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Leonardo da Vinci: where he was born, what he became famous for, interesting facts. Life path of Leonardo da Vinci (biography and creativity)

Who lies in Leonardo's grave? April 8th, 2017

Leonardo da Vinci. Self-portrait.

Leonardo da Vinci is considered one of the most prominent representatives of the Renaissance. This “universal man” was far ahead of his time with his brilliant creativity, discoveries, and research. The master left behind many unsolved mysteries, including the place of his burial. Da Vinci did not die in Italy, as many believe, but in France. However, many scientists are still arguing whose remains actually rest under the granite slab with the name of the great master.

How did this happen?




Castle of Cloux (Clos-Lucé), place of Leonardo's death.

After the death of Giuliano de' Medici, Leonardo da Vinci lost his powerful patron. When in 1516 he was invited by the French king Francis I to take the place of court artist, the aged da Vinci agreed without a drop of doubt. At that time, France was actively involved in the Renaissance, so da Vinci was universally revered. However, the artist was already 65 years old at that time. The master's strength was leaving him, and his right hand was going numb. He picked up paints less and less. Fate destined him to live in France for only a couple of years.


Reconstructed room of Leonardo da Vinci in the castle of Clos (Clos-Lusset) in Amboise. France.

According to legend, the French king Francis I was at da Vinci's deathbed when he passed into another world. At the castle of Cloux (Clos-Lucé), where he died Great master, the room in which Leonardo da Vinci lived is now open to public viewing. The interior of the apartment differs from the general style of the castle, as historians have tried to reconstruct the interior in the Renaissance style down to the smallest detail.


Church of Saint-Floraten, in whose chapel Leonardo da Vinci was originally buried. |

As a result of the long Huguenot wars that took place in the second half of the 16th century, the Church of Saint-Floraten was gradually destroyed. The poor took away the sarcophagi of aristocrats, among which was the grave of Leonardo da Vinci. They even took the lids of the coffins, dumping the remains of the dead in one pile


Chapel of Saint-Hubert.

In 1863, thanks to the energy French critic Arsene Gousse, excavations were carried out at the site of the church. The found remains of the deceased were mixed, and the bones of Leonardo da Vinci were chosen at random. The critic Husset was guided by the lifetime description of the artist's appearance - large stature, massive skull, high forehead. Next to the “suitable” remains, we were able to find stones with the badly worn letters INC. The researcher then discovered slabs with the inscriptions LEO and DUS. Arsene Gousset rejoiced: the fragments formed into the name of the great master LEOnarDUS vINCius.

Tombstone of Leonardo da Vinci.

In the Gothic chapel, built into the steep stone wall of the castle of Amboise, whose fortifications dominate the town of the same name, there is a tombstone with the name of Leonardo da Vinci. Therefore, many visitors to the Amboise Castle mistake this elegant Gothic chapel, as if floating in the air, for the actual burial place of the great artist.

Granite slab and epitaph of Leonardo da Vinci in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert.


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Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most talented and mysterious persons of the Renaissance. The Creator left behind a lot of inventions, paintings and secrets, many of which remain unsolved to this day. Da Vinci is called a polymath, or “universal man.” After all, he reached heights in almost all areas of science and art. In this article you will learn the most interesting things from the life of this person.

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the settlement of Anchiano in the Utuscan city of Vinci. The parents of the future genius were lawyer Piero, 25 years old, and orphan peasant Katerina, 15 years old. However, Leonardo, like his father, did not have a surname: da Vinci means “from Vinci.”

Until the age of 3, the boy lived with his mother. The father soon married a noble but barren lady. As a result, 3-year-old Leonardo was taken into care in new family, forever separated from his mother.

Pierre da Vinci gave his son a comprehensive education and more than once tried to introduce him to the notary profession, but the boy did not show any interest in the profession. It is worth noting that during the Renaissance, illegitimate children were considered equal to legitimate ones. Therefore, even after the death of his father, Leonardo was helped by many noble people of Florence and the town of Vinci itself.

Verrocchio's workshop

At the age of 14, Leonardo became an apprentice in the workshop of the painter Andrea del Verrocchio. There the teenager drew, sculpted, and learned the basics of the humanities and technical sciences. 6 years later, Leonardo qualified as a master and was accepted into the Guild of St. Luke, where he continued to study the basics of drawing and other significant disciplines.

History includes the incident of Leonardo's victory over his teacher. While working on the painting “The Baptism of Christ,” Verrocchio asked Leonardo to draw an angel. The student created an image that was many times more beautiful than the whole picture. As a result, the amazed Verrochio left painting for the rest of his life.

1472–1516

1472–1513 years are considered the most fruitful in the artist’s life. After all, it was then that the polymath created his most famous creations.

In 1476–1481 Leonardo da Vinci had a personal workshop in Florence. In 1480 the artist became famous and began to receive incredibly expensive orders.

1482–1499 Da Vinci spent a year in Milan. The genius arrived in the city as a messenger of peace. The head of Milan, the Duke of Moro, often ordered da Vinci various inventions for wars and for the amusement of the court. In addition, Leonardo da Vinci began keeping a diary in Milan. Thanks to personal notes, the world learned about many of the creator’s discoveries and inventions, and about his passion for music.

Due to the French invasion of Milan, in 1499 year the artist returned to Florence. In the city, the scientist served Duke Cesare Borgia. On his behalf, da Vinci often visited Romagna, Tuscany and Umbria. There the master was engaged in reconnaissance and preparing fields for battles. After all, Cesare Borgia wanted to seize the Papal States. The entire Christian world considered the Duke a fiend from hell, and da Vinci respected him for his tenacity and talent.

In 1506 Leonardo da Vinci returned to Milan again, where he studied anatomy and the study of the structure of organs with the support of the Medici family. In 1512, the scientist moved to Rome, where he worked under the patronage of Pope Leo X until the latter's death.

In 1516 Leonardo da Vinci became a court advisor to the King of France, Francis I. The ruler allocated the artist the castle of Clos-Lucé and gave him complete freedom of action. In addition to an annual fee of 1000 ecus, the scientist received an estate with vineyards. Da Vinci noted that his French years gave him a comfortable old age and were the calmest and happiest in his life.

Death and grave

Leonardo da Vinci's life was cut short on May 2, 1519, presumably from a stroke. However, signs of the disease appeared long before this. The artist could not move his right hand due to partial paralysis since 1517, and shortly before his death he completely lost the ability to walk. The maestro bequeathed all his property to his students.

Da Vinci's first tomb was destroyed during the Huguenot Wars. The remains of various people were mixed and buried in the garden. Later, archaeologist Arsene Houssay identified the artist's skeleton from the description and transferred it to a reconstructed grave on the grounds of the Castle of Amboise.

In 2010, a group of scientists intended to exhume the body and conduct DNA testing. For comparison, it was planned to take material from the artist’s buried relatives. However, the owners of Watermelon Castle did not allow da Vinci to be exhumed.

Secrets of personal life

Personal life was kept in the strictest confidence. The artist described all love events in his diary using a special code. Scientists put forward 3 opposing versions regarding the personal life of a genius:


Secrets in the life of da Vinci

In 1950, the list of Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion, a Jerusalem order of monks founded in the 11th century, was made public. According to the list, Leonardo da Vinci was a member of a secret organization.

