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). According to the social norms of 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 engineering, leather craftsmanship, and the basics of working with metal and chemicals. 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 “ last supper", made a number of anatomical sketches and drawings of apparatus.
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 last 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 of the 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 entered young artist into 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 the great Italian did not 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 his active creative life, resorting to the help of his 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 second attack of cerebrovascular accident in 1519 ended life path 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 focused on intravital description masters 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 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 different artists have survived to this day.
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 of the great architect's inventions. 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.
Leonardo da Vinci is a scientist, engineer and thinker. But many people know him as an artist, the author of such paintings as “Mona Lisa”, “John the Baptist” and “The Last Supper”. Thirteen works by the artist have survived, eight more are attributed to him, several works have been lost. Of course, his contribution to art is significant: he was the first to blur the contours of a drawing and showed what diffused light and haze could be like. Art Italian Renaissance received an impetus in its development and a galaxy of brilliant artists, including Michelangelo and Raphael.
Leonardo lived long life at court and had influential patrons. However, he called himself a scientist. Although throughout his life he was presented in different ways, even as a musician. After his death, he left paintings and manuscripts to two of his students.
He never had a family, and history has preserved only minor documents about his novels. And scandalous ones: with his students and sometimes with his models. In general, there have always been many secrets and rumors around his name. And even five hundred years later, humanity continues to unravel the secret signs that the seer hid not only in his paintings, but also in manuscripts dedicated to scientific and research works.
Firstborn
He was born out of great love and an illicit affair in 1452 near Florence. His father Pierrot was from a noble family, and his mother Katerina was a peasant. At that time, such a misalliance could not exist. Father soon found his match. The couple had no children, so at the age of three Leonardo’s father took him, deciding that he could give the child a good upbringing and education.
Ten years later, the stepmother died, and a year later, 14-year-old Leonardo left his father’s house to study science and work as an apprentice with Andrea del Verrocchio. He had a famous studio in Florence, where he carried out commissions for sculpture and rarely for painting for the house of the ruling Medici clan.
Historians do not rule out that his student Leonardo posed for him for the bronze sculpture of David: curls, head held high and the look of a winner. Anatomy and modeling of the human body were interesting to Leonardo from then until the end of his life. Later he would devote more than one of his works to this direction, creating the most famous drawing“Vitruvian Man” to illustrate the book of the encyclopedist Vitruvius. Ideal proportions are what Leonardo was looking for, having been infected by the idea of his brilliant teacher. His sculptures still form the “golden fund” of the Renaissance.
Students were released into independent life after six years. While he was studying, his father found a new stepmother for his firstborn. In total, Pierrot had four marriages and a dozen children, of whom only his illegitimate son became one of the greatest minds. Pierrot died at the age of 77, when his son had already crossed the half-century mark, and he had already created the Mona Lisa.
He knew nothing about the fate of his mother for forty long years, but many researchers of the life of Leonardo da Vinci are inclined to claim that he tried to embody her image more than once on his canvases. The fact that she was a beauty, abandoned by her loved one and given in marriage to an unloved one - there is information about this. There is also evidence that she tried to see her son, came and watched him walk for a long time. Leonardo learned that Katerina was his mother as an adult.
At the age of 20 he qualified as a master. By this time, he managed to work on the “Annunciation” with other students and fulfill the teacher’s instructions to paint an angel for the large-scale painting “The Baptism of Christ,” which became a step in great art. Such assistance was common practice. The talented student completed the order, but the teacher was shocked to such an extent that he recognized Leonardo’s superiority and threw the brush into the far corner for the rest of his days.
Universal man
Leonardo could write for hours without interrupting for food, rest or other matters. This is how his student, who would accompany him to the end, remembered the master. Francesco Melzi will also become his heir. They will meet when he is 15 and Leonardo is 26 years old. At this time, he opened his own workshop and soon received a large order from the monks. The painting “The Adoration of the Magi” remained unfinished, but in it the author supposedly depicted himself. On the right, in the corner, with his head turned, stands a curly-haired young man. He does not look at the center, where Mary is sitting with the baby, and where the gazes of all the people depicted are directed, as if he is the only one who sees something in the distance. He began writing it in 1481, but soon left for Milan and never returned to it.
In the Vatican, another work this year is also unfinished: “Saint Jerome,” which suffered a sad fate. After the death of the painter, it was cut in half, and the lower part was used as a tabletop. One of the cardinals discovered it in a shop quite by accident 150 years later, and the Pope bought it for 2.5 million francs.
