“Just as a well-spent day gives a peaceful sleep, so a well-lived life gives a peaceful death.”
Leonardo da Vinci(Italian Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, April 15, 1452, the village of Anchiano, near the town of Vinci, near Florence) - Painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, scientist - all this is Leonardo da Vinci. Wherever such a person turns, his every action is so divine that, leaving behind all other people, he reveals himself to be something given to us by God, and not acquired human art. Leonardo da Vinci. Great, mysterious, attractive. So distant and so modern. Like a rainbow, the master’s fate is bright, mosaic, and colorful. His life is full of wanderings, meetings with amazing people and events. How much has been written about him, how much has been published, but it will never be enough.
The mystery of Leonardo begins with his birth, in 1452 on April 15 in a town west of Florence. He was the illegitimate son of a woman about whom almost nothing is known. We don’t know her last name, age, appearance, we don’t know whether she was smart or stupid, whether she studied anything or not. Biographers call her a young peasant woman. Let it be so. Much more is known about Leonardo's father, Piero da Vinci, but not enough. He was a notary and came from a family that had settled in Vinci at least in the 13th century. Leonardo was brought up in his father's house. His education was obviously the same as that of any boy from a good family living in a small town: reading, writing, beginnings of mathematics, Latin. His handwriting is amazing, He writes from right to left, the letters are reversed so that the text is easier to read with the help of a mirror. In later years, he was interested in botany, geology, observing the flight of birds, the play of sunlight and shadow, and the movement of water. All this testifies to his curiosity and also to the fact that in his youth he spent a lot of time on fresh air, walking around the outskirts of the town. These surroundings, which have changed little over the past five hundred years, are now almost the most picturesque in Italy. The father noticed and, taking into account the high flight of his son’s talent in art, one fine day selected several of his drawings, took them to Andrea Verrocchio, who was his great friend, and urgently asked him to say whether Leonardo, having taken up drawing, would achieve any success . Struck by the enormous potential that he saw in the drawings of the novice Leonardo, Andrea supported Ser Piero in his decision to devote him to this work and immediately agreed with him that Leonardo would enter his workshop, which Leonardo did more than willingly and began to practice not in just one area, but in all those areas where the drawing is included.
Early period of creativity. Leonardo's first dated work (1473, Uffizi) is a small sketch of a river valley visible from a gorge; on one side there is a castle, on the other there is a wooded hillside. This sketch, made with quick strokes of the pen, testifies to the artist’s constant interest in atmospheric phenomena, about which he later wrote extensively in his notes. Landscape depicted from a high vantage point overlooking the floodplain was a common device in Florentine art in the 1460s (although it always served only as a background to the paintings). The silver pencil drawing of an ancient warrior in profile demonstrates Leonardo's full maturity as a draftsman; it skillfully combines weak, flaccid and tense, elastic lines and attention to surfaces gradually modeled by light and shadow, creating a living, vibrant image.
Leonardo da Vinci was not only a great painter, sculptor and architect, but also a brilliant scientist who studied mathematics, mechanics, physics, astronomy, geology, botany, anatomy and physiology of humans and animals, consistently pursuing the principle of experimental research. His manuscripts contain drawings of flying machines, a parachute and a helicopter, new designs and screw-cutting machines, printing, woodworking and other machines, accurate anatomical drawings, thoughts related to mathematics, optics, cosmology (the idea of the physical homogeneity of the universe) and other sciences.
By 1480 Leonardo was already receiving large orders, but in 1482 he moved to Milan. In a letter to the ruler of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, he introduced himself as an engineer and military expert, as well as an artist. The years spent in Milan were filled with a variety of activities. Leonardo painted several paintings and famous fresco last supper, which reached us in a dilapidated state. He painted this composition on the wall of the refectory of the Milan monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. Striving for the greatest colorful expressiveness in mural painting, he made unsuccessful experiments with paints and primers, which caused its rapid damage. And then crude restorations and Bonaparte’s soldiers completed the job. After the occupation of Milan by the French in 1796. The refectory was turned into a stable, the fumes of horse manure covered the painting with thick mold, and the soldiers entering the stable amused themselves by throwing bricks at the heads of Leonard’s figures. Fate turned out to be cruel to many of the great master’s creations. And yet, how much time, how much inspired art and how much fiery love Leonardo invested in the creation of this masterpiece. But, despite this, even in its dilapidated state, “The Last Supper” makes an indelible impression. On the wall, as if overcoming it and taking the viewer into a world of harmony and majestic visions, the ancient gospel drama of betrayed trust unfolds. And this drama finds its resolution in a general impulse directed towards the main character - a husband with a sorrowful face who accepts what is happening as inevitable. Christ just told his disciples, “One of you will betray me.” The traitor sits with others; the old masters depicted Judas sitting separately, but Leonardo brought out his gloomy isolation much more convincingly, shrouding his features in shadow. Christ is submissive to his fate, filled with the consciousness of the sacrifice of his feat. His bowed head with downcast eyes and the gesture of his hands are infinitely beautiful and majestic. A lovely landscape opens through the window behind his figure. Christ is the center of the entire composition, of all the whirlpool of passions that rage around. His sadness and calm seem to be eternal, natural - and this is the deep meaning of the drama shown.
The undated painting of the Annunciation (mid-1470s, Uffizi) was attributed to Leonardo only in the 19th century; perhaps it would be more correct to consider it as the result of a collaboration between Leonardo and Verrocchio. There are several weak points in it, for example, the perspective reduction of the building on the left is too sharp or the scale relationship between the figure of the Mother of God and the music stand is poorly developed in perspective. However, in other respects, especially in the subtle and soft modeling, as well as in the interpretation of the foggy landscape with a mountain vaguely looming in the background, the painting belongs to the hand of Leonardo; this can be inferred from a study of his later works. The question of whether the compositional idea belongs to him remains open.
In Milan, Leonardo began to take notes; Around 1490 he focused on two disciplines: architecture and anatomy. He sketched several versions of the design of a central-domed temple (an equal-pointed cross, the central part of which is covered by a dome) - a type of architectural structure that he had previously recommended Alberti for the reason that it reflects one of the ancient types of temples and is based on the most perfect shape - a circle. Leonardo drew a plan and perspective views of the entire structure, which outlined the distribution of masses and the configuration of the internal space. Around this time, he obtained the skull and made a cross section, opening the sinuses of the skull for the first time. The notes around the drawings indicate that he was primarily interested in the nature and structure of the brain. Of course, these drawings were intended for purely research purposes, but they are striking in their beauty and similarity to sketches of architectural projects in that both of them depict partitions separating parts of the internal space. In addition to all this, he did not spare his time, even to the extent that he drew ligatures from ropes in such a way that it was possible to trace from one end to the other their entire interweaving, which finally filled a whole circle. One of these drawings, very complex and very beautiful, can be seen in the engraving, and in the middle of it are the following words: Leonardus Vinci Academia.