A number of researchers believe that the artist was its leader. The main task of the group was to restore the Merovingian dynasty - the direct descendants of Christ - to the throne of France. Another of the group's missions was to keep the marriage of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene secret.

Historians dispute the existence of the Priory and consider Leonardo's participation in it a hoax. Scientists emphasize that the Priory of Sion was created in 1950 with the participation of Pierre Plantard. In their opinion, documents were forged at the same time.

However, few surviving facts can only speak of the caution of the monks of the order and their desire to hide their activities. Da Vinci's writing style also speaks in favor of the theory. The author wrote from left to right, as if imitating Hebrew writing.

The Priory Mystery formed the basis of Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code. Based on the work, a film of the same name was made in 2006. The plot talks about a cryptex allegedly invented by Da Vinci - an encryption device. When you try to hack the device, everything written is dissolved in vinegar.

Predictions of Leonardo da Vinci

Some historians consider Leonardo da Vinci a seer, others - a time traveler who found himself in the Middle Ages from the future. So, scientists are wondering how the inventor could create a gas mixture for scuba diving without knowledge of biochemistry. However, it is not only da Vinci’s inventions that raise questions, but also his predictions. Many prophecies have already come true.

So, Leonardo da Vinci described Hitler and Stalin in detail, and also predicted the appearance of:

  • missiles;
  • telephone;
  • Skype;
  • players;
  • electronic money;
  • loans;
  • paid medicine;
  • globalization, etc.

In addition, da Vinci painted the end of the world, depicting an atomic mushroom. Among future cataclysms, scientists have described the collapse of the earth's surface, the activation of volcanoes, the flood and the coming of the Antichrist.

Inventions

He left the world a lot of useful inventions that became prototypes:

  • parachute;
  • airplane, hang glider and helicopter;
  • bicycle and car;
  • robot;
  • eye glasses;
  • telescope;
  • spotlights;
  • scuba gear and spacesuit;
  • lifebuoy;
  • military devices: tank, catapult, machine gun, mobile bridges and wheel lock.

Among Da Vinci's great inventions, his "Ideal City". After the plague pandemic, the scientist developed a project for Milan with proper planning and sewerage. It was supposed to divide the city into levels for the upper classes and trade, to ensure constant access of water to houses.

In addition, the master rejected narrow streets, which were a breeding ground for infections, and emphasized the importance of wide squares and roads. However, the Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza did not accept the bold scheme. Centuries later, according to an ingenious project, they built new town- London.

Leonardo da Vinci also left his mark on anatomy. The scientist was the first to describe the heart as a muscle and tried to create a prosthetic aortic valve. In addition, da Vinci accurately described and depicted the spine, thyroid gland, tooth structure, muscle structure, location internal organs. Thus, the principles of anatomical drawing were created.

The genius also contributed to the development of art, developing blurred drawing technique and chiaroscuro.

Great paintings and their mysteries

He left behind many paintings, frescoes and drawings. However, 6 works were lost, and the authorship of another 5 is disputed. There are 7 works of Leonardo da Vinci that are most famous in the world:

1. - Da Vinci's first work. The drawing is realistic, neat and done with light pencil strokes. When looking at the landscape, it seems that you are looking at it from a high point.

2. "Turin Self-Portrait". The painter created a masterpiece 7 years before his death. The painting is valuable because it gives the world an idea of ​​what Leonardo da Vinci looked like. However, some art historians believe that this is just a sketch for the Mona Lisa, made from another person.

3. . The drawing was created as an illustration for the book. Da Vinci captured a naked man in 2 positions superimposed on each other. The work is considered simultaneously an achievement of art and science. After all, the artist embodied the canonical proportions of the body and golden ratio. Thus, the drawing emphasizes the natural ideality and mathematical proportionality of man.

4. . The painting has a religious plot: it is dedicated to the Mother of God (Madonna) and the Christ Child. Despite its small size, the painting amazes with its purity, depth and beauty. But “Madonna Litta” is also shrouded in mystery and raises a lot of questions. Why does the baby have a chick in his hands? Why is Our Lady's dress torn in the chest area? Why is the picture made in dark colors?

5. . The painting was commissioned by the monks, but due to his move to Milan, the artist never completed the work. The canvas depicts Mary with the newborn Jesus and the Magi. According to one version, 29-year-old Leonardo himself is depicted among the men.

6th masterpiece –

“The Last Supper” is a fresco depicting Christ’s last supper. The work is no less mysterious and mysterious than the Mona Lisa.
The history of the creation of the canvas is shrouded in mysticism. The artist quickly drew portraits of all the characters in the picture.

However, it was impossible to find prototypes for Jesus Christ and Judas. Once da Vinci noticed a bright and spiritual young man in the church choir. The young man became the prototype of Christ. The search for a model for the drawing of Judas dragged on for years.

Later, da Vinci found the most vile person in his opinion. The prototype of Judas was a drunkard found in a sewer. Having already completed the picture, Da Vinci learned that Judas and Christ were drawn by him from the same person.

Among the mysteries of the Last Supper is Mary Magdalene. Da Vinci depicted her at the right hand of Christ, as legal wife. The marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene is also indicated by the fact that the contours of their bodies form the letter M - “Matrimonio” (marriage).

7th masterpiece – “Mona Lisa”, or “La Gioconda”

“Mona Lisa”, or “La Gioconda” is the most famous and mysterious painting by Leonardo da Vinci. To this day, art historians argue about who is depicted on the canvas. Among the popular versions: Lisa del Giocondo, Constanza d'Avalos, Pacifica Brandano, Isabella of Aragon, an ordinary Italian, da Vinci himself and even his student Salai in a woman's dress.

In 2005, it was proven that the painting depicts Lisa Gerandini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo. This was indicated by the notes of da Vinci's friend Agostino Vespucci. Thus, both names become understandable: Mona - short for the Italian Madonna, my mistress and Gioconda - after the surname of Lisa Gerandini’s husband.

Among the secrets of the painting is the demonic and at the same time divine smile of the Mona Lisa, which is capable of enchanting anyone. When you focus on your lips, they seem to smile more. They say that people who look at this detail for a long time go crazy.

A computer study has shown that Mona Lisa's smile simultaneously expresses happiness, anger, fear and disgust. Some scientists are convinced that the effect is caused by the absence of front teeth, eyebrows or the heroine’s pregnancy. Others say that the smile seems to fade away due to the fact that it is in the low frequency range of light.

Researcher Smith-Kettlewell argues that the smile change effect is due to random noise in the human visual system.

The look of the Mona Lisa is also written in a special way. From whatever angle you look at the girl, it seems that she is looking at you.

The technique of writing La Gioconda is also impressive. The portrait, including the eyes and smile, is a series of golden ratios. The face and hands form an isosceles triangle, and some details fit perfectly into the golden rectangle.

Secrets of Da Vinci's paintings: hidden messages and meanings

The paintings of Leonardo da Vinci are shrouded in mysteries that hundreds of scientists from all over the world are struggling with. In particular, Ugo Conti decided to use the mirror method. The scientist was prompted to this idea by da Vinci’s prose. The fact is that the author wrote from left to right, and his manuscripts can only be read with the help of a mirror. Conti applied the same approach to reading paintings.

It turned out that the characters in da Vinci’s paintings point with their eyes and fingers to the places where the mirror should be placed.