Leonardo was distracted from these works by another order: Lorenzo Medici himself, the head of the Florentine Republic, an art connoisseur and philanthropist, asked him to go to Milan, supposedly on a peacekeeping mission. At that time, the regions of Italy were in conflict, and the turbulent Venice was to blame.
Knowing Duke Louis Moreau's love for music, Leonardo gave him a lyre as a gift, the lower deck of which was decorated with a silver shield in the shape of a horse's head. He himself performed a cantata on it; it was Leonardo’s favorite instrument, which he played masterfully. The artistic addition was not only decoration, it also enhanced the sound. The cantata, performed by a Florentine, extolled the Duke and the Sforza dynasty, and most of all the regent Moro. It also marked the beginning of a friendship between the nobility and Leonardo. It is known that he painted portraits of both of the duke’s favorites: Cecilia is depicted in the painting “Lady with an Ermine” (this animal is on the Sforza coat of arms), and Lucrezia posed for him for the portrait of “The Beautiful Ferroniere”. By the way, the first portrait is kept in Poland - the only one of four women's portraits, written by da Vinci.
At the same time, work began on the Duke’s order to create a monument to Sforza on horseback. The original clay version was damaged when the French captured Milan and the rulers had to abandon it. So this is how it came to the bronze version.
The Milan period was fruitful for the 30-year-old Leonardo. He was very handsome, witty, and interesting, so it is not surprising that historians attribute to him an affair with one of the Duke’s mistresses. Was it platonic or quite real - this is another secret of the great da Vinci, about whose personal life there is practically no documentary data preserved. Some considered him a homosexual, but many considered him a virgin.
On that first trip to Milan, Leonardo brought with him not only the lyre, but also a letter offering military services. He writes that he has several unique recipes against enemies. For example, he knows how to sink a ship and build spinguards - weapons for destroying walls. He liked his engineering talent and Moreau enlisted him in the staff of the ducal engineers. Leonardo zealously set to work: he began to strengthen and decorate the facade of the castle, design passages and a door that closes with a counterweight.
Drawings have been preserved, where Leonard's architectural and engineering thought speaks of his excellent knowledge of fortification and his advanced ideas in the field of defense.
In addition to these concerns, he was involved in the construction Milan Cathedral, around which there were confrontations between German and Italian masters. Sketches from that time show how persistently da Vinci worked to solve the problem of placing the domes. He even managed to receive a fee for the project, but another Florentine architect continued the centuries-long construction of the Gothic Duomo.
Nevertheless, among the drawings left by Leonardo, there are several dedicated to the architecture of churches and cathedrals, sketches of strengthening foundations and the stability of decorative elements. And at the request of the Duke, he began to write a “Treatise on Painting” in order to draw a line under their dispute - which is more important of all the arts.
But this work became much broader, although like his other projects. In total, he wrote thirteen works about art. He treated him with precision scientific approach: the same observations, research, experiments. He read and studied a lot in order to bring new things to the technique of painting.
He painted “Madonna in the Grotto” and “Portrait of a Musician” and began work on the fresco “The Last Supper.” This large-scale work will be with him for almost three years. He will finish it by the age of 46. In total, he will spend seventeen years at the court of the Duke of Milan, occasionally leaving him on business to other cities.
At the same time, he conducts engineering activities. Studies, drawings and drawings dedicated to aviation appear in his manuscripts. He invented a mechanism reminiscent of a helicopter and a prototype of the future modern parachute.
He had not been to Florence for a long time. He returned home following his fame. But here everything changed, Lorenzo Medici left, the new rulers were far from art, he did not receive large orders.
The only one meaningful proposal from representatives of the church was the painting “St. Anne with the Madonna and Child,” on which he would work for 10 years. He also proposed to the authorities the project of the Florence-Pisa canal, but the rulers of these cities were constantly at odds, and Leonardo’s engineering talent was out of work.
But in Romagna, a region of Italy, where the new ruler, the young Duke Cesare Borgia, tried to unite small feudal lands into one state, his knowledge of science came in handy. He gladly responded to the Duke's invitation. The task is to connect the town of Cesena with a canal to the Adriatic port. However, life there was very hectic due to military conflicts and assassination attempts on the Duke. Leonardo abandoned the project and went to Constantinople to build the bridge.
He wrote to the Turkish authorities, offering his various services, and then received an invitation. The Turkish story also turned out to be short: he abandoned his calculations and went to Florence, where they nevertheless decided to build a canal. The hydraulic structure from Florence to Pisa is described in detail in the Codex Atlanticus. He competently approaches details and calculations, studies the structure of the earth and thinks about strengthening.
But he doesn’t give up painting either. This time he reflected the horrors of war in the canvas “The Battle of Anghiari”. The fresco has not survived.