He was not only a genius in art, but also very pleasant in communication, which attracted the souls of people to him. Having, one might say, nothing and working little, he always kept servants and horses, which he loved very much in preference to all other animals, proving this by the fact that often, passing through those places where birds were traded, he took them out with his own hands. cages and, having paid the seller the price he demanded, released them into the wild, returning them their lost freedom. For which nature decided to favor him in that, wherever he turned his thoughts, his mind and his daring, he showed so much divinity in his creations that no one could ever equal him in the ability to bring to perfection the spontaneity characteristic of him, liveliness, kindness, attractiveness and charm.
Mature period of creativity. He brought his first order in 1483, it was the production of part of the altar image for the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception - Madonna in the Grotto (Louvre; the attribution of Leonardo's brush to a later version from the London National Gallery is disputed). A kneeling Mary looks at the Christ Child and baby John the Baptist, while an angel pointing at John looks at the viewer. The figures are arranged in a triangle in the foreground. It seems that the figures are separated from the viewer by a slight haze, the so-called sfumato (blurred and indistinct contours, soft shadow), which now becomes characteristic feature painting by Leonardo. Behind them, in the semi-darkness of the cave, stalactites and stalagmites and slowly flowing waters shrouded in fog are visible. The landscape seems fantastic, but we should remember Leonardo's statement that painting is a science. As can be seen from the drawings contemporaneous with the painting, it was based on careful observations of geological phenomena. This also applies to the depiction of plants: you can not only identify them with a certain type, but also to see that Leonardo knew about the property of plants to turn towards the sun.
Leonardo's activities in the first decade of the 16th century. was as varied as in other periods of his life. At this time the painting was created Madonna and Child and St. Anna, and around 1504 Leonardo began work on his famous painting Mona Lisa, a portrait of the wife of a Florentine merchant. This portrait is a further development of the type that appeared earlier in Leonardo: the model is depicted from the waist up, in a slight turn, the face is turned towards the viewer, folded hands limit the composition from below and are as beautiful as the slight smile on her face and the primeval rocky landscape in the foggy distance. Gioconda is known as the image of a mysterious, even femme fatale, but this interpretation belongs to the 19th century. It is more likely that for Leonardo this painting was the most complex and successful exercise in the use of sfumato, and the background of the painting is the result of his research in the field of geology. The Mona Lisa was created at a time when Leonardo was so absorbed in studying the structure of the female body, anatomy and problems associated with childbirth that it was almost impossible to separate his artistic and scientific interests. During these years, he sketched a human embryo in the uterus and created the last of several versions of Leda's painting on the plot of the ancient myth about the birth of Castor and Pollux from the union of the mortal girl Leda and Zeus, who took the form of a swan. Leonardo studied comparative anatomy and was interested in analogies between all organic forms. Leonardo invented the principle of scattering (or sfumato). The objects on his canvases have no clear boundaries: everything, like in life, is blurry, penetrates one into another, which means it breathes, lives, awakens imagination. The Italian advised practicing such distraction by looking at stains on the walls, ashes, clouds or dirt caused by dampness. He specially fumigate the room where he worked with smoke in order to look for images in clubs. Thanks to the sfumato effect, the flickering smile of Gioconda appeared, when, depending on the focus of the view, it seems to the viewer that the heroine of the picture is either smiling tenderly or grinning predatorily. The second miracle of the Mona Lisa is that it is “alive.” Over the centuries, her smile changes, the corners of her lips rise higher. In the same way, the Master mixed the knowledge of different sciences, so his inventions find more and more applications over time. From the treatise on light and shadow come the beginnings of the sciences of penetrating force, oscillatory motion, and wave propagation. All of his 120 books have been scattered (sfumato) throughout the world and are gradually being revealed to humanity.
Leonardo was never in a hurry to finish a work, because unfinishment is an essential quality of life. Finishing means killing! The slowness of the creator was the talk of the town. He could make two or three strokes and leave the city for many days, for example, to improve the valleys of Lombardy or create an apparatus for walking on water. Almost every one of his significant works is unfinished. Many were damaged by water, fire, barbaric treatment, but the artist did not correct them. The Master had a special composition, with the help of which he seemed to be specially creating “windows of incompleteness” in the finished painting. Apparently, this way he left a place where life itself could intervene and correct something.
Finally reached old age; Having been ill for many months and, feeling the approach of death, he began to diligently study everything that related to religion, the true and holy Christian faith. When the king arrived, who was in the habit of often and graciously visiting him, Leonardo, out of respect for the king, sat up straight on his bed and told him about his illness and its progress. At the same time, he proved how sinful he was before God and before people by the fact that he did not work in art as it should be. Then he had a fit, a harbinger of death, during which the king, rising from his seat, held his head in order to ease his suffering and show his favor. His most divine soul, realizing that it could not receive a greater honor, flew away in the arms of this king - in the seventy-fifth year of his life.
Leonardo died in Amboise on May 2, 1519; His paintings by this time were scattered mainly in private collections, and his notes lay in various collections almost in complete oblivion for several more centuries.
The loss of Leonardo beyond measure saddened everyone who knew him, for never was there a man who brought so much honor to the art of painting. This is a master who truly lived his entire life with great benefit for humanity.
Yes, all his work is full of questions that can be answered throughout your life, and will remain for future generations.
List of inventions, both real and attributed Leonardo da Vinci:
Parachute - 1483
Wheel lock
Bike
Tank
Lightweight portable bridges for the army
Spotlight
Catapult
Robot
Double lens telescope
Irina Nikiforova Librarian.Ru
Illustrations: "Leonardo da Vinci Architect" State Publishing House of Literature on Construction and Architecture. Moscow 1952
Combining the development of new tools artistic language with theoretical generalizations, Leonardo da Vinci created an image of a person that meets the humanistic ideals of the High Renaissance. In the painting “The Last Supper” (1495-1497, in the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan), the high ethical content is expressed in strict patterns of composition, a clear system of gestures and facial expressions of the characters.
The humanistic ideal of female beauty is embodied in the portrait of Mona Lisa (La Gioconda, circa 1503). Numerous discoveries, projects, experimental research in the field of mathematics, natural sciences, and mechanics. Defended decisive importance experience in knowledge of nature ( notebooks and manuscripts, about 7 thousand sheets).