A simple technique reveals hidden images and figures:

1. In the painting “The Virgin and Child, Saint Anne and John the Baptist” discovered a number of demons. According to one version, this is the Devil, according to another, the Old Testament god Yahweh in the papal tiara. It was believed that this god “protects the soul from the vices of the body.”

Click to enlarge

2. In the painting “John the Baptist”- “tree of life” with an Indian deity. A number of researchers believe that in this way the artist hid mysterious picture"Adam and Eve in Paradise." Da Vinci's contemporaries often mentioned the painting. For a long time it was believed that “Adam and Eve” was a separate picture.

3. On the “Mona Lisa” and “John the Baptist”- the head of a demon, the Devil or the god Yahweh in a helmet, somewhat similar to the hidden image on the canvas “Our Lady”. With this, Conti explains the mystery of the looks in the paintings.

4. On “Madonna of the Rocks”(“Madonna in the Grotto”) depicts the Virgin Mary, Jesus, John the Baptist and an Angel. But if you hold a mirror to the picture, you can see God and a number of biblical characters.

5. In the painting “The Last Supper” a hidden vessel is discovered in the hands of Jesus Christ. Researchers believe this is the Holy Grail. In addition, thanks to the mirror, the two apostles become knights.

6. In the painting “The Annunciation” hidden angelic, and in some versions alien, images.

Hugo Conti believes that you can find a hidden mystical drawing in every painting. The main thing is to use a mirror for this.

In addition to mirror codes, the Mona Lisa also stores secret messages under layers of paint. Graphic designers noticed that when the canvas is turned on its side, images of a buffalo, lion, monkey and bird become visible. Da Vinci thus told the world about the four Essences of man.

Some interesting facts about da Vinci include the following:

  1. The genius was left-handed. Many scientists explain this by the master’s special writing style. Da Vinci always wrote in a mirror manner - from left to right, although he could write with his right hand.
  2. The Creator was not constant: he quit one job and jumped to another, never returning to the previous one. Moreover, da Vinci moved to completely unrelated areas. For example, from art to anatomy, from literature to engineering.
  3. Da Vinci was talented musician and played the lyre beautifully.
  4. The artist was a zealous vegetarian. Not only did he not eat animal food, but he also did not wear leather or silk. Da Vinci called people who eat meat “walking cemeteries.” But this did not prevent the scientist from being a master of ceremonies at court feasts and from creating a new profession - an “assistant” cook.
  5. Da Vinci's passion for drawing knew no bounds. So, the master spent hours sketching the bodies of the hanged in detail.
  6. According to one version, the scientist developed colorless and odorless poisons, as well as glass listening devices for Cesare Borgia.

They say that geniuses are born only when the world is ready to accept them. However, Leonardo da Vinci was far ahead of his era. The bulk of his discoveries and creations were appreciated only centuries later. Da Vinci proved by his own example that the human mind knows no boundaries.

Books were written and films were made about the titan of the Renaissance, and monuments were erected in his honor. Minerals, craters on the Moon and asteroids were named after the great scientist. And in 1994 they found it for real beautiful way perpetuate the memory of a genius.

Breeders have developed a new variety of historical rose, called Rosa Leonardo da Vinci. The plant blooms continuously, does not burn out and does not freeze in the cold, like the memory of the “universal man”.

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Childhood

The house where Leonardo lived as a child.

Verrocchio's workshop

Defeated teacher

Verrocchio's painting "The Baptism of Christ". The angel on the left (lower left corner) is the creation of Leonardo.

In the 15th century, ideas about the revival of ancient ideals were in the air. At the Florence Academy, the best minds in Italy created the theory of new art. Creative youth spent time in lively discussions. Leonardo remained aloof from his busy social life and rarely left his studio. He had no time for theoretical disputes: he improved his skills. One day Verrocchio received an order for the painting “The Baptism of Christ” and commissioned Leonardo to paint one of the two angels. This was a common practice in art workshops of that time: the teacher created a picture together with student assistants. The most talented and diligent were entrusted with the execution of an entire fragment. Two Angels, painted by Leonardo and Verrocchio, clearly demonstrated the superiority of the student over the teacher. As Vasari writes, the amazed Verrocchio abandoned his brush and never returned to painting.

Professional activity, 1476-1513

At the age of 24, Leonardo and three other young men were put on trial on false, anonymous charges of sodomy. They were acquitted. Very little is known about his life after this event, but he probably had his own workshop in Florence in 1476-1481.

In 1482, Leonardo, being, according to Vasari, a very talented musician, created a silver lyre in the shape of a horse's head. Lorenzo de' Medici sent him as a peacemaker to Lodovico Moro, and sent the lyre with him as a gift.

Personal life

Leonardo had many friends and students. As for love relationships, there is no reliable information on this matter, since Leonardo carefully hid this side of his life. He was not married; there is no reliable information about his affairs with women. According to some versions, Leonardo had a relationship with Cecilia Gallerani, a favorite of Lodovico Moro, with whom he wrote his famous painting"Lady with an Ermine". A number of authors, following the words of Vasari, suggest intimate relationships with young men, including students (Salai), others believe that, despite the painter’s homosexuality, relationships with students were not intimate.

End of life

Leonardo was present at the meeting of King Francis I with Pope Leo X in Bologna on December 19, 1515. Francis commissioned a master to construct a mechanical lion capable of walking, from whose chest a bouquet of lilies would appear. Perhaps this lion greeted the king in Lyon or was used during negotiations with the pope.

In 1516, Leonardo accepted the invitation of the French king and settled in his castle of Clos-Lucé, where Francis I spent his childhood, not far from the royal castle of Amboise. In his official capacity as the first royal artist, engineer and architect, Leonardo received an annual annuity of one thousand ecus. Never before in Italy did Leonardo have the title of engineer. Leonardo was not the first Italian master who, by the grace of the French king, received “freedom to dream, think and create” - before him, Andrea Solario and Fra Giovanni Giocondo shared a similar honor.

In France, Leonardo almost did not draw, but was masterfully involved in organizing court festivities, planning a new palace in Romorantan with a planned change in the river bed, designing a canal between the Loire and the Saone, and the main two-way spiral staircase in the Chateau de Chambord. Two years before his death, the master’s right hand became numb, and he had difficulty moving without assistance. 67-year-old Leonardo spent the third year of his life in Amboise in bed. On April 23, 1519, he left a will, and on May 2, he died surrounded by his students and his masterpieces in Clos-Luce. According to Vasari, da Vinci died in the arms of King Francis I, his close friend. This unreliable, but widespread legend in France is reflected in the paintings of Ingres, Angelika Kaufman and many other painters. Leonardo da Vinci was buried at Amboise Castle. The inscription was engraved on the tombstone: “Within the walls of this monastery lie the ashes of Leonardo da Vinci, greatest artist, engineer and architect of the French kingdom."

The main heir was Leonardo's student and friend Francesco Melzi, who over the next 50 years remained the main manager of the master's inheritance, which included, in addition to paintings, tools, a library and at least 50 thousand original documents on various topics, of which only a third has survived to this day. Another student of Salai and a servant each received half of Leonardo's vineyards.