The creation of his most mysterious work dates back to this period: the portrait of the Mona Lisa. It still remains unknown who this woman is and what her secret is. With this work he goes to Florence, and only after some time he paints the background of the picture. The artist never parted with it, and there are many versions of such care, which, in general, is not characteristic of Leonardo.
He will spend the next seven years, from the summer of 1506, in Milan at the invitation of the French governor. The city is under his control, the once powerful Sforza clan was partially destroyed, some survived by fleeing. During this period, his father dies, business calls for him to go to Florence, where several unpleasant months await him. The funeral is overshadowed by family squabbles due to the lack of a will. The division of property took place behind the scenes between half-brothers and sisters, who did not take Leonardo into account in this matter. The eldest son, and even an illegitimate one, was not part of their plans. Uncle Francesco soon died, leaving both a will and a share of the inheritance for his nephew. The brothers went to extreme measures, trying to forge the document. So there was no way around the trial. By the way, he won the case, and there was something to fight for: his father owned several plots of land, capital and real estate.
But he did not hold his grudge against his brothers for long: before his death, he left them his savings. He did not consider money to be something valuable, unlike paintings and manuscripts - this is absolute wealth, and the family did not get it.
In 1509, he began building a sluice that would protect Milan from floods. But it was not completed, citing lack of funding.
Many useful engineering works remained only on paper, as well as a dozen sculptures that were not embodied in marble and bronze. The last major sculpture project that Leonardo worked on at the age of 60 remained in the form of sketches: the statue of Marshal Trivulzio on horseback. This time circumstances interfered: Milan was captured by the French, who held power in the city more than a year. The return of the Sforzes did not promise anything good for da Vinci; he fell into disgrace as a man who was in the service of the French. Therefore, he was glad to be invited to Rome, where a new pope from the Medici family, who always favored the genius, came to power. But even there they put a spoke in his wheels. Leonardo left a record of how he was prevented from conducting anatomical research, which he had been passionate about for the last few years. There was a stream of denunciations directed at him that he was working with corpses; they saw this as an unhealthy interest. Meanwhile, he left behind research, having studied in detail the structure of all the muscles of the human body, which was in demand not only by sculptors, but also by doctors.
The last one is also in the Louvre artwork master - “John the Baptist,” written by him in Rome. He hoped to get the job to paint the Sistine Chapel, but it was given to younger colleagues. Michelangelo, Raphael and many other talented artists were already breathing at the back of the elderly creator.
Last refuge
When the king of France offered tempting conditions for activity and life, Leonardo immediately agreed. At 63, my health was failing, and no one was waiting for me at home. With his student, with whom he had not parted for almost 30 years, he set off on his last journey.
They received him with honors and gave him the title of “first painter and architect” under the king. They provided mansions in the castle, an income of seven hundred gold crowns a year. From the bedroom window he saw the patron's amazing castle and made a drawing. Tourists can see it among some things, the environment in which the creator died.
His hand was not moving well, and for the last year he practically did not get out of bed. He died at the age of 68 in a calm atmosphere, in the care and attention of his disciples.
His heir, Francesco Melzi, kept paintings and a mountain of manuscripts on a variety of subjects all his life, of which only a third has survived.
There is a theory according to which geniuses are born only at that historical moment when development, cultural and social, has already prepared the ground for them. This hypothesis well explains the emergence of great personalities whose deeds were appreciated during their lifetime. The situation is more difficult with those brilliant minds whose calculations and developments have far surpassed their era. Their creative thought, as a rule, received recognition only centuries later, often being lost over the centuries and revived again when all the conditions for the implementation of brilliant plans appeared.
The biography of Leonardo da Vinci is just an example of such a story. However, among his achievements there were those recognized and understood by his contemporaries, and those that were only recently able to be appreciated.
Son of a notary
Leonardo da Vinci's date of birth is April 15, 1452. He was born in sunny Florence, in the town of Anchiano, not far from the town of Vinci. Most of all, his origin is evidenced by his name, which actually means “Leonardo comes from Vinci.” The childhood of the future genius predetermined in many ways his entire later life. Leonardo's father, the young notary Piero, was in love with a simple peasant woman, Katerina. Da Vinci became the fruit of their passion. However, soon after the birth of the boy, Piero married a rich heiress and left his son in the care of his mother. Fate would have it so that their marriage turned out to be childless, so at the age of three little Leo was separated from his mother and began to live with his father. These events left an indelible imprint on the future genius: the entire work of Leonardo da Vinci was permeated with the search for the image of his mother, Katerina, abandoned in childhood. According to one version, it was the artist who captured it in the famous painting “Mona Lisa”.