Leonardo was born into the family of a wealthy notary. He was the illegitimate son of a Florentine notary and a peasant girl; was brought up in his father's house and, being the son of an educated man, received a thorough primary education in reading, writing and counting.
Perhaps in 1467 (at the age of 15) Leonardo was apprenticed to one of the leading masters early Renaissance in Florence, Andrea del Verrocchio. In 1472 Leonardo joined the guild of artists, learning the basics of drawing and other necessary disciplines. In 1476 he was still working in Verrocchio's workshop, apparently in collaboration with the master himself.
The methods of work in the Florentine workshop of that time, where the artist’s work was closely linked with technical experiments, as well as his acquaintance with the astronomer P. Toscanelli contributed to the emergence of young Leonardo’s scientific interests. IN early works(head of an angel in Verrocchio's "Baptism", after 1470, "Annunciation", around 1474, both in the Uffizi, " Madonna Benoit", around 1478, Hermitage) enriches the traditions of Quattrocento painting, emphasizing the smooth three-dimensionality of forms with soft chiaroscuro, enlivening faces with a subtle, subtle smile.
By 1480 Leonardo was already receiving large orders, but in 1482 he moved to Milan. In a letter to the ruler of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, he introduced himself as an engineer and military expert, as well as an artist. The years spent in Milan were filled with a variety of activities. Leonardo painted several paintings and a famous fresco last supper and began to diligently and seriously keep his notes. The Leonardo we recognize from his notes is an architect-designer (the creator of innovative plans that were never implemented), an anatomist, a hydraulic engineer, an inventor of mechanisms, a creator of decorations for court performances, a writer of riddles, puzzles and fables for the entertainment of the court, musician and painting theorist.
After the expulsion of Lodovico Sforza from Milan by the French in 1499, Leonardo left for Venice, visiting Mantua along the way, where he participated in the construction of defensive structures, and then returned to Florence; it is reported that he was so absorbed in mathematics that he did not even want to think about picking up a brush. For twelve years, Leonardo moved constantly from city to city, working for the famous Cesare Borgia in Romagna, designing fortifications (never built) for Piombino. In Florence he entered into rivalry with Michelangelo; This rivalry culminated in the enormous battle compositions that the two artists painted for the Palazzo della Signoria (also Palazzo Vecchio). Leonardo then conceived a second equestrian monument, which, like the first, was never created. All these years he continued to fill his notebooks with a variety of ideas on subjects as varied as the theory and practice of painting, anatomy, mathematics and the flight of birds. But in 1513, as in 1499, his patrons were expelled from Milan.
Leonardo went to Rome, where he spent three years under the patronage of the Medici. Depressed and upset by the lack of material for anatomical research, Leonardo tinkered with experiments and ideas that led nowhere.
French first Louis XII and then Francis I , admired the works Italian Renaissance, especially Last Supper Leonardo. It is therefore not surprising that in 1516 Francis I , well aware of Leonardo's varied talents, invited him to the court, which was then located at the castle of Amboise in the Loire Valley. Although Leonardo worked on hydraulic projects and plans for the new royal palace, it is clear from the writings of the sculptor Benvenuto Cellini that his main occupation was the honorary position of court sage and adviser. Leonardo died in Amboise on May 2, 1519; by this time his paintings were scattered mainly in private collections, and his notes lay in various collections almost in complete oblivion for several more centuries.
"Last Supper"
In the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Leonardo creates the painting “The Last Supper” (1495-97; due to the risky experiment that the master undertook, using oil mixed with tempera for the fresco, the work has reached us in a very damaged form). The high religious and ethical content of the image, which represents the stormy, contradictory reaction of Christ’s disciples to his words about the impending betrayal, is expressed in clear mathematical laws of the composition, powerfully subjugating not only the painted, but also the real architectural space. The clear stage logic of facial expressions and gestures, as well as the excitingly paradoxical, as always with Leonardo, combination of strict rationality with an inexplicable mystery made “The Last Supper” one of the most significant works in the history of world art.
Also involved in architecture, Leonardo develops various options for “ ideal city"and the central domed temple. The master spends the following years in constant travel (Florence - 1500-02, 1503-06, 1507; Mantua and Venice - 1500; Milan - 1506, 1507-13; Rome - 1513-16). Since 1517 he has lived in France, where he was invited by King Francis I.
"Battle of Angyari". Mona Lisa (Portrait of Mona Lisa)
In Florence, Leonardo is working on a painting in the Palazzo Vecchio (“The Battle of Anghiari”, 1503-1506; not finished and not preserved, known from copies from cardboard, as well as from a recently discovered sketch - private collection, Japan), which stands at the origins of the battle genre in the art of modern times; the deadly fury of war is embodied here in the frenzied fight of the horsemen.
In the most famous painting Leonardo, in the portrait of Mona Lisa (the so-called “La Gioconda”, circa 1503, Louvre), the image of a wealthy city woman appears as a mysterious personification of nature as such, without losing its purely feminine slyness; The inner significance of the composition is given by the cosmically majestic and at the same time alarmingly alienated landscape, melting into a cold haze.
Late paintings
TO late works Leonardo owns: designs for the monument to Marshal Trivulzio (1508-1512), the painting “St. Anne with Mary and the Child” Christ"(circa 1500-1507, Louvre). The latter, as it were, sums up his searches in the field of light-air perspective, tonal color (with a predominance of cool, greenish shades) and harmonious pyramidal composition; at the same time, this is harmony over the abyss, since a group of holy characters, welded together by family closeness, is presented on the edge of the abyss. Last picture Leonardo, “Saint John the Baptist” (circa 1515-1517, ibid.) is full of erotic ambiguity: the young Forerunner here looks not like a holy ascetic, but like a tempter full of sensual charm. In a series of drawings depicting a universal catastrophe (cycle with the “Flood”, Italian pencil, pen, circa 1514-1516, Royal Library, Windsor), thoughts about the frailty and insignificance of man before the power of the elements are combined with rationalistic ones, anticipating a “vortex” cosmology R. Descartes ideas about the cyclical nature of natural processes.
"Treatise on Painting"
The most important source for studying the views of Leonardo da Vinci are his notebooks and manuscripts (about 7 thousand sheets), written in colloquial Italian. The master himself did not leave a systematic presentation of his thoughts. “Treatise on Painting”, prepared after Leonardo’s death by his student F. Melzi and which had a huge impact influence on the theory of art, consists of excerpts, largely arbitrarily extracted from the context of his notes. For Leonardo himself, art and science were inextricably linked. Giving the palm in the “dispute of the arts” to painting as, in his opinion, the most intellectual form of creativity, the master understood it as a universal language (similar to mathematics in the field of science), which embodies the entire diversity of the universe through proportions, perspective and chiaroscuro. “Painting,” writes Leonardo, “is a science and the legitimate daughter of nature..., a relative of God.” By studying nature, the perfect artist-naturalist thereby learns the “divine mind” hidden under the external appearance of nature. By engaging in creative competition with this divinely intelligent principle, the artist thereby affirms his likeness to the Supreme Creator. Since he “has first in his soul and then in his hands” “everything that exists in the universe,” he also is “a kind of god.”