Key dates

  • - birth of Leonardo Ser Piero da Vinci in the village of Anchiano near Vinci
  • - Leonardo da Vinci enters Verrocchio's studio as an apprentice artist (Florence)
  • - Member of the Florence Guild of Artists
  • - - work on: “The Baptism of Christ”, “The Annunciation”, “Madonna with a Vase”
  • Second half of the 70s. “Madonna with a Flower” (“Benois Madonna”) was created
  • - Saltarelli scandal
  • - Leonardo opens his own workshop
  • - according to documents, this year Leonardo already had his own workshop
  • - the monastery of San Donato a Sisto commissions Leonardo to create a large altarpiece “The Adoration of the Magi” (not completed); work has begun on the painting “Saint Jerome”
  • - invited to the court of Lodovico Sforza in Milan. Work has begun on the equestrian monument of Francesco Sforza.
  • - “Portrait of a Musician” was created
  • - development of a flying machine - ornithopter, based on bird flight
  • - anatomical drawings of skulls
  • - painting “Portrait of a Musician”. A clay model of the monument to Francesco Sforza was made.
  • - Vitruvian Man - famous drawing, sometimes called canonical proportions
  • - - “Madonna in the Grotto” is finished
  • - - work on the fresco "Last Supper" in the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan
  • - Milan is captured by the French troops of Louis XII, Leonardo leaves Milan, the model of the Sforza monument is badly damaged
  • - enters the service of Cesare Borgia as an architect and military engineer
  • - cardboard for the fresco “Battle of Andjaria (at Anghiari)” and the painting “Mona Lisa”
  • - return to Milan and service with King Louis XII of France (who at that time controlled northern Italy, see Italian Wars)
  • - - work in Milan on the equestrian monument to Marshal Trivulzio
  • - painting in St. Anne's Cathedral
  • - “Self-portrait”
  • - moving to Rome under the patronage of Pope Leo X
  • - - work on the painting “John the Baptist”
  • - moving to France as a court artist, engineer, architect and mechanic
  • - dies of illness

Achievements

Art

Our contemporaries know Leonardo primarily as an artist. In addition, it is possible that da Vinci could also have been a sculptor: researchers from the University of Perugia - Giancarlo Gentilini and Carlo Sisi - claim that the terracotta head they found in 1990 is the only sculptural work of Leonardo da Vinci that has come down to us. However, da Vinci himself, at different periods of his life, considered himself primarily an engineer or scientist. He gave fine arts not very much time and worked quite slowly. That's why artistic heritage Leonardo is not numerous in number, and a number of his works have been lost or severely damaged. However, his contribution to world artistic culture is extremely important even against the background of the cohort of geniuses that the Italian Renaissance produced. Thanks to his works, the art of painting moved to high quality new stage of its development. The Renaissance artists who preceded Leonardo decisively rejected many of the conventions of medieval art. This was a movement towards realism and much had already been achieved in the study of perspective, anatomy, and greater freedom in compositional solutions. But in terms of painting and working with paint, the artists were still quite conventional and constrained. The line in the painting clearly outlined the object, and the image had the appearance of a painted drawing. The most conventional was the landscape that played minor role. Leonardo realized and embodied a new painting technique. His line has the right to be blurry, because that’s how we see it. He realized the phenomenon of light scattering in the air and the appearance of sfumato - a haze between the viewer and the depicted object, which softens color contrasts and lines. As a result, realism in painting moved to a qualitatively new level.

Science and Engineering

His only invention that received recognition during his lifetime was a wheel lock for a pistol (started with a key). At the beginning, the wheeled pistol was not very widespread, but by the middle of the 16th century it had gained popularity among the nobles, especially among the cavalry, which was even reflected in the design of the armor, namely: Maximilian armor for the sake of firing pistols began to be made with gloves instead of mittens. The wheel lock for a pistol, invented by Leonardo da Vinci, was so perfect that it continued to be found in the 19th century.

Leonardo da Vinci was interested in the problems of flight. In Milan, he made many drawings and studied the flight mechanism of birds of various breeds and bats. In addition to observations, he also conducted experiments, but they were all unsuccessful. Leonardo really wanted to build a flying machine. He said: “He who knows everything can do everything. If only you could find out, you’ll have wings!” At first, Leonardo developed the problem of flight using wings driven by muscle strength of man: the idea of ​​the simplest apparatus of Daedalus and Icarus. But then he came up with the idea of ​​​​building such an apparatus to which a person should not be attached, but should maintain complete freedom in order to control it; The apparatus must set itself in motion by its own force. This is essentially the idea of ​​an airplane. Leonardo da Vinci worked on a vertical take-off and landing apparatus. Leonardo planned to place a system of retractable staircases on the vertical “ornitottero”. Nature served as an example for him: “look at the stone swift, which sat on the ground and cannot take off because of its short legs; and when he is in flight, pull out the ladder, as shown in the second image from above... this is how you take off from the plane; these stairs serve as legs...” Regarding landing, he wrote: “These hooks (concave wedges), which are attached to the base of the ladders, serve the same purposes as the tips of the toes of the person who jumps on them, and his whole body is not shaken by it, as if he I was jumping on my heels." Leonardo da Vinci proposed the first design of a telescope with two lenses (now known as the Kepler telescope). In the manuscript of the “Atlantic Codex”, sheet 190a, there is an entry: “Make glasses (ochiali) for the eyes to see the big moon” (Leonardo da Vinci. “LIL Codice Atlantico...”, I Tavole, S.A. 190a),

Anatomy and medicine

During his life, Leonardo da Vinci made thousands of notes and drawings on anatomy, but did not publish his works. While dissecting the bodies of people and animals, he accurately conveyed the structure of the skeleton and internal organs, including small details. According to clinical anatomy professor Peter Abrams, da Vinci's scientific work was 300 years ahead of its time and in many ways superior to the famous Gray's Anatomy.

Inventions

List of inventions, both real and attributed to him:

  • Lightweight portable bridges for the army
  • Double lens telescope

Thinker

...Those sciences are empty and full of errors that are not generated by experience, the father of all certainty, and do not culminate in visual experience...

No human research can be called true science unless it has gone through mathematical proof. And if you say that sciences that begin and end in thought have truth, then I cannot agree with you on this, ... because such purely mental reasoning does not involve experience, without which there is no certainty.

Literature

The enormous literary heritage of Leonardo da Vinci has survived to this day in a chaotic form, in manuscripts written with his left hand. Although Leonardo da Vinci did not print a single line from them, in his notes he constantly addressed an imaginary reader and everything last years throughout his life he never gave up the thought of publishing his works.

After the death of Leonardo da Vinci, his friend and student Francesco Melzi selected from them passages related to painting, from which the “Treatise on Painting” (Trattato della pittura, 1st ed.) was subsequently compiled. The handwritten legacy of Leonardo da Vinci was published in its entirety only in the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition to the enormous scientific and historical significance it also has artistic value thanks to the concise, energetic style and unusually clear language. Living in the heyday of humanism, when the Italian language was considered secondary compared to Latin, Leonardo da Vinci delighted his contemporaries with the beauty and expressiveness of his speech (according to legend, he was a good improviser), but did not consider himself a writer and wrote as he spoke; his prose is therefore an example of the colloquial language of the 15th century intelligentsia, and this saved it in general from the artificiality and eloquence inherent in the prose of humanists, although in some passages of the didactic writings of Leonardo da Vinci we find echoes of the pathos of the humanistic style.