First successes
From childhood, the great Florentine showed a penchant for many sciences. Quickly grasping the basics, he was able to baffle even the most experienced teacher. Leonardo was not afraid of complex mathematical problems; he was able to construct his own judgments based on learned axioms, which often surprised his teachers. He also held music in high esteem. Among the many instruments, Leonardo gave his preference to the lyre. He learned to extract beautiful melodies from it and sang with pleasure to its accompaniment. But most of all he liked painting and sculpture. He was passionate about them, which soon became noticeable to his father.
Andrea del Verrocchio
Piero, paying tribute to his son’s sketches and sketches, decided to show them to his friend, the then famous painter Andrea Verrocchio. The work of Leonardo da Vinci made a great impression on the master, and he offered to become his teacher, to which his father, without thinking twice, agreed. So the young artist began to become familiar with great art. The biography of Leonardo da Vinci covered here would be incomplete without mentioning how this training ended for the painter.
One day Verrocchio was commissioned to paint the baptism of Christ. At that time, masters quite often assigned their best students to paint minor figures or backgrounds. Having depicted Saint John and Christ, Andrea del Verrocchio decided to paint two angels side by side and commissioned the young Leonardo to paint one of them. He did the job with all diligence, and it was difficult not to notice how the student’s skill surpassed the teacher’s skill. The biography of Leonardo da Vinci, outlined by Giorgio Vasari, a painter and the first art critic, contains a mention that Verrocchio not only noticed the talent of his apprentice, but refused to take up a brush forever after that - he was so offended by this superiority.
Not only a painter
One way or another, the union of the two masters brought many results. Andrea del Verrocchio was also involved in sculpture. To create the statue of David, he used Leonardo as a model. Characteristic immortalized hero - a light half-smile, which a little later will become almost business card da Vinci. There is also reason to believe that Verrocchio created his most famous work, the statue of Bartolomeo Colleone, together with the brilliant Leonardo. In addition, the master was famous for being an excellent decorator and director of various festivals at court. Leonardo also adopted this art.
Signs of a genius
Six years after starting his studies with Andrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo opened his own workshop. Vasari notes that his restless mind, always eager to achieve perfection in many ways, had some flaw: Leonardo often left his undertakings unfinished and immediately took on new ones. The biographer regrets that much was never created by the genius because of this, how many great discoveries he did not make, although he stood on their threshold.
Indeed, Leonardo was a mathematician, a sculptor, a painter, an architect, and an anatomist, but many of his works lacked completeness. Take, for example, the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci. For example, he was commissioned to depict Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The painting was intended as a gift to the Portuguese king. The artist skillfully painted the trees, which seemed likely to rustle at the slightest breath of wind, and carefully depicted the meadow and animals. However, that’s where he completed his work, without ever finishing it.
Perhaps it was this kind of inconstancy that made Leonardo a jack of all trades. Throwing away the picture, he took to the clay, talking about the development of plants, and at the same time observed the life of the stars. Perhaps, if a genius strived to complete each of his works, today we would know only the mathematician or the artist Leonardo da Vinci, but not both in one person.
"Last Supper"
In addition to the desire to embrace a lot, the great genius was characterized by a desire to achieve perfection and the ability to understand where the limit of his capabilities in this sense was. Leonardo da Vinci's paintings became famous during the master's lifetime. One of my most famous works he performed for the Dominican Order in Milan. The refectory of the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie is still decorated with his Last Supper.
There is a legend associated with the painting. The artist spent a long time searching for suitable models for the faces of Christ and Judas. According to his plan, the Son of God was supposed to embody all the good that is in the world, and the traitor was evil. Sooner or later, the search was crowned with success: among the choir members, he spotted a model suitable for the face of Christ. However, the search for a second model took three years, until Leonardo finally spotted a beggar in a ditch whose face was more than suitable for Judas. The drunk and dirty man was taken to the church because he was unable to move. There, seeing the picture, he exclaimed in surprise: it was familiar to him. A little later, he explained to the artist that three years ago, when fate was more favorable to him, Christ was drawn from him for the same picture.
Vasari's information
However, most likely, this is only a legend. At least, Vasari's biography of Leonardo da Vinci does not contain any mention of this. The author provides other information. While working on the painting, the genius really could not complete the face of Christ for a long time. It remained unfinished. The artist believed that he would not be able to depict the extraordinary kindness and great forgiveness with which the face of Christ should shine. He didn't even intend to look for a suitable model for it. However, even in such an unfinished form, the picture is still amazing. On the faces of the apostles their love for the teacher and suffering due to their inability to comprehend everything that he tells them are clearly visible. Even the tablecloth on the table is painted so carefully that it cannot be distinguished from the real thing.