Leonardo is a scientist. Technical projects
As a scientist and engineer, Leonardo da Vinci enriched almost every field with insightful observations and guesses. knowledge of that time, considering his notes and drawings as sketches for a giant natural philosophical encyclopedia. He was a prominent representative of the new, experimentally based natural science. Leonardo paid special attention to mechanics, calling it “the paradise of mathematical sciences” and seeing in it the key to the secrets of the universe; he tried to determine the coefficients of sliding friction, studied the resistance of materials, and was passionate about hydraulics. Numerous hydrotechnical experiments were expressed in innovative designs of canals and irrigation systems. Leonardo's passion for modeling led him to astonishing technical foresights that were far ahead of his era: such are sketches of designs for metallurgical furnaces and rolling mills, weaving machines, printing, woodworking and other machines, a submarine and a tank, as well as designs for flying machines developed after a thorough study of the flight of birds and parachute
Optics
The observations collected by Leonardo on the influence of transparent and translucent bodies on the color of objects, reflected in his painting, led to the establishment of the principles of aerial perspective in art. The universality of optical laws was associated for him with the idea of the homogeneity of the Universe. He was close to creating a heliocentric system, considering the Earth to be “a point in the universe.” Studied the device human eye, making guesses about the nature of binocular vision.
Anatomy, botany, paleontology
In anatomical studies, summarizing the results of autopsies of corpses, in detailed drawings he laid the foundations of modern scientific illustration. Studying the functions of organs, he considered the body as an example of “natural mechanics”. First described a number of bones and nerves, special attention devoted to the problems of embryology and comparative anatomy, seeking to introduce the experimental method into biology. Having established botany as an independent discipline, he gave classical descriptions of leaf arrangement, helio- and geotropism, root pressure and the movement of plant juices. He was one of the founders of paleontology, believing that fossils found on mountain tops refute the idea of a “global flood.”
Having revealed the ideal of the Renaissance “universal man,” Leonardo da Vinci was interpreted in subsequent tradition as the person who most clearly outlined the range of creative quests of the era. In Russian literature, the portrait of Leonardo was created by D.S. Merezhkovsky in the novel “The Resurrected Gods” (1899-1900).
The value of scientific heritage
the works of any scientist must be considered in comparison with the achievements of his predecessors and contemporaries and in the light of their influence on the subsequent development of science. Due to Leonardo’s secrecy and the discovery of some of his manuscripts only 300 years after they were written, naturally, there is no need to talk about the influence of these notes on the subsequent development of natural sciences and technology. Serious comparison of Leonardo da Vinci's texts with surviving manuscripts and even with publications of contemporaries and predecessors until the second half of the 20th century. was practically not carried out. Professor Truesdell took an unbiased and critical approach to Leonardo's scientific and technical heritage and was not afraid to challenge traditional views. He pointed out the obvious exaggeration by many modern historians of the depth of a number of Leonardo's statements, the inconsistency, contradictoryness and speculativeness of many of his remarks, the almost complete lack of description of his own experiments, and the widespread use of borrowed materials. Truesdell emphasized the need for a serious historical-critical analysis of Leonardo's notes, comparing their contents with other materials of his era, in order to isolate truly original and unambiguously formulated judgments. This is an enormous work, which is just beginning and requires highly qualified specialists who have both the relevant natural and technical sciences and knowledge of medieval printed and manuscript sources.
Unfortunately, we do not know exactly whose works Leonardo read. Mentions of other scientists by him are extremely rare; moreover, out of principle, he rejected any blind adherence to authorities. In Leonardo there are (as a rule, outside the scientific context) references to Aristotle, Archimedes and Theophrastus - from ancient authors (IV-III centuries BC), Vitruvius, Heron, Lucretius and Frontinus - the heyday of the Roman Empire (I century BC - 1st century AD), Sabita ibn Korru - from Arab scientists (IX century), Jordan Nemorarius and Roger Bacon (XIII century), Albert of Saxony, Swineshead and Heytesbury (XIV century), Alberti and Fossambrone (XV century). Perhaps the only exception in Leonardo's notes was his direct polemic with Albert of Saxony about the movement. However, we do not know what he actually read. This can only be determined by painstaking comparison of Leonardo's notes with the texts of his predecessors and contemporaries, often preserved only in manuscripts.
It is known that Leonardo contains free retellings of certain authors. Yes, according to different sources we know that he was familiar with the teachings of the 14th century School of Paris on the nature of motion and the theory of the lever. However, Leonardo did not add anything significant: his statements here are unclear and inconsistent. But perhaps he was the first to become interested in movement on an inclined plane.
In general, in sections of science that require generalizations, Leonardo does not show much insight, apparently due to poor general training in natural science. Where a sharp eye is needed, he is unsurpassed and brilliant. Not being prepared for a serious study of the dynamics of processes, he is brilliant in observing their kinematics.
Leonardo's attitude towards mathematics is peculiar. The following words from his notes are often quoted: “Let no one who is not a mathematician read me.” It is not clear how to understand this statement and whether it is a paraphrase of the words of Greek authors. Elsewhere Leonardo writes: “Mechanics is the paradise of mathematical sciences; through it one achieves the mathematical fruit.” But we must keep in mind that Leonardo had almost no knowledge of mathematics: he added fractions, but barely knew the rudiments of algebra, could not solve even the simplest linear equations and used only proportions. Therefore, the above statements about mathematics are, perhaps, purely apologetic in nature.
Leonardo formulated all laws only in the form of simple proportions. Sometimes they could coincide with reality, sometimes not. And it is difficult to judge when he comes to the correct conclusion consciously and when by chance.
It is curious, however, that when considering some geometric problems that he could not solve analytically, Leonardo came up with mechanical devices that provided solutions. In terms of what can be considered and designed, he was certainly a genius.
Leonardo constantly talks about experiments and the need to carry them out. But we don't know how often he actually performed them. Leonardo's only remark, which is indisputably based on experiment, is the statement that the frictional force is proportional to the load, with the coefficient of friction being one quarter. This is the first and fairly plausible estimate of the friction coefficient known to us. In this respect, Leonardo certainly anticipated the work of Guillaume Amonton at the end of the 17th century, who is usually credited with the discovery of the laws of friction.