Even in the least “poetic” fragments by design, Leonardo da Vinci’s style is distinguished by its vivid imagery; Thus, his “Treatise on Painting” is equipped with magnificent descriptions (for example, famous description flood), with amazing mastery of verbal transmission of pictorial and plastic images. Along with descriptions in which one can feel the manner of an artist-painter, Leonardo da Vinci gives in his manuscripts many examples of narrative prose: fables, facets (humorous stories), aphorisms, allegories, prophecies. In his fables and facets, Leonardo stands on the level of the prose writers of the 14th century with their simple-minded practical morality; and some of its facets are indistinguishable from Sacchetti's novellas.

Allegories and prophecies are more fantastic in nature: in the former, Leonardo da Vinci uses the techniques of medieval encyclopedias and bestiaries; the latter are in the nature of humorous riddles, distinguished by brightness and accuracy of phraseology and imbued with caustic, almost Voltairean irony, directed at the famous preacher Girolamo Savonarola. Finally, in the aphorisms of Leonardo da Vinci his philosophy of nature, his thoughts about the inner essence of things are expressed in epigrammatic form. Fiction had a purely utilitarian, auxiliary meaning for him.

Leonardo's Diaries

To date, about 7,000 pages of Leonardo’s diaries have survived, located in various collections. At first, the priceless notes belonged to the master's favorite student, Francesco Melzi, but when he died, the manuscripts disappeared. Individual fragments began to “emerge” at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. At first they did not meet with enough interest. Numerous owners did not even suspect what kind of treasure fell into their hands. But when scientists established the authorship, it turned out that the barn books, art history essays, anatomical sketches, strange drawings, and research on geology, architecture, hydraulics, geometry, military fortifications, philosophy, optics, and drawing techniques were the fruit of one person. All entries in Leonardo's diaries are made in a mirror image.

Students

From Leonardo's workshop came such students ("Leonardeschi") as:

  • Ambrogio de Predis
  • Giampetrino

The renowned master summarized his many years of experience in educating young painters in a number of practical recommendations. The student must first master perspective, examine the shapes of objects, then copy the master’s drawings, draw from life, study the works of different painters, and only after that begin his own creation. “Learn diligence before speed,” advises Leonardo. The master recommends developing memory and especially imagination, encouraging one to peer into the unclear contours of the flame and find new, amazing forms in them. Leonardo encourages the painter to explore nature, so as not to become like a mirror that reflects objects without having knowledge about them. The teacher created “recipes” for images of faces, figures, clothes, animals, trees, sky, rain. In addition to the aesthetic principles of the great master, his notes contain wise worldly advice to young artists.

After Leonardo

In 1485, after a terrible plague epidemic in Milan, Leonardo proposed to the authorities a project for an ideal city with certain parameters, layout and sewer system. The Duke of Milan, Lodovico Sforza, rejected the project. Centuries passed, and the London authorities recognized Leonardo's plan as the perfect basis for the further development of the city. In modern Norway there is an active bridge designed by Leonardo da Vinci. Tests of parachutes and hang gliders made according to the master’s sketches confirmed that only the imperfection of materials did not allow him to take to the skies. At the Roman airport named after Leonardo da Vinci, there is a gigantic statue of the scientist with a model of a helicopter in his hands, stretching into the sky. “He who is directed towards a star, do not turn around,” wrote Leonardo.

  • Leonardo, apparently, did not leave a single self-portrait that could be unambiguously attributed to him. Scientists have doubted that the famous self-portrait of Leonardo's sanguine (traditionally dated to -1515), depicting him in old age, is such. It is believed that perhaps this is just a study of the head of the apostle for the Last Supper. Doubts that this is a self-portrait of the artist have been expressed since the 19th century, the latest to be expressed recently by one of the leading experts on Leonardo, Professor Pietro Marani.
  • He played the lyre masterfully. When Leonardo's case was heard in the Milan court, he appeared there precisely as a musician, and not as an artist or inventor.
  • Leonardo was the first to explain why the sky is blue. In the book “On Painting” he wrote: “The blueness of the sky is due to the thickness of illuminated air particles, which is located between the Earth and the blackness above.”
  • Leonardo was ambidextrous - he was equally good with his right and left hands. They even say that he could write different texts with different hands at the same time. However, he wrote most of his works with his left hand from right to left.
  • Leonardo wrote in his famous diaries from right to left in mirror image. Many people think that in this way he wanted to make his research secret. Perhaps this is true. According to another version, the mirror handwriting was his individual feature(there is even evidence that it was easier for him to write this way than in the normal way); There is even a concept of “Leonardo’s handwriting.”
  • Leonardo's hobbies even included cooking and the art of serving. In Milan, for 13 years he was the manager of court feasts. He invented several culinary devices to make the work of cooks easier. Leonardo's original dish - thinly sliced ​​stewed meat with vegetables placed on top - was very popular at court feasts.
  • In Terry Pratchett's books, there is a character named Leonard, whose prototype was Leonardo da Vinci. Pratchett's Leonard writes from right to left, invents various machines, practices alchemy, paints pictures (the most famous is the portrait of Mona Ogg)
  • A considerable number of Leonardo's manuscripts were first published by the curator of the Ambrosian Library, Carlo Amoretti.

Bibliography

Essays

  • Natural science essays and works on aesthetics. ().

About him

  • Leonardo da Vinci. Selected natural science works. M. 1955.
  • Monuments of world aesthetic thought, vol. I, M. 1962.
  • I. Les manuscrits de Leonard de Vinci, de la Bibliothèque de l’Institut, 1881-1891.
  • Leonardo da Vinci: Traité de la peinture, 1910.
  • Il Codice di Leonardo da Vinci, nella Biblioteca del principe Trivulzio, Milano, 1891.
  • Il Codice Atlantico di Leonardo da Vinci, nella Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milano, 1894-1904.
  • Volynsky A.L., Leonardo da Vinci, St. Petersburg, 1900; 2nd ed., St. Petersburg, 1909.
  • General history of art. T.3, M. “Art”, 1962.
  • Gukovsky M. A. Mechanics of Leonardo da Vinci. - M.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1947. - 815 p.
  • Zubov V.P. Leonardo da Vinci. M.: Publishing house. USSR Academy of Sciences, 1962.
  • Pater V. Renaissance, M., 1912.
  • Seil G. Leonardo da Vinci as an artist and scientist. Experience in psychological biography, St. Petersburg, 1898.
  • Sumtsov N. F. Leonardo da Vinci, 2nd ed., Kharkov, 1900.
  • Florentine readings: Leonardo da Vinci (collection of articles by E. Solmi, B. Croce, I. del Lungo, J. Paladina, etc.), M., 1914.
  • Geymüller H. Les manuscrits de Leonardo de Vinci, extr. de la "Gazette des Beaux-Arts", 1894.
  • Grothe H., Leonardo da Vinci als Ingenieur und Philosopher, 1880.
  • Herzfeld M., Das Traktat von der Malerei. Jena, 1909.
  • Leonardo da Vinci, der Denker, Forscher und Poet, Auswahl, Uebersetzung und Einleitung, Jena, 1906.
  • Müntz E., Leonardo da Vinci, 1899.
  • Péladan, Leonardo da Vinci. Textes choisis, 1907.
  • Richter J. P., The literary works of L. da Vinci, London, 1883.
  • Ravaisson-Mollien Ch., Les écrits de Leonardo de Vinci, 1881.