The most famous painting
The main masterpiece of the great Leonardo is, without a doubt, the Mona Lisa. Vasari quite definitely calls the painting a portrait of the third wife of the Florentine Francesco del Giocondo. However, it was common for the author of many biographies, in addition to verified facts, to use legends, rumors and speculation as sources. For a long time, researchers could not find a comprehensive answer to the question of who Da Vinci’s model was. Researchers who agreed with Vasari's version dated Giaconda to 1500-1505. During these years, Leonardo da Vinci worked in Florence. Opponents of the hypothesis noted that the artist had not yet achieved such perfect skill by that time, and therefore the painting was probably painted later. In addition, in Florence, Leonardo worked on another work, “The Battle of Anghiari,” and it took a lot of time.
Among the alternative hypotheses were suggestions that the “Mona Lisa” is a self-portrait or an image of da Vinci’s lover and student, Salai, whom he captured in the painting “John the Baptist.” It was also suggested that the model was Isabella of Aragon, Duchess of Milan. All the mysteries of Leonardo da Vinci paled before this one. However, in 2005, scientists managed to find solid evidence in favor of Vasari's version. The notes of Agostino Vespucci, an official and friend of Leonardo, were discovered and studied. They, in particular, indicated that da Vinci was working on a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo.
Ahead of its time
If da Vinci's paintings gained fame during the author's lifetime, many of his achievements in other areas were appreciated only centuries later. The date of death of Leonardo da Vinci is May 2, 1519. However, only at the end of the nineteenth century did the recordings of the genius become public. Leonardo da Vinci's drawings describing the devices were far ahead of their time.
If the master inspired many of his contemporaries with his painting and laid the foundation for the art of the High Renaissance, then his technical achievements were impossible to bring to life at the level of technological development that existed in the sixteenth century.
Leonardo da Vinci's flying cars
The brilliant inventor wanted to soar not only in thoughts, but also in reality. He worked on creating a flying car. Leonardo da Vinci's drawings contain a diagram of the structure of the world's first model of a hang glider. This was already the third or fourth version of a flying car. The pilot was supposed to be placed inside the first ones. The mechanism was set in motion by the rotating pedals that he turned. The hang glider prototype was designed for gliding flight. This model was tested in the UK in 2002. Then the world champion in hang gliding managed to stay above the ground for seventeen seconds, while she rose to a height of ten meters.
Even earlier, the genius developed a design for a device that was supposed to rise into the air with the help of a single main rotor. The machine vaguely resembles a modern helicopter. However, this mechanism, which came into motion as a result of the concerted work of four people, had a lot of flaws, and it was not destined to become a reality even after centuries.
War vehicles
Biographers often, when describing Leonardo da Vinci as a person, note his peace-loving nature and condemnation of military actions. However, apparently, this did not stop him from developing mechanisms whose only function was to defeat the enemy. For example, he created a drawing of a tank. It had little in common with the operating mechanisms of the Second World War.
The car was set in motion thanks to the efforts of eight people turning the wheel levers. Moreover, she could only move forward. The tank had a round shape and was equipped with a large number of guns aimed in different directions. Today, almost any Leonardo da Vinci museum can demonstrate such combat vehicle, made according to the drawings of a brilliant master.
Among the weapons invented by da Vinci was a terrifying-looking scythe chariot and a prototype of a machine gun. All these products demonstrate the breadth of thought of the genius, his ability to predict for many centuries the path of development along which society will move.
Automobile
Among the genius's developments was a car model. Outwardly, it was not much like the cars we are used to, but rather resembled a cart. For a long time it remained unclear how Leonardo intended to move it. This mystery was solved in 2004, when in Italy a da Vinci car was created from drawings and equipped with a spring mechanism. Perhaps this is exactly what the author of the model assumed.
Ideal city
Leonardo da Vinci lived in turbulent times: wars were frequent, and the plague raged in many places. The searching mind of a genius, faced with serious illnesses and the misfortunes they bring, sought to find a way to improve the quality of life. Da Vinci developed the scheme ideal city, divided into several levels: the upper one is for the upper strata of society, the lower one is for trade. According to the author’s idea, all houses should have constant access to water using a system of pipes and canals. The ideal city consisted not of narrow streets, but of wide squares and roads. The purpose of such innovations was to reduce disease and improve hygiene. The project remained on paper: the kings to whom Leonardo proposed it considered the idea too bold.
