Piero, and an unmarried peasant girl named Caterina. In Isaacson's book, he opens with the argument that Leonardo "had the good luck to be born out of wedlock." If he had been a legitimate son, he would have been expected to follow in his father's line of work and become a notary, and "he would have been sent to one of the classical schools in Florence for the aspiring upper-middle classes and rising middle classes, or a university, and he would have been stuffed full of the medieval scholastic learning of the time," Isaacson told the podcast Recode/Decode. Instead, Leonardo was technically unschooled, but he was able to follow his curiosities and learn through experimentation—and he was free to go into any of the creative arts, like poetry, drawing, etc.
Another point Isaacson brings up was that being an illegitimate child did not carry the stigma then that it had in other eras. Leonardo's baptism was a large event, with 10 godparents present. He split his childhood between his parents' homes and his grandfather's, and eventually his father helped him land apprenticeships in Florence. Even ruling families like the Medicis and Borgias had plenty of illegitimate children who held rank and social prominence. No wonder scholars have deemed it a "golden age" for bastards.
3. A SODOMY CHARGE LED TO HIS 2-YEAR DISAPPEARANCE.
The Italy of the Middle Ages was not an era of particularly progressive thinking. After a young Leonardo showcased his aptitude for art early on, he was soon taken in by acclaimed artist Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence. Though a rich life following his creative pursuits seemed imminent, Leonardo's aspirations were temporarily derailed when he and several other young men were charged with the crime of sodomy, a serious accusation that could have led to his execution. Leonardo, 24, was acquitted, but in the aftermath he disappeared for two years. He reemerged to take on a commission at a chapel in Florence in 1478.
4. LEONARDO DISSECTED CORPSES.
For Leonardo, no barrier could be erected between science and art, or between the heart and the mind. His science studies informed his art, and he was particularly interested in human anatomy. In the 1480s, his interest in replicating the sinews and musculature of the body led to his performing numerous dissections of both humans and animals. It's believed that his depictions of the heart, vascular system, genitals, and other components are some of the first illustrations of their type on record.
5. HIS BIGGEST PROJECT—SOMETIMES CALLED "LEONARDO'S HORSE"—WAS DESTROYED.
Leonardo could spend years on a single piece of art—The Last Supper took three—but it was a commission from the Duke of Milan that proved to be his most substantial work-for-hire project. Asked to create a 20-foot-plus statue of the Duke's father on horseback (though the human elements seems to have quickly disappeared), Leonardo toiled for nearly 17 years on the plans and model. Before it could be completed [PDF], French forces invaded Milan in 1499 and shot the clay sculpture, shattering it into pieces.
6. LEONARDO LIKED TO WRITE IN REVERSE.
The hundreds of notebook pages belonging to Leonardo that have survived time reveal a curious habit of the artist: He wrote in mirror script, reversing his handwriting so it would only be readable if the page was held up to a mirror. Despite some suspicion that he was trying to be secretive, the truth is that, as a frequently left-handed writer, he could avoid smearing or erasing the chalk by writing in reverse. (Recent research has confirmed what some have long suspected, though—Leonardo was ambidextrous and would occasionally write with his right hand.)
7. THE LAST SUPPER HAS MIRACULOUSLY SURVIVED.
Leonardo's depiction of Jesus and his apostles just after Jesus proclaimed "one of you will betray me" might be his best-known work outside of Mona Lisa. It was famous in its time, too, with Europeans fascinated by the composition and often trying to replicate it in other mediums. That it's still on display at Milan's Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie is something of a miracle. When France invaded Milan in 1499, there was discussion of King Louis XII cutting it down from the wall so he could bring it home with him. In 1796, more French soldiers placed it under duress, hurling rocks at it. And in 1943, when Allied forces bombed the area, caretakers of the church had reinforced the painting wall in the hopes it would be enough to keep it safe. The church was severely damaged, but The Last Supper was unharmed.
8. LEONARDO NEVER FINISHED THE MONA LISA.
Although Leonardo was prolific, he was never in any particular hurry to finish individual projects. Many paintings and other works were abandoned or deemed incomplete, including one of his most famous projects, Mona Lisa. When Leonardo died in 1519, the painting (and others) seem to have wound up with his assistant and close friend, Salaì. Some art historians have speculated that a debilitating illness could have resulted in right-side paralysis that would have hampered his work in the last few years of his life.
9. LEONARDO WAS AN ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST.
Pre-dating the animal rights movement by centuries, Leonardo wrote of his love and respect for animals and often questioned whether humans truly were their superiors. Leonardo reportedly bought caged birds in order to set them free and abstained from eating meat.
10. BILL GATES BOUGHT HIS NOTEBOOK FOR $30.8 MILLION.
Even Leonardo's doodles captured the amazement and attention of the public. In 1994, one of the artist's notebooks went up for auction at Christie's. Titled The Codex Leicester (sometimes Hammer), it was compiled circa 1506 to 1510 while Leonardo was in both Florence and Milan and contains musings on everything from the origins of fossils to why the sky appears blue; another casual note predicts the invention of the submarine. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was the winning bidder, paying $30.8 million for the 72-page collection.