Genius in the series

Among all the films about Leonardo, “The Life of Leonardo da Vinci” (1971), directed by Renato Castellani, is perhaps the best example in which a compromise is found between entertaining and educational. The film begins with the death of Leonardo in the arms of Francis I. And then the narrator (a technique used by the director to give historical explanations without disturbing the overall outline of the film) interrupts the sequence of the story in order to tell us that this is nothing more than a fictionalized version of the "Biographies" » Vasari. Thus, already with the prologue of the film, Castellani touches on the problem of the mystical mystery of personality, incredibly rich and multifaceted (“What, after all, do we know about the life of such famous person? Very little!”) The critical moments of Castellani’s biopic were the scenes when Leonardo sketches a man hanged for participation in the Pazzi conspiracy in 1478, shocking his friend Lorenzo di Credi, and another episode where Leonardo dissects a corpse in the hospital of Santa Claus Maria Nuovi to find out “the cause of an easy death” - both episodes are presented as a metaphor for the insatiable thirst for knowledge of an artist who does not know any moral obstacles even in the face of death. The first years of his life in Milan were marked by projects for Navigli and incredibly enthusiastic work on never-written treatises on anatomy, but there were also few works of art, among them the amazing “Lady with an Ermine”, depicted so convincingly. In that Leonardo, who organized magnificent celebrations and empty glorifications of Il Moro, we see the fate of the artist (it seems that this is what Renato Castellani is hinting at) - both yesterday and today - to be forced to drive out hack work or do what is required of a helpful courtier in order to have the opportunity to do what the artist himself wants.

Gallery

see also

Notes

  1. Giorgio Vasari. Biography of Leonardo da Vinci, Florentine painter and sculptor
  2. A. Makhov. Caravaggio. - M.: Young Guard. (ZhZL). 2009. p. 126-127 ISBN 978-5-235-03196-8
  3. Leonardo da Vinci. Graphic masterpieces / J. Pudik. - M.: Eksmo, 2008. - P. 182. - ISBN 978-5-699-16394-6
  4. Original Leonardo Da Vinci Music
  5. White, Michael (2000). Leonardo, the first scientist. London: Little, Brown. p. 95. ISBN 0-316-64846-9
  6. Clark, Kenneth (1988). Leonardo da Vinci. Viking. pp. 274
  7. Bramly, Serge (1994). Leonardo: The Artist and the Man. Penguin
  8. Georges Goyau François I, Transcribed by Gerald Rossi. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VI. Published 1909. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 2007-10-04
  9. Miranda, Salvador The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church: Antoine du Prat (1998-2007). Archived from the original on August 24, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
  10. Vasari Giorgio Lives of the Artists. - Penguin Classics, 1568. - P. 265.
  11. Reconstruction of Leonardo's mechanical lion (Italian). Archived from the original on August 24, 2011. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
  12. “Ici Léonard, tu sera libre de rêver, de penser et de travailler” - Francis I.
  13. Art historians have found the only sculpture by Leonardo. Lenta.ru (March 26, 2009). Archived from the original on August 24, 2011. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
  14. How accurate are Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical drawings? , BBCRussian.com, 05/01/2012.
  15. Jean Paul Richter The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. - Dover, 1970. - ISBN 0-486-22572-0 and ISBN 0-486-22573-9 (paperback) 2 volumes. A reprint of the original 1883 edition (English), cited by
  16. Leonardo da Vinci's Ethical Vegetarianism
  17. NTV television company. Official website | NTV News | Another da Vinci mystery
  18. http://img.lenta.ru/news/2009/11/25/ac2/picture.jpg

Literature

  • Antseliovich E. S. Leonardo da Vinci: Elements of Physics. - M.: Uchpedgiz, 1955. - 88 p.
  • Volynsky A. L. Life of Leonardo da Vinci. - M.: Algorithm, 1997. - 525 p.
  • Dityakin V. T. Leonardo da Vinci. - M.: Detgiz, 1959. - 224 p. - (School library).
  • Zubov V. P. Leonardo da Vinci. 1452-1519 / V. P. Zubov; Rep. ed. Ph.D. art historian M. V. Zubova. The Russian Academy of Sciences . - Ed. 2nd, add. - M.: Nauka, 2008. - 352 p. - (Scientific and biographical literature). - ISBN 978-5-02-035645-0(in translation) (1st edition - 1961).
  • Camp M. Leonardo / Trans. from English K. I. Panas. - M.: AST: Astrel, 2006. - 286 p.
  • Lazarev V. N. Leonardo da Vinci: (1452-1952) / Design by the artist I. F. Rerberg; Institute of Art History of the USSR Academy of Sciences. - M.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1952. - 112, p. - 10,000 copies.(in translation)
  • Mikhailov B. P. Leonardo da Vinci architect. - M.: State Publishing House of Literature on Construction and Architecture, 1952. - 79 p.
  • Mogilevsky M. A. Optics from Leonardo // Science first hand. - 2006. - No. 5. - P. 30-37.
  • Nicoll Ch. Leonardo da Vinci. Flight of the mind / Trans. from English T. Novikova. - M.: Eksmo, 2006. - 768 p.
  • Seil G. Leonardo da Vinci as an artist and scientist (1452-1519): Experience in psychological biography / Trans. from fr. - M.: KomKniga, 2007. - 344 p.
  • Filippov M. M. Leonardo da Vinci as an artist, scientist and philosopher: Biographical sketch. - St. Petersburg, 1892. - 88 p.
  • Zöllner F. Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519. - M.: Taschen; Art Spring, 2008. - 96 p.
  • Zöllner F. Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519: Complete collection of paintings and graphics / Trans. from English I. D. Glybina. - M.: Taschen; Art Spring, 2006. - 695 p.
  • “100 people who changed the course of history” Leonardo da Vinci Weekly publication. Issue No. 1
  • Jessica Taisch, Tracey Barr Leonardo da Vinci for dummies = Da Vinci For Dummies. - M.: “Williams”, 2006. - P. 304. -

Key dates in the life of Leonardo da Vinci

1452 – Leonardo is born in Anchiano or Vinci. His father has been serving as a notary in Florence for three years. He marries sixteen-year-old Albiera Amadori. 1464/67 – Leonardo’s arrival in Florence (exact date unknown). Death of Albiera and grandfather.

1468 – Leonardo is still included in his grandmother's fiscal declaration in Vinci.

1469 - Leonardo is included in his father's declaration in Florence and becomes a student of Verrocchio. The rise to power of Lorenzo the Magnificent.

1472 – Leonardo is included in the register of artists’ corporation.

1473 – first landscape sketches and probably the first version "Annunciation".

Death of Leonardo's father's second wife.

1474 – portrait of Ginevra Benci.

1476 – denunciation of Leonardo and trial for sodomy. The birth of the first legitimate child of his father, married for the third marriage.

1477 – nothing is known about Leonardo for a year and a half. Botticelli writes "Spring".

1478 – Leonardo paints two Madonnas and an altarpiece, which remains unfinished. Pazzi conspiracy, flood, plague epidemic.

1479 – order for “Saint Jerome,” which remained unfinished, and for the “Benois Madonna.”

1480 - Leonardo begins the Adoration of the Magi, unfinished and left by him with Benci. Sforza comes to power in Milan. Lorenzo de' Medici does not want to send Leonardo to Rome.

1481 - all the best artists of Florence are sent by Lorenzo de' Medici to Rome to paint Sistine Chapel. Leonardo does not receive this honor.

1482 – Leonardo goes to Milan.

1483 – Leonardo joins the da Predis brothers; they write “Madonna of the Rocks” together. Charles VIII becomes King of France.