Large quantity Leonardo's notes are devoted to the strength of columns, beams and arches. In support of his judgments, he sometimes refers to an experiment, but more often he invites the reader to verify the experience himself. Leonardo's conclusion about the inverse proportionality of the strength of supports to their height is unnatural, although he repeatedly refers to thought experiments. Based on a thorough analysis of all the notes on the strength of structures, Truesdell came to the conclusion that Leonardo did not have a single correct result in this area, except for the obvious position that strength is proportional to the cross-section of a column (beam), a position a priori intuitively known to any builder.
On the contrary, where knowledge is achieved by observation, Leonardo is brilliantly insightful. Thus, clearly based on observations, he establishes the places where arches and vaults break when they are loaded. He discovered the resonant excitation of vibrations in bells, the appearance of wave patterns on vibrating plates covered with fine dust - phenomena that were described only in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The movement of waters represented a particularly wide field of observation for Leonardo. Here he noticed many things for the first time. He described the movement of waves on water and, in particular, the propagation of circular waves on the surface and their mutual unhindered passage. He noted the formation of bottom sand ridges in streams and similar ridges caused by the action of wind on land. He observed and sketched the trajectories of particles as they flowed out of holes and through spillways. His schematic sketches of pictures of secondary flows in a liquid as the flow leaves the bottom stage are remarkable. He observed the movement of water in rivers and, apparently, was the first to note the law of continuity - the inverse proportionality of velocities to cross-sectional areas.
Apparently, Leonardo not only proposed and described a flat slotted tray for studying the movement of liquids, but actually used it to observe flow trajectories by placing suitable tracers in the liquid, for which he used dry grains.
Thus, Leonardo discovered a lot of new things in the movement of waters, although, as always, he did not bring his broad plans to fruition. It is no coincidence that Cardinal Barberini instructed mid-17th century century to prepare for him, based on the notes of Leonardo da Vinci, the “Treatise on the Movement and Measurement of Waters”, which has survived to this day, published for the first time in 1826.
This is Leonardo da Vinci in all his contradictions. He knew how to pose questions correctly, sometimes indicating possible ways to find solutions. Of course, Leonardo’s genius was reflected in this. He did not become a pathfinder in science, but he could have been a guide, if not for his painful secrecy and conceit, which deprived subsequent generations of acquaintance with his notes.
Leonardo da Vinci lived in the era of the formation of a new science, which arose just at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries. And although he did not lay down any of the trends in the natural sciences of that era, he remains for us the most insightful observer of nature, striking us with the incredible versatility of his interests and guesses, intuition and providence.
Leonardo as a person
Leonardo was one of the most legendary and prolific figures of the entire Renaissance. According to some estimates, up to 20 thousand publications are devoted to him, the vast majority of which were published in the second half of the 20th century. This literature, predominantly of an idolatrous nature, created an image in society genius artist, sculptor and scientist. The fact that Leonardo was an outstanding painter was recognized during his lifetime, but he also openly claimed to be an engineer and architect and, in addition, was a hidden natural scientist, which he did not publicly declare at all. His interests were all-encompassing. They covered all areas of living nature - anatomy, physiology, biomechanics (the movement of animals and the flight of birds) and botany, as well as geology, orography, meteorology and a wide range of natural sciences - primarily mechanics (including structural strength and water movement), optics and partly astronomy and chemistry. He also showed deep interest in technology - mechanical engineering and especially aircraft.
Leonardo was an astute observer: he had a keen eye and masterfully wielded a pen, recording everything he saw. Having not received a good education and not fully fluent in the language of science of that time - Latin, he wrote thousands of sheets in Italian on various topics, supplementing them with drawings depicting what he saw and independently invented.
Leonardo wrote down all his thoughts in secret writing - in a mirror image, hiding them from others. He had exceptional self-esteem. Let us cite, for example, one of his laudatory entries addressed to himself, related to an unrealizable project aircraft: « Big bird will begin her first flight from the back of her gigantic swan, filling the universe with amazement, filling all the scriptures with rumors about herself - eternal glory to the nest where she was born!
According to legend, Leonardo systematically did not get enough sleep, completely devoting himself to work. His notes have survived only partially, mostly in an unsystematic scattering. In them, he asked nature thousands of questions, receiving an answer to almost none of them. He pointed out possible experimental ways to obtain many answers, but practically did not use them himself. We find in Leonardo repeated references to grandiose plans for writing treatises on various topics, although he understood their complete unreality. Alas, a brilliant projector, he took on everything, but hardly accomplished even an insignificant fraction of what was planned. Having lived relatively long life(67 years old), he never came close to completing any of his ideas. The inability to set real goals for himself was the life tragedy of this great genius.
Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci is a man of Renaissance art, sculptor, inventor, painter, philosopher, writer, scientist, polymath (universal person).
The future genius was born as a result of a love affair between the noble Piero da Vinci and the girl Katerina (Katarina). By social norms At that time, the marriage of these people was impossible due to the low origin of Leonardo’s mother. After the birth of her first child, she was married to a potter, with whom Katerina lived the rest of her life. It is known that she gave birth to four daughters and a son from her husband.
Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci
The first-born Piero da Vinci lived with his mother for three years. Leonardo's father, immediately after his birth, married a rich representative of a noble family, but his legal wife was never able to give him an heir. Three years after the marriage, Pierrot took his son to him and began raising him. Leonardo's stepmother died 10 years later while trying to give birth to an heir. Pierrot remarried, but quickly became a widower again. In total, Leonardo had four stepmothers, as well as 12 paternal half-siblings.
Creativity and inventions of da Vinci
The parent apprenticed Leonardo to the Tuscan master Andrea Verrocchio. During his studies with his mentor, son Pierrot learned not only the art of painting and sculpture. Young Leonardo studied the humanities and technical sciences, the craftsmanship of leather, the basics of working with metal and chemical reagents. All this knowledge was useful to Da Vinci in life.
Leonardo received confirmation of his qualifications as a master at the age of twenty, after which he continued to work under the supervision of Verrocchio. The young artist was involved in minor work on his teacher’s paintings, for example, he painted background landscapes and clothes of minor characters. Leonardo only got his own workshop in 1476.
Drawing "Vitruvian Man" by Leonardo da Vinci In 1482, da Vinci was sent by his patron Lorenzo de' Medici to Milan. During this period, the artist worked on two paintings, which were never completed. In Milan, Duke Lodovico Sforza enrolled Leonardo in the court staff as an engineer. The high-ranking person was interested in defensive devices and devices for entertaining the courtyard. Da Vinci had the opportunity to develop his talent as an architect and his abilities as a mechanic. His inventions turned out to be an order of magnitude better than those proposed by his contemporaries.