11. LEONARDO SUPPOSEDLY INSPIRED PAINT-BY-NUMBERS.
There is some irony in the idea that history's most eclectic artist might have been the inspiration behind the paint-by-numbers kits popularized in the 1950s. A paint company employee named Dan Robbins remembered reading that Leonardo would teach his apprentices to paint using number-sorted canvases (though whether Leonardo actually used this technique is up for debate). By 1954, Robbins's paint-by-numbers kits were doing $20 million in sales.
12. HE HAD BEEF WITH MICHELANGELO.
Portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci, circa 1515.HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
The celebrated artist and sculptor was Leonardo's contemporary, but the two did not go out for drinks. Historical accounts describe the men as artistic rivals, needling one another about their methods. Michelangelo taunted Leonardo over his inability to complete certain works (apparently, chiefly the horse); Leonardo took his foe to task for over-exaggerated musculature in his sculptures.
FYI Sgt Jay JonesCWO3 (Join to see)GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad Sgt (Join to see)CWO3 Dennis M.SN Greg Wright CWO3 Dave Alcantara SSgt Terry P. SSgt Robert MarxPO3 Steven SherrillSgt David G Duchesneau Sgt Joe LaBranche PO3 (Join to see) CPO (Join to see) SCPO Del Wolverton PO3 John Wagner CDR (Join to see)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDR1Auc3ajc
Images:
1. Portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci, circa 1515
2. Leonardo da Vinci adored water
3. Leonardo da Vinci wrote in 'mirror-script' most likely because he was left-handed
4. Leonardo Da Vinci 'The Baptism of Christ Detail' 1472-75 expanded
Background from {[https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/502202/12-masterful-facts-about-leonardo-da-vinci]}
12 Masterful Facts About Leonardo Da Vinci BY JAKE ROSSEN
JUNE 29, 2017
(UPDATED: MAY 2, 2019)
There are few historical figures in the world with a creative reputation comparable to that of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), the celebrated figurehead of the Italian Renaissance. A polymath, Leonardo alternated stunning paintings (The Last Supper, Mona Lisa) with prescient sketches of inventions and engineering theory.
Although his life could fill several books (and has), we've rounded up some of the more compelling facts about Leonardo da Vinci's work.
1. YOU (PROBABLY) SHOULDN'T CALL HIM DA VINCI.
In modern American culture, it's customary to refer to people by their last name—though not always. Dante is a first name, as are Galileo, Michelangelo, and many other Italians from the period are known by first names. But historians have a different problem with Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci. You might think that it's obviously Mr. da Vinci—but da Vinci just means "of Vinci," in reference to where he was from, like Geoffrey of Monmouth or Philip of Macedon. Everywhere from great museums (like the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art) to auction houses and scholars refer to him as Leonardo (many blame The Da Vinci Code for the widespread usage of da Vinci as a last name).
There are other historians, though, arguing people can be overzealous in their quest for linguistic purity. According to journalist and historian Walter Isaacson, the "da Vinci" usage is incorrect, but not that terrible. "During Leonardo's lifetime, Italians increasingly began to regularize and register the use of hereditary surnames," Isaacson wrote in his 2017 biography Leonardo da Vinci. "When Leonardo moved to Milan, his friend the court poet Bernardo Bellincioni referred to him in writing as 'Leonardo Vinci, the Florentine.'"
Dr. Jill Burke of the University of Edinburgh argues that while da Vinci "might not be thought of as a 'proper' surname," it does "seem to be established as some kind of family name during Leonardo's lifetime. His father, after all, is called Ser Piero da Vinci. Contemporary documents use 'Vinci' pretty much as a surname … People don't ever call him just 'da Vinci' in the documents. But they don't call Lorenzo de' Medici just 'Medici' either. It's not a convention to use surnames in this way in the fifteenth century."
But, conventionally, Leonardo wins out.
2. LEONARDO WAS AN ILLEGITIMATE CHILD BORN DURING WHAT SCHOLARS HAVE CALLED A "'GOLDEN AGE' FOR BASTARDS."
Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452 to a fifth-generation notary, Piero, and an unmarried peasant girl named Caterina. In Isaacson's book, he opens with the argument that Leonardo "had the good luck to be born out of wedlock." If he had been a legitimate son, he would have been expected to follow in his father's line of work and become a notary, and "he would have been sent to one of the classical schools in Florence for the aspiring upper-middle classes and rising middle classes, or a university, and he would have been stuffed full of the medieval scholastic learning of the time," Isaacson told the podcast Recode/Decode. Instead, Leonardo was technically unschooled, but he was able to follow his curiosities and learn through experimentation—and he was free to go into any of the creative arts, like poetry, drawing, etc.
Another point Isaacson brings up was that being an illegitimate child did not carry the stigma then that it had in other eras. Leonardo's baptism was a large event, with 10 godparents present. He split his childhood between his parents' homes and his grandfather's, and eventually his father helped him land apprenticeships in Florence. Even ruling families like the Medicis and Borgias had plenty of illegitimate children who held rank and social prominence. No wonder scholars have deemed it a "golden age" for bastards.