Achievements in other areas
Science owes a lot to genius. Leonardo da Vinci had a great understanding of human anatomy. He worked hard, sketching the features of the internal arrangement of organs and the structure of muscles, and created the principles of anatomical drawing. He also made a description of the thyroid gland and its main functions. Spending time on astronomical research, he explained the mechanism by which the Sun illuminates the Moon. Da Vinci did not deprive physics of his attention, introducing the concept of friction coefficient and identifying the factors influencing it.
There are also ideas in the works of the genius that are characteristic of modern archeology. Thus, he was not a supporter of the official version at that time, according to which shells, found in abundance on the mountain slopes, got there due to the Great Flood. According to the scientist, once upon a time these mountains could have been the shores of the seas or even their bottom. And after unimaginable periods of time, they “grew up” and became what they see.
Secret writings
Among the mysteries of Leonardo, after the mystery of the Mona Lisa, his mirror handwriting is most often discussed. The genius was left-handed. He made most of his notes in reverse: the words went from right to left and could only be read with the help of a mirror. There is a version according to which da Vinci wrote this way so as not to smudge the ink. Another hypothesis says that the scientist did not want his works to become the property of fools and ignoramuses. Most likely, we will never know the correct answer to this question.
No less secret is the personal life of the great Leonardo. Little is known about her, since the genius did not seek to flaunt her. Therefore, today there are a lot of the most incredible hypotheses in this regard. However, this is a topic for a separate article.
Leonardo da Vinci's contribution to world art, his extraordinary mind, which could almost simultaneously comprehend problems from completely different areas of human knowledge. Few people in history can compare with Leonardo in this sense. At the same time, he was a worthy representative of his era, incorporating all the ideals of the Renaissance. He gave the world the art of the High Renaissance, laid the foundations for a more accurate representation of reality, and created the canonical proportions of the body, embodied in the drawing “Vitruvian Man”. With all his activities, he actually defeated the idea of the limitations of our minds.
Italian engineer, technician, scientist, mathematician, anatomist, botanist, musician,painter, sculptor, architect,High Renaissance philosopher Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the town of Vinci, near Florence. The father, the lord, Messer Piero da Vinci, was a wealthy notary, as were four previous generations of his ancestors. Piero da Vinci died at the age of 77 (in 1504), during his life he had four wives and was the father of ten sons and two daughters ( last child born when he was 75 years old). Almost nothing is known about Leonardo’s mother: in his biographies, a certain “young peasant woman” Katerina is most often mentioned.
During the Renaissance, illegitimate children were often treated the same as children born in a legal wedlock. Leonardo was immediately recognized as his father, but after his birth he was sent with his mother to the village of Anchiano. At the age of 4, he was taken to his father’s family, where he received his primary education: reading, writing, mathematics, Latin. One of the features of Leonardo da Vinci is his handwriting: Leonardo was left-handed and wrote from right to left, turning the letters so that the text was easier to read with the help of a mirror, but if the letter was addressed to someone, he wrote traditionally. When Piero was over 30, he moved to Florence and established his business there. To find work for his son, his father brought him to Florence. Being illegitimate, Leonardo could not become a lawyer or doctor, and his father decided to make him an artist. At that time, artists, considered artisans and not belonging to the elite, stood slightly above tailors, but in Florence they had much more respect for painters than in other city-states.
In 1467-1472 Leonardo studied with Andrea del Verrocchio - one of the leading artists of that period - sculptor, bronze caster, jeweler, organizer of festivities, one of the representatives of the Tuscan school of painting. Leonardo's talent as an artist was recognized by his teacher and the public when the young artist was barely twenty years old: Verrocchio received an order to paint the painting "The Baptism of Christ" (Uffizi Gallery, Florence), and the minor figures were to be painted by the artist's students. For painting at that time, tempera paints were used - egg yolk, water, grape vinegar and colored pigment - and in most cases the paintings turned out dull. Leonardo took the risk of painting the figure of his angel and the landscape with newly discovered oil paints. According to legend, after seeing the work of his student, Verrocchio said that “he has been surpassed and from now on only Leonardo will paint all the faces.” He masters several drawing techniques: Italian pencil, silver pencil, sanguine, pen.