The engineer stayed in Milan under Duke Sforza for about seventeen years. During this time, Leonardo painted the paintings “Madonna in the Grotto” and “Lady with an Ermine”, created his most famous drawing “The Vitruvian Man”, made a clay model of the equestrian monument of Francesco Sforza, painted the wall of the refectory of the Dominican monastery with the composition “The Last Supper”, made a number of anatomical sketches and drawings of devices.
Leonardo's engineering talent also came in handy after his return to Florence in 1499. He entered the service of Duke Cesare Borgia, who relied on Da Vinci's ability to create military mechanisms. The engineer worked in Florence for about seven years, after which he returned to Milan. By that time, he had already completed work on his most famous painting, which is now kept in the Louvre Museum.
The master's second Milanese period lasted six years, after which he left for Rome. In 1516 Leonardo went to France, where he spent his recent years. On the journey, the master took with him Francesco Melzi, a student and main heir of da Vinci’s artistic style.
Portrait of Francesco Melzi Despite the fact that Leonardo spent only four years in Rome, it is in this city that there is a museum named after him. In three halls of the institution you can get acquainted with devices built according to Leonardo’s drawings, examine copies of paintings, photos of diaries and manuscripts.
The Italian devoted most of his life to engineering and architectural projects. His inventions were both military and peaceful in nature. Leonardo is known as the developer of prototypes of a tank, an aircraft, a self-propelled carriage, a searchlight, a catapult, a bicycle, a parachute, a mobile bridge, and a machine gun. Some of the inventor's drawings still remain a mystery to researchers.
Drawings and sketches of some of Leonardo da Vinci's inventions In 2009, the Discovery TV channel aired the series of films “Da Vinci Apparatus.” Each of the ten episodes of the documentary series was devoted to the construction and testing of mechanisms based on Leonardo's original drawings. The film's technicians tried to recreate the inventions Italian genius using materials from his era.
Personal life
The master's personal life was kept in the strictest confidence. Leonardo used a code for entries in his diaries, but even after deciphering, researchers received little reliable information. There is a version that the reason for secrecy was da Vinci’s unconventional orientation.
The theory that the artist loved men was based on researchers’ guesses based on indirect facts. At a young age, the artist was involved in a case of sodomy, but it is not known for certain in what capacity. After this incident, the master became very secretive and stingy with comments about his personal life.
Leonardo's possible lovers include some of his students, the most famous of whom is Salai. The young man was endowed with an effeminate appearance and became a model for several paintings by da Vinci. John the Baptist is one of Leonardo's surviving works for which Szalai sat.
There is a version that the “Mona Lisa” was also painted from this sitter, dressed in a woman’s dress. It should be noted that there is some physical similarity between the people depicted in the paintings “Mona Lisa” and “John the Baptist”. The fact remains that da Vinci bequeathed his artistic masterpiece namely Salai.
Historians also include Francesco Melzi among Leonardo's possible lovers.
There is another version of the secret of the Italian’s personal life. It is believed that Leonardo had a romantic relationship with Cecilia Gallerani, who is supposedly depicted in the portrait “Lady with an Ermine”. This woman was a favorite of the Duke of Milan, the owner of a literary salon, and a patron of the arts. She introduced the young artist to the circle of Milanese bohemia.
Fragment of the painting “Lady with an Ermine” Among Da Vinci's notes was found a draft of a letter addressed to Cecilia, which began with the words: “My beloved goddess...”. Researchers suggest that the portrait “Lady with an Ermine” was painted with clear signs of unspent feelings for the woman depicted in it.
Some researchers believe that great Italian I didn’t know carnal love at all. He was not attracted to men or women in a physical sense. In the context of this theory, it is assumed that Leonardo led the life of a monk who did not give birth to descendants, but left a great legacy.
Death and grave
Modern researchers have concluded that the probable cause of the artist’s death was a stroke. Da Vinci died at the age of 67 in 1519. Thanks to the memoirs of his contemporaries, it is known that by that time the artist was already suffering from partial paralysis. Leonardo could not move his right hand, as researchers believe, due to a stroke suffered in 1517.
Despite the paralysis, the master continued to be active creative life, resorting to the help of student Francesco Melzi. Da Vinci's health deteriorated, and by the end of 1519 it was already difficult for him to walk without assistance. This evidence is consistent with the theoretical diagnosis. Scientists believe that a repeated attack of cerebrovascular accident in 1519 ended the life of the famous Italian.
Monument to Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, Italy At the time of his death, the master was in the castle of Clos-Lucé near the city of Amboise, where he lived for the last three years of his life. In accordance with Leonardo's will, his body was buried in the gallery of the Church of Saint-Florentin.
Unfortunately, the master's grave was destroyed during the Huguenot wars. The church in which the Italian was buried was looted, after which it fell into severe neglect and was demolished by the new owner of the Amboise castle, Roger Ducos, in 1807.
After the destruction of the Saint-Florentin chapel, the remains from many burials over the years were mixed and buried in the garden. Since the mid-nineteenth century, researchers have made several attempts to identify the bones of Leonardo da Vinci. Innovators in this matter were guided by the lifetime description of the master and selected the most suitable fragments from the found remains. They were studied for some time. The work was led by archaeologist Arsen Housse. He also found fragments of a tombstone, presumably from da Vinci's grave, and a skeleton in which some fragments were missing. These bones were reburied in the reconstructed artist's tomb in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert on the grounds of the Castle of Amboise.
In 2010, a team of researchers led by Silvano Vinceti was going to exhume the remains of the Renaissance master. It was planned to identify the skeleton using genetic material taken from the burials of Leonardo's paternal relatives. Italian researchers were unable to obtain permission from the castle owners to carry out the necessary work.
On the site where the Church of Saint-Florentin used to be located, at the beginning of the last century a granite monument was erected, marking the four hundredth anniversary of the death of the famous Italian. The engineer's reconstructed grave and stone monument with his bust are among the most popular attractions in Amboise.
The secrets of da Vinci's paintings
Leonardo's work has occupied the minds of art critics, religious researchers, historians and ordinary people for more than four hundred years. Works Italian artist became an inspiration for people of science and creativity. There are many theories that reveal the secrets of da Vinci's paintings. The most famous of them says that when writing his masterpieces, Leonardo used a special graphic code.
Using a device of several mirrors, researchers were able to find out that the secret of the looks of the heroes from the paintings “Mona Lisa” and “John the Baptist” lies in the fact that they are looking at a creature in a mask, reminiscent of an alien. The secret code in Leonardo's notes was also deciphered using an ordinary mirror.