1485 – plague in Milan. Leonardo opens his workshop in which the Madonna Litta is created.

1486 – lantern layout for Milan Cathedral. Savonarola begins to preach in Florence.

1487 – portrait of the “Musician”. Leonardo creates the scenery for the Paradise Festival, his first major dramatization, which will take place three years later.

1488 – “Lady with an Ermine” was painted, a portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, mistress of the Duke of Milan. The death of Verrocchio.

1489 – Leonardo makes anatomical drawings of the skull and architectural drawings, and also creates decorations for the celebration of the wedding in Tortona of Giangaleazzo Sforza and Isabella of Aragon. Construction of the first machine. An order for the creation of an equestrian statue of the founder of the Sforza dynasty.

1490 – Leonardo meets in Pavia with Francesco di Giorgio Martini, exchanges of plans and projects. Works in the field of hydraulics. Arrival of Salai. The famous Paradise holiday.

1491 – festival and tournament of “wild people”, decorations, costumes, staging. Marriage of the Duke of Milan to Beatrice d'Este. Continuation of work on “The Big Horse”. Sketches of storms, battles and a series of profiles.

1492 - Bramante erects a choir in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. In December, Leonardo completes the plaster model of the Great Horse and prepares to move on to the casting stage.

1493 – Katerina, apparently his mother, arrives to Leonardo; she lives with Leonardo for about two years before her death. Leonardo draws allegories, practices anatomy and studies flight.

1494 – the casting of the “Big Horse” in bronze did not take place due to the threat of war and the need to use metal to make cannons. Charles VIII begins the Italian Wars and occupies Naples. Duke Sforza's nephew dies in Pavia. Deposition of the Medici and their expulsion from Florence. Savonarola takes control of the city.

1495 – decoration of the rooms of the palace of the Duke of Sforza. Repeated trips to Florence. Order for the Last Supper at Santa Maria delle Grazie.

1496 – dramatization of “Danae” by Baldassare Taccone. Portrait new lover Duke of Milan - a painting now known as La Belle Ferroniere. Friendship with Luca Pacioli and the beginning of long mathematical studies with him. Project of the book “Divine Proportion”.

1497 – continuation of work on The Last Supper. New students in Leonardo's workshop. Second production of "Danae". Death of Beatrice d'Este.

1498 – decoration of the Sala delle Asse. Continuation of work on “The Divine Proportion” in collaboration with Luca Pacioli. Sforza gives Leonardo the vineyard. Treatise on the flying machine. After Charles VIII, Louis XII takes the throne of France. Savonarola was burned at the stake in Florence.

1499 – Duke Sforza flees due to the approach of the French army. Louis XII enters Milan. Leonardo intends to leave the city.

1500 - Leonardo goes to Mantua to see Isabella d'Este, where he paints her portrait. Then, together with Pacioli, he travels to Venice, where he works as a military engineer. Sforza again takes possession of Milan, but soon falls into the hands of the French. The plaster model of the "Big Horse" is damaged. Leonardo returns to Florence. Filippino Lippi gives him the order to create an altar image for the Church of the Annunciation of the Servite Order - “St. Anne”. Fulfillment of small orders.

1501 – exposition of the cardboard “St. Anne”. Success and new orders. "Madonna of the Spindle" Continued work in collaboration with Pacioli on a book on geometry. The French occupied Rome.

1502 - friendship with Machiavelli, who introduces Leonardo to Cesare Borgia as a military engineer; In the Borgia retinue, Leonardo makes a campaign of conquest across Italy, makes topographic surveys, draws maps and plans, and creates a movable bridge. Innovations in the field of cartography.

1503 - Leonardo returns to Florence. Having no work, he offers his services to the Turkish Sultan Bayezid II, who, however, does not consider it necessary to answer him. Participation in the siege of Pisa as a military engineer; Leonardo proposes a canal project to change the course of the Arno River. Machiavelli seeks for Leonardo an order to create the fresco “The Battle of Anghiari” to decorate the Council Chamber of the Palace of the Signoria in Florence. Apparently, work on “La Gioconda” and “Leda” began at the same time.

1504 - The Tuscan Republic consults with a panel of local artists, including Leonardo, about the location of Michelangelo's David. Death of Leonardo's father. His brothers do not allow him to share his father's inheritance. Continuation of work on “The Battle of Anghiari” and “La Gioconda”.

1505 - competition with Michelangelo to paint the hall of the Council of the Florentine Signoria. Leonardo studies bird flight. Continuation of work on La Gioconda, a copy of which is being made by Raphael. A new version"Ledy."

1506 - Predis invites Leonardo to return to Milan to complete the Madonna of the Rocks. Florence doesn't want to let him go. Leonardo receives permission for three months. Charles d'Amboise, governor of Milan, holds it until the end of the year. Creation of the second version of "Madonna of the Rocks". Francesco Melzi enters Leonardo's workshop.

1507 - Louis XII enters Milan and returns Leonardo his rights to the vineyard, grants him part of the canal, water rent and a year's pension. Leonardo organizes celebrations to mark the official entry of Louis XII into Milan. Uncle Leonardo dies, and his brothers begin a lawsuit to challenge his rights to the inheritance. In September Leonardo returns to Florence.

1508 - In Florence, Leonardo puts his manuscripts in order and helps Francesco Giovanni Rustici in creating the sculptures of the Baptistery. Repeated trips from Florence to Milan and back. Painting of two now lost Madonnas. Resumption of anatomical research. In April, Leonardo returns to Milan, where he completes the Madonna of the Rocks. Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel.

1509 – The Venetians are defeated by the French. Leonardo organizes the triumph of Louis XII. Continues work on Leda, Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist.

1510 – Leonardo continues his anatomical studies in Pavia. Death of Botticelli.

1511 - death of Charles d'Amboise. Leonardo and Melzi go to Vapprio d'Adza.

1512 - Lodovico Moro's son returns to Milan, and Leonardo is forced to leave this city. The Medici return to power in Florence.

1513 - Leonardo arrives in Rome at the invitation of Giuliano de' Medici, brother of the new pope, and settles in the Belvedere with his team. Work on creating burning mirrors.

1514 - Leonardo's scientific and anatomical studies bring him into disfavor with the pope. While on a mission to drain swamps near Rome, Leonardo falls ill with malaria.

1515 – Salai leaves Leonardo and returns to Milan.

Death of Louis XII, accession of Francis I to the French throne. Giuliano goes to France to get married. Leonardo becomes the object of slander and intrigue. At the end of the year he goes with Pope Leo X to peace negotiations with Francis I, with whom he establishes friendly relations. The king invites Leonardo to his place, but the master is still indecisive and returns to Rome. Machiavelli writes the treatise "The Prince".

1516 – Giuliano de' Medici dies. Leonardo remains in Rome without any support and decides to go to France. The king places at his disposal the castle of Cloux near Amboise, the royal residence.

1517 - with the help of Melzi, Leonardo puts his manuscripts in order, preparing them for publication. Organizes court celebrations in Amboise on various occasions: the christening of the Dauphin, the anniversary of the French victory at Marignano, the wedding of Lorenzo di Piero di Medici. Leonardo enjoys fame and honor. By order of the king, he designs a new royal palace, draws up a plan for an ideal city, proposes projects for the construction of a canal and drainage of swamps in Sologne.

1518 – Leonardo organizes royal festivals in Amboise on May 3 and 15 and in Clue on June 19.