In 1472 Leonardo was accepted into the guild of painters - the Guild of St. Luke, but remained to live in Verrocchio's house. He opened his own workshop in Florence between 1476 and 1478. On April 8, 1476, following a denunciation, Leonardo da Vinci was accused of being a gardener and arrested along with three friends. At that time in Florence, sadomea was a crime, and the capital punishment was burning at the stake. Judging by the records of that time, many doubted Leonardo’s guilt; neither an accuser nor witnesses were ever found. It was probably helped to avoid a harsh sentence by the fact that among those arrested was the son of one of the nobles of Florence: there was a trial, but the offenders were released after a short flogging. In 1482, having received an invitation to the court of the ruler of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, Leonardo da Vinci unexpectedly left Florence. Lodovico Sforza was considered the most hated tyrant in Italy, but Leonardo decided that Sforza would be a better patron for him than the Medici, who ruled in Florence and did not like Leonardo. Initially, the Duke took him on as the organizer of court holidays, for which Leonardo came up with not only masks and costumes, but also mechanical “miracles.” Magnificent holidays worked to increase the glory of Duke Lodovico. For a salary less than that of a court dwarf, in the Duke's castle Leonardo served as a military engineer, hydraulic engineer, court artist, and later as an architect and engineer. At the same time, Leonardo “worked for himself,” working in several areas of science and technology at the same time, but he was not paid for most of the work, since Sforza did not pay any attention to his inventions.
In 1484-1485, about 50 thousand residents of Milan died from the plague. Leonardo da Vinci, who believed that the reason for this was the overpopulation of the city and the dirt that reigned in the narrow streets, suggested that the Duke build a new city. According to Leonardo's plan, the city was to consist of 10 districts of 30 thousand inhabitants each, each district was to have its own sewer system, the width of the narrowest streets was to be equal to the average height of a horse (a few centuries later, the Council of State of London recognized the proportions proposed by Leonardo as ideal and gave the order to follow them when laying out new streets). The design of the city, like many other technical ideas of Leonardo, was rejected by the Duke. Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to found an art academy in Milan. For teaching, he compiled treatises on painting, light, shadows, movement, theory and practice, perspective, movements of the human body, proportions of the human body. The Lombard school, consisting of Leonardo's students, appeared in Milan. In 1495, at the request of Lodovico Sforza, Leonardo began painting his “Last Supper” on the wall of the refectory of the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. On July 22, 1490, Leonardo settled young Giacomo Caprotti in his house (later he began to call the boy Salai - “Demon”). No matter what the young man did, Leonardo forgave him everything. The relationship with Salai was the most constant in the life of Leonardo da Vinci, who had no family (he did not want a wife or children), and after his death Salai inherited many of Leonardo’s paintings. After the fall of Lodovic Sforza, Leonardo da Vinci left Milan.
Over the years he lived in Venice (1499, 1500), Florence (1500-1502, 1503-1506, 1507), Mantua (1500), Milan (1506, 1507-1513), Rome (1513-1516). In 1516 (1517) he accepted the invitation of Francis I and left for Paris. Leonardo da Vinci did not like to sleep for long periods of time and was a vegetarian. According to some evidence, Leonardo da Vinci was beautifully built, had enormous physical strength, and had good knowledge of chivalry, horse riding, dancing, and fencing. In mathematics he was attracted only by what can be seen, so for him it primarily consisted of geometry and the laws of proportion.
Leonardo da Vinci tried to determine the coefficients of sliding friction, studied the resistance of materials, studied hydraulics, and modeling. The areas that were interesting to Leonardo da Vinci included acoustics, anatomy, astronomy, aeronautics, botany, geology, hydraulics, cartography, mathematics, mechanics, optics, weapons design, civil and military engineering, and city planning. Leonardo da Vinci died on May 2, 1519 at the Castle of Cloux near Amboise (Touraine, France).
Among the works of Leonardo da Vinci are paintings, frescoes, drawings, anatomical drawings, which laid the foundation for the emergence of scientific illustration, works of architecture, projects of technical structures, notebooks and manuscripts (about 7 thousand sheets), “Treatise on Painting” (Leonardo began writing a treatise back in Milan at the request of Sforza, who wanted to know which art is more noble - sculpture or painting; final version was compiled after the death of Leonardo da Vinci by his student F. Melzi).