Hoaxes surrounding the work of the Italian genius have led to the emergence of a number of works of art, the author of which was the writer. His novels became bestsellers. In 2006, the film “The Da Vinci Code” was released, based on Brown’s work of the same name. The film was met with a wave of criticism from religious organizations, but set box office records in its first month of release.
Lost and unfinished works
Not all of the master’s works have survived to this day. The works that have not survived include: a shield with a painting in the form of the head of Medusa, a sculpture of a horse for the Duke of Milan, a portrait of the Madonna with a spindle, the painting “Leda and the Swan” and the fresco “The Battle of Anghiari”.
Modern researchers know about some of the master’s paintings thanks to surviving copies and memoirs of da Vinci’s contemporaries. For example, the fate of the original work “Leda and the Swan” is still unknown. Historians believe that the painting may have been destroyed in the mid-seventeenth century on the orders of the Marquise de Maintenon, wife of Louis XIV. Sketches made by Leonardo's hand and several copies of the canvas made by Leonardo have survived to this day. by different artists.
The painting showed a young naked woman in the arms of a swan, with babies hatched from huge eggs playing at her feet. When creating this masterpiece, the artist was inspired by a famous mythical plot. It is interesting that the painting based on the story of Leda’s copulation with Zeus, who took the form of a swan, was painted not only by da Vinci.
Leonardo's lifetime rival also painted a painting dedicated to this ancient myth. Buonarotti's painting suffered the same fate as da Vinci's work. Paintings by Leonardo and Michelangelo simultaneously disappeared from the collection of the French royal house.
Among the unfinished works of the brilliant Italian, the painting “Adoration of the Magi” stands out. The canvas was commissioned by the Augustinian monks in 1841, but remained unfinished due to the master’s departure to Milan. The customers found another artist, and Leonardo saw no point in continuing to work on the painting.
Fragment of the painting “Adoration of the Magi” Researchers believe that the composition of the canvas has no analogues in Italian painting. The painting depicts Mary with the newborn Jesus and the Magi, and behind the pilgrims are riders on horses and the ruins of a pagan temple. There is an assumption that Leonardo depicted himself at the age of 29 among the men who came to the son of God.
- In 2009, researcher of religious mysteries Lynn Picknett published the book “Leonardo da Vinci and the Brotherhood of Zion,” naming the famous Italian one of the masters of a secret religious order.
- It is believed that da Vinci was a vegetarian. He wore clothes made of linen, neglecting outfits made of leather and natural silk.
- A group of researchers plans to isolate Leonardo's DNA from the master's surviving personal belongings. Historians also claim to be close to finding da Vinci's maternal relatives.
- The Renaissance was the time when noble women in Italy were addressed with the words “my lady”, in Italian - “ma donna”. IN colloquial speech the expression was shortened to "monna". This means that the title of the painting “Mona Lisa” can be literally translated as “Lady Lisa”.
- Rafael Santi called da Vinci his teacher. He visited Leonardo's studio in Florence and tried to adopt some features of his artistic style. Raphael Santi also called Michelangelo Buonarroti his teacher. The three artists mentioned are considered the main geniuses of the Renaissance.
- Australian enthusiasts have created the largest traveling exhibition inventions of the great architect. The exhibition was developed with the participation of the Leonardo da Vinci Museum in Italy. The exhibition has already visited six continents. During its operation, five million visitors were able to see and touch the works of the most famous engineer of the Renaissance.
This story is very old, but amazing. Leonardo da Vinci in 1841 planned to make an equestrian statue of Lodovico Sforza in Milan. And he made only a plaster statue of a horse, 7 meters high. It was necessary to cast the statue in bronze. But the war began. The metal, purchased with donations from the citizens of Milan, was used for cannons. The plaster horse was shot by the French who entered the city. And the brilliant idea of the great Leonardo remained unrealized. Numerous sketches and calculations have been preserved. And only in our days there were people who, based on the sketches of Leonardo da Vinci, finally cast this beautiful and powerful sculpture... =
LEONARDO DA VINCI. AN IDEA REALIZED In 1997, a horse sculpture, which had long been awaited here, was delivered on a special flight from New York to Milan. The beauty of the sculpture, the meticulous elaboration of all the anatomical details of the horse’s figure, and, of course, its size (height without the pedestal is about 7.5 meters) immediately attracted and continues to attract special attention to it. But the main thing that fills the hearts of Milanese (and not only Milanese) with pride when looking at such a unique creation of architects is that the unusual sculpture is a restored creation of the great Italian and genius of world culture Leonardo da Vinci. Nowadays, Leonardo's horse has become one of the symbols of Milan, along with such masterpieces of architecture and fine arts , like the Duomo Cathedral, the Sforzesco Castle and the Last Supper in the former refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie. This photo essay tells the interesting and sometimes dramatic story of the creation of this sculpture. *** In 1481, Leonardo da Vinci offered his services as a military engineer, architect, sculptor and artist to the new Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, a famous philanthropist and patron of the arts. The proposal was accepted, and from that time on the long and fruitful Milanese period of Leonardo’s life and work began. During these years, he painted the famous “Last Supper”, “Madonna of the Rocks”, “Lady with an Ermine”, and decorated the walls of the hall della Asta in the Sforza Castle with frescoes. Largely thanks to Leonardo and the architect Donato Bramante, the Sforza Castle during the reign of Lodovico became one of the most beautiful and rich ducal palaces in Italy. Among other works to improve the architecture and interiors of this castle, he began to implement another of his ideas - the creation of a majestic bronze equestrian sculpture with a rider, which would symbolize Lodovico's father, Duke Francesco Sforza, would serve as a monument to him and would be installed in the square in front of the castle Sforza, which at that time was already the ducal residence. Leonardo completed a huge number of sketches and sketches of the figure of the horse on which Francesco was supposed to sit, and finally made his choice. Here is one of the sketches that served as the basis for creating the sculpture. It took almost a decade to prepare and create a plaster model of the horse - Leonardo’s enormous demands on the subtlety of conveying the anatomical and artistic details of the sculpture required constant clarification and changes. And its size was impressive - without a rider it reached a height of more than seven meters, and its subsequent casting in bronze required many tons of copper. The model was therefore completed and put on display only in 1493. It is believed that it was this event that made Leonardo da Vinci famous. Next, Leonardo was supposed to begin sculpting the horseman, but work on the Last Supper, which began in 1495, and the collection of donations for the purchase of copper delayed the sculpting of this figure, and subsequent unexpected circumstances interrupted it altogether. In 1499, the