3. A SODOMY CHARGE LED TO HIS 2-YEAR DISAPPEARANCE.
The Italy of the Middle Ages was not an era of particularly progressive thinking. After a young Leonardo showcased his aptitude for art early on, he was soon taken in by acclaimed artist Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence. Though a rich life following his creative pursuits seemed imminent, Leonardo's aspirations were temporarily derailed when he and several other young men were charged with the crime of sodomy, a serious accusation that could have led to his execution. Leonardo, 24, was acquitted, but in the aftermath he disappeared for two years. He reemerged to take on a commission at a chapel in Florence in 1478.
4. LEONARDO DISSECTED CORPSES.
For Leonardo, no barrier could be erected between science and art, or between the heart and the mind. His science studies informed his art, and he was particularly interested in human anatomy. In the 1480s, his interest in replicating the sinews and musculature of the body led to his performing numerous dissections of both humans and animals. It's believed that his depictions of the heart, vascular system, genitals, and other components are some of the first illustrations of their type on record.
5. HIS BIGGEST PROJECT—SOMETIMES CALLED "LEONARDO'S HORSE"—WAS DESTROYED.
Leonardo could spend years on a single piece of art—The Last Supper took three—but it was a commission from the Duke of Milan that proved to be his most substantial work-for-hire project. Asked to create a 20-foot-plus statue of the Duke's father on horseback (though the human elements seems to have quickly disappeared), Leonardo toiled for nearly 17 years on the plans and model. Before it could be completed [PDF], French forces invaded Milan in 1499 and shot the clay sculpture, shattering it into pieces.
6. LEONARDO LIKED TO WRITE IN REVERSE.
The hundreds of notebook pages belonging to Leonardo that have survived time reveal a curious habit of the artist: He wrote in mirror script, reversing his handwriting so it would only be readable if the page was held up to a mirror. Despite some suspicion that he was trying to be secretive, the truth is that, as a frequently left-handed writer, he could avoid smearing or erasing the chalk by writing in reverse. (Recent research has confirmed what some have long suspected, though—Leonardo was ambidextrous and would occasionally write with his right hand.)
7. THE LAST SUPPER HAS MIRACULOUSLY SURVIVED.
Leonardo's depiction of Jesus and his apostles just after Jesus proclaimed "one of you will betray me" might be his best-known work outside of Mona Lisa. It was famous in its time, too, with Europeans fascinated by the composition and often trying to replicate it in other mediums. That it's still on display at Milan's Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie is something of a miracle. When France invaded Milan in 1499, there was discussion of King Louis XII cutting it down from the wall so he could bring it home with him. In 1796, more French soldiers placed it under duress, hurling rocks at it. And in 1943, when Allied forces bombed the area, caretakers of the church had reinforced the painting wall in the hopes it would be enough to keep it safe. The church was severely damaged, but The Last Supper was unharmed.
8. LEONARDO NEVER FINISHED THE MONA LISA.
Although Leonardo was prolific, he was never in any particular hurry to finish individual projects. Many paintings and other works were abandoned or deemed incomplete, including one of his most famous projects, Mona Lisa. When Leonardo died in 1519, the painting (and others) seem to have wound up with his assistant and close friend, Salaì. Some art historians have speculated that a debilitating illness could have resulted in right-side paralysis that would have hampered his work in the last few years of his life.
9. LEONARDO WAS AN ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST.
Pre-dating the animal rights movement by centuries, Leonardo wrote of his love and respect for animals and often questioned whether humans truly were their superiors. Leonardo reportedly bought caged birds in order to set them free and abstained from eating meat.
10. BILL GATES BOUGHT HIS NOTEBOOK FOR $30.8 MILLION.
Even Leonardo's doodles captured the amazement and attention of the public. In 1994, one of the artist's notebooks went up for auction at Christie's. Titled The Codex Leicester (sometimes Hammer), it was compiled circa 1506 to 1510 while Leonardo was in both Florence and Milan and contains musings on everything from the origins of fossils to why the sky appears blue; another casual note predicts the invention of the submarine. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was the winning bidder, paying $30.8 million for the 72-page collection.
11. LEONARDO SUPPOSEDLY INSPIRED PAINT-BY-NUMBERS.
There is some irony in the idea that history's most eclectic artist might have been the inspiration behind the paint-by-numbers kits popularized in the 1950s. A paint company employee named Dan Robbins remembered reading that Leonardo would teach his apprentices to paint using number-sorted canvases (though whether Leonardo actually used this technique is up for debate). By 1954, Robbins's paint-by-numbers kits were doing $20 million in sales.
12. HE HAD BEEF WITH MICHELANGELO.
Portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci, circa 1515.HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
The celebrated artist and sculptor was Leonardo's contemporary, but the two did not go out for drinks. Historical accounts describe the men as artistic rivals, needling one another about their methods. Michelangelo taunted Leonardo over his inability to complete certain works (apparently, chiefly the horse); Leonardo took his foe to task for over-exaggerated musculature in his sculptures.
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