August 12 – magnificent funeral in Saint-Florentin. During French Revolution Leonardo’s burial place was liquidated and his remains were lost...

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Chapter II. Leonardo da Vinci. Faust Verancio Lived in Italy in the fifteenth century wonderful person, named Leonardo da Vinci. He was a painter, a sculptor, a musician-composer, an engineer, a mechanic, and a scientist. People are proud of his beautiful paintings and drawings

Date of birth: April 15, 1452
Date of death: May 2, 1519
Place of birth: Anchiano village, Florence, Italy

Leonardo da Vinci- legendary and outstanding personality, Leonardo da Vinci- a great scientist and inventor who was given to the world by Italy in the 15th-16th centuries. He was not only a great artist of the High Renaissance, but also a scientist, writer, inventor, whose contribution today is invaluable, both for science and art.

On April 15, 1452, in the village of Anchiano, near Florence, a baby was born. They gave him the name Leonardo. Leonardo's parents were the peasant woman Katerina and the wealthy notary Piero. For the first three years, Leonardo lived with his mother, since his father left the family and married a noble and wealthy young lady. But there were no children in the new family, and the father took Leonardo with him. The boy had a hard time being separated from his mother. When young artist reached the age of 13, his stepmother dies. His father's remarriage did not last long and he was widowed again. Piero wanted Leonardo to follow in his footsteps, but the boy was not interested in the profession of a notary.

While still a young man, Leonardo showed unique abilities as an artist. At the age of 14, at the encouragement of his father, he went to Florence and became an apprentice to Andrea Verrocchio. There he studies the humanities, drawing, and chemistry. He works with metals and plaster, draws and models, spending all his time in the studio.

In 1473, the efforts of Leonardo da Vinci were appreciated by the Guild of St. Luke - he was awarded the qualification of a master. At the same time, Andrea Verrocchio was commissioned to paint “The Baptism of Christ,” and he entrusted Leonardo with the work on one of the angels. Leonardo copes with the task perfectly - he surpassed the work of his teacher. Soon Verrocchio moved away from painting, leaving this niche to a talented student, and took up sculpture. Leonardo proves himself to be an innovator, looking for new paint compositions and discovering oil painting, which was just emerging in Italy. "Enlightenment" is the first independent work young master.

Soon Leonardo, mesmerized by the image of the Madonna, creates a series of paintings dedicated to her. His works include Madonna of the Flower (Benois Madonna), Madonna with a Vase, Madonna of the Grotto, Madonna Litta, and many unfinished sketches.
In 1481, representatives of the monastery of San Donato a Scopeto commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to write the work “The Adoration of the Magi,” which remained unfinished. Even then, da Vinci had a tendency not to complete the work. Leonardo was alien to the traditions of the palace of Lorenzo de' Medici, who ruled in Florence, and left the city.

In 1482, armed with his own creation - the silver lyre, and masterfully playing this instrument, Leonardo da Vinci moved to Milan. He is accepted to the court of Duke Lodovico Moro. Recommending himself initially as an architect, military engineer, and then as an artist and sculptor, Leonardo wanted to enlist the support of the ducal family.

In 1483, Leonardo da Vinci accepted a new order from the Franciscan Brotherhood of the Immaculate Conception for an altarpiece. This was his first commission in Milan, and he begins work on the painting “Madonna of the Rocks” or “Madonna in the Grotto”. Without agreeing with the customers on payment, Leonardo kept the canvas for himself, and completed it only in 1490-1494.

Soon da Vinci became a famous artist in Italy, painting portraits. But he was not able to implement all projects. He sculpted for more than a century equestrian statue Francesco Sforza, but it was not cast in bronze. Guns were made from bronze, and the clay statue was destroyed by the French, who captured Milan in 1499.

Possessing literary talent, Leonardo da Vinci writes notes and reflections on painting, science, and the inner essence of things. Unfortunately, these works did not see the light of day during the master’s lifetime. Only after the death of da Vinci, his successor Francesco Melzi isolated passages on painting from all the notes and created a Treatise on Painting, published in 1651.

Being a great inventor, Leonardo da Vinci became the author and creator of the wheel lock for a pistol - the only invention that received lifetime recognition of the master's merits. He also designed the first rolling mill, a machine for notching files, a machine for making cloth, and took part in the creation architectural appearance Milan Cathedral. In 1485, Leonardo proposed a drawing of the city with perfectly clear calculations of all parameters and a sewerage system, which was rejected by the Duke of Milan.

In 1495, Leonardo da Vinci began painting the Last Supper fresco in the monastery dining room of Santa Maria del Grazie, commissioned by Lodovico Moro. The work was often interrupted and was completed only in 1498.

On August 10, 1499, the Sforza dynasty fell and Milan was occupied by French troops. Leonardo da Vinci leaves Milan. His wanderings begin. Mantua, Venice, Florence. In memory of that time, only a drawing of a portrait of Isabella de Este remained.
At the end of July 1502, Cesare Borgia accepted da Vinci into his service as a military engineer and architect. Leonardo drew up plans for fortresses and advised engineers on how to improve defense systems.

March 1503 returns Leonardo da Vinci to Florence, where he creates his greatest masterpiece - the portrait of the wife of the local merchant Francesco del Giocondo "Mona Lisa" or "La Gioconda". Here he returns to his studies of anatomy and exact sciences. In 1512 he created his “Self-Portrait”.
September 14, 1513, when the Medici came to power,

Leonardo moves to the capital. Under the tutelage of his friend Giuliano de' Medici, who was interested in alchemy, da Vinci designs new equipment for the papal mint. After the death of the Medici in 1517, the Master went into the service of Francis I and moved to France. There, in the small castle of Cloux, da Vinci lived his last years, creating architectural projects and improving the area.

Leonardo da Vinci left the world on May 2, 1519, in the arms of King Francis I of France, a close friend, and was buried in the castle of Amboise.

Achievements and inventions of Leonardo da Vinci:

1. The invaluable achievements of the legendary creator in the emergence of innovative revolutions in the art of the Great Renaissance.
2. Invention and improvement of unique hydraulic mechanisms:
- fan,
- diving suit,
- gate for the sluice,
- water wheel,
- a boat with a paddle wheel,
- swimming webbed gloves
3. Innovations in the military sphere:
- lock with wheel for weapon factory,
- ship destruction system,
- double skinned boat and submarine,
4. The wealth of the master’s literary talent are thousands of sheets of da Vinci’s manuscripts, which he left to his descendants and reveal the immeasurable depth of his unique personality.

Interesting facts about Leonardo da Vinci's Meter:

He was a virtuoso in playing the lyre,
- Could write different texts with both hands at the same time,
- I gave up meat as a child,
- Described the reason for the blue color of the sky,
- "Leonardo's Handwriting" - his observations are written using the reflection of a mirror,
- Created a unique culinary masterpiece “From Leonardo” - stewed meat, cut into thin slices, covered with vegetables,
- Da Vinci became the prototype of the wizard of the game “Assassin's Creed 2”, where he helps the main character with his unique inventions,
- Worried about his imperfect knowledge of Greek and Latin,
- There are rumors about Leonardo’s unconventional sexual orientation, since his personal life is shrouded in mystery,
- I came up with a lot of synonyms for the word “penis”,
- He suggested that the light of the Moon is nothing more than the light of the Sun reflected from the Earth.