Milanese, dissatisfied with Lodovico's rule, rebelled, and in the absence of the Duke, they allowed the troops of the French king Louis XII, who laid claim to Milan, into their city. And although these troops did not stay here long, they destroyed the plaster model of a horse created by Leonardo, turning it into a target for their shooting exercises. All that was left of it was a pile of plaster debris. And the copper, allegedly prepared by this time, was spent by Lodovico on the manufacture of cannons, which, by the way, could not help him - he was soon handed over to the French and died in prison in 1508. The Milanese period of Leonardo's life and work ended here, and he returned to Florence. *** The idea to revive the lost equestrian statue arose almost half a millennium after the loss of this masterpiece, in 1977, by former American military pilot and amateur sculptor Charles Dent. He read an essay about "Leonardo's horse" in National Geographic magazine, and, as they write about it, was shocked by the barbarity of the French troops who destroyed this sculptural masterpiece. At the same time, he had certain associations with the bombings that Italy was subjected to during the Second World War (US aircraft also took part in them), which led to the destruction of many historical monuments . Dent found authentic sketches of drawings of this horse made by Leonardo in the Madrid library, and decided, through donations, to implement the idea of its author - to cast a bronze sculpture the same as Leonardo da Vinci sculpted it from plaster. By the way, Dent’s ultimate goal was to return the sculpture to Milan, as a kind of repentance for the destruction of Italian cultural monuments during the bombing. A noble goal, isn't it? Charles Dent devoted the rest of his life (he died in 1994) to bringing his idea to life, but he never had time to finish this work, although he created a model of a horse in “natural” (i.e. the same as Leonardo’s) size . However, this model, according to experts, required improvement, and after Dent’s death, sculptor Nina Akamo, a Japanese-American woman who was captivated by Dent’s idea, was brought in to work. Finally, in 1997, the final model was ready, and a bronze figure of a huge horse, resurrected from Leonardo’s sketches, was cast from it. This sculpture weighed 13 tons, its height was 7.5 meters. As already mentioned in the preface, she was sent from New York to Milan on a special flight of an Italian airline. Unfortunately, the bronze colossus could not be installed where Leonardo and Dent wanted to see it - on the square in front of the Sforza Castle. The Milan mayor and city council found another place for it, in a new park near the San Siro racecourse. This photograph, taken in Milan, has a small drawback - when looking at it, one does not get the impression of the full monumentality of this creation of the architects, since there is no figure or object on it, the size of which could be compared with the size of the sculpture.. Fortunately, this drawback another photograph is missing. But before demonstrating it, I want to tell you that copies of the sculpture installed in Milan are available in the USA in the Frederik Mejer Gardens and Sculpture Park, near Grand Rapids, Michigan (there is a plaster copy painted in bronze), and in Japan (fiber glass copy, gilded). Here's a magnificent photo of Leonardo's horse installed in Meyer Park near Grand Rapids, published on the Russian Photosite by Oleg Zhdanov (nickname oldet) from Detroit. This photo clearly shows the contrast between the grandeur of the sculpture, made according to the drawings of Leonardo and the memories of his contemporaries, and the figure of a child running at the feet of a horse. By the way, pay attention - this horse stands without a pedestal, directly on the park site! Having looked at this photograph, you can imagine how unique and even more majestic the Milanese monument in the form of Francesco Sforza sitting on this horse would have been if Leonardo had managed to fully realize his idea in his time. Well, what Charles Dent and Nina Acamo managed to do can be safely called the embodiment of the idea of the great Leonardo. A. Shurygin, 2010
Where is the famous Da Vinci's Horse? Of course, in beloved Italy, Milan!
The history of Da Vinci's horse sculpture is unusual.
The famous Sforzo Castle is probably the most beautiful building in Milan.
Da Vinci's horse was supposed to be located exactly in front of him on the square where the beautiful one is now located.
The sculpture of Leonardo's Horse even stood here for some time. True, it was a clay version.
What is the history of the real sculpture of Da Vinci's Horse?
Leonardo wanted to erect the largest statue of a horse to immortalize the father of his patron Louis Sforza. I worked on Leonardo’s project for 10 years, visited the most elite equestrian yards, made sketches, and looked at existing equestrian statues. After 10 years, he embodied his idea in clay, the horse was installed exactly in the place where the entire statue with the rider was to be installed later.
The events took place at the end of the 25th century, by which time Leonardo had already painted the Lady with an Ermine, the Madonna of the Rocks and the Last Supper, and became famous during his lifetime thanks to this monument to the Horse. Money was already being collected to cast the original and install the clay sculpture in its place. And then the unexpected happened: they entered and began to practice shooting at a clay horse. This could have been a sad end for Da Vinci's Horse, but for a miracle. This is exactly how I view this fact.
Almost 500 years later, the American pilot and amateur sculptor Charles Dent, having read an article in National Geographic, was outraged by this fact. It was Charles Dent who made it his life’s work to recreate the monument to Da Vinci’s Horse. In 1977, Charles Dent began reconstruction of the sculpture. The project required a lot of time and money - 15 years and about 2.5 million dollars. In 1994, Dent died and the sculpture was not completed. Fortunately, Japanese American sculptor Nina Akama completed the project. In 1997, on a special plane flight, this horse was delivered from America to. Of course, they wanted to install with sculpture of Da Vinci's Horse on the square near Sforzesco Castle, but the mayor's office did not give consent, and the sculpture was installed here at the hippodrome IPPODROMO DEL GALOPPO , where a horse should be.
Da Vinci's horse stands on two limbs and seems to float in the air. Every muscle, every contour is clearly visible. At the same time, the sculpture weighs 13 tons, and the height is 7.5 meters without a pedestal, in a word, Da Vinci’s Horse is Leonardo’s masterpiece.
The memorial plaque with the names of everyone who participated in the recreation of Da Vinci's Horse is impressive. Many thanks to them. And first of all to Charles Dent, who was able to inspire with his idea. Someone always says: This is impossible! And at the same time, there are often those who do this impossible!
The Hippodrome is located close to the San Siro stadium, you just need to turn your back to it and you immediately have a view of the stadium.
Going to San Siro, our plans included seeing this masterpiece along the way. That's how it all happened.
By the way, there are many wonderful monuments in the stadium area, they even have their own horse, but Da Vinci’s Horse is at the hippodrome.
This story of Da Vinci's Horse is unusual in my opinion.
Another reconstruction project of Da Vinci's Horse culminated in the installation of a sculpture in the Meyer Gardens. It was financed by billionaire Frederik Meyer, and the location where the Horse was installed is quite obvious.
Read how to get to the San Siro stadium and the Hippodrome in the next post.
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