Painting, drawing:
Leonardo da Vinci created only about twelve completed paintings during his life
“The Baptism of Christ” (after 1470; painting by Verrocchio, Leonardo da Vinci created the figure of an angel located in the left corner of the painting and landscape; Uffizi Gallery, Florence) "Annunciation" (circa 1474, painting; Uffizi Gallery, Florence) “Madonna with a Flower” (painting, Munich Museum) “Madonna Litta” (painting, Hermitage, St. Petersburg) “Madonna Benois” (circa 1478, painting; Hermitage, St. Petersburg) "Ancient Warrior" (1475, drawing, British Museum) “Adoration of the Magi” (1481-1482, unfinished; underpainting in the Uffizi) “Saint Jerome” (1481-1482, the painting was not completed; since 1845 - in the Vatican Gallery) “Portrait of a Musician” (the painting is unfinished; Ambrosiana, Milan) "Madonna of the Rocks" (1483-1494, painting; Louvre, Paris; second version - around 1497-1511, National Gallery, London) “Lady with an Ermine” (1484; portrait of Cecilia Gallerani - lover of Lodovico Sforzo) “The Last Supper” (1495-1497, fresco; refectory of the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan). Judging by the notes of Leonardo himself, he found two sitters for the image of Christ: “Christ: Count Giovanni, who served at the court of Cardinal de Mortaro... Alessandro Carissimo from Parma for the hands of Christ.” As a result, the image of Christ became generalized. The creation of the image of Judas turned out to be the most difficult: Leonardo's predecessors visually separated the figure of Judas, placing it on the opposite edge of the table from Christ and his eleven disciples; Leonardo da Vinci placed Judas among his disciples, highlighting him through gesture and symbols - Judas clutches a wallet with money in his hand and places salt on the table, which was considered a symbol of threatening or inevitable evil. The search for a model for Judas's face took longer than for other characters in the picture: to paint Judas, Leonardo visited Milanese brothels where criminals frequented, and Prior Santa Maria delle Grazie complained to the Duke of Sforza about his “laziness.” According to legend, Leonardo replied that he was looking for the face of Judas, but that if time was running out, he could use the face of the prior, which was very suitable for this. The fresco did not retain its original appearance for long. Leonardo had to paint on a stone wall, so he decided to first cover it with a special composition of resin and mastic to protect the painting from moisture. In 1500 there was a severe flood and the monastery, located in a lowland, was partially flooded. The unique fresco began to deteriorate almost immediately after its creation: the paints began to peel off. In addition, over time, acids and salts began to appear on the lime and old brick. Some researchers argue that one of the reasons for the destruction of the fresco was the experimental use of oil mixed with tempera. Already in 1556, almost nothing was visible on the fresco except spots. In the 17th and 18th centuries. The fresco was restored several times, but unsuccessfully. Latest restoration carried out by Mauro Pellicioli between 1946 and 1954, after which the fresco was restored to resemble the original. "La Gioconda" (portrait of Mona Lisa, circa 1503, Louvre, Paris) “The Battle of Anghiari” (1503-1506, fresco, Great Council Hall in the Palazzo Vecchio; not finished and not preserved, known from copies from cardboard and from a sketch recently discovered in a private collection in Japan) "Self-portrait" (circa 1510-1513, sanguine) "John the Baptist" (circa 1513-1517, Louvre, Paris) “The Flood” (circa 1514-1516, cycle of drawings; Italian pencil, pen; Royal Library, Windsor).
Architecture and urban planning:
options for an “ideal city”; a project of two-level city roads: the upper level for pedestrians, the lower for carriage traffic, both levels were supposed to be connected by spiral staircases with recreation areas; options for a central-domed temple.
Medicine, biology, botany:
Leonardo da Vinci is considered by many to be the founder of scientific botany
Creation of a system of anatomical drawings used in modern education doctors Leonardo da Vinci's system included showing an object in four views, including cross-sectional images of organs and bodies; all the drawings were so clear and convincing that no one could any longer deny the importance of drawing in the teaching of medicine. Invention of the method of anatomy of the eye The first description of the "laws of vision". Leonardo knew that visual images on the cornea of the eye are projected upside down, and he tested this using the camera obscura he invented. First description of the right ventricular valve that bears his name The invention of a technique for drilling small holes in the skull of the deceased and filling the brain cavities with molten wax in order to obtain castings Invention of glass models of internal organs The first description of the laws of phyllotaxy governing the arrangement of leaves on the stem First description of the laws of heliotropism and geotropism, which describe the influence of the sun and gravity on plants The discovery of the possibility of determining the age of plants by studying the structure of their stems, and the age of trees by studying annual rings
Mechanics, optics:
Metallurgical furnace projects Rolling mill projects Printing machine projects. Sheets of paper normally loaded into printing presses by hand were loaded automatically Woodworking machine projects Weaving Projects File making machine Metal Screw Making Machine Rope Making Machine A machine that punched holes in blanks and minted coins Submarine project Project of a "tank" - a structure driven by eight soldiers inside and equipped with twenty cannons Steam gun project - architronito. There was a rapid release of steam in the gun, provided by a valve mounted in the barrel. The steam could send a bullet 800 meters away. Aircraft and parachute projects Projects for canals and irrigation systems, project for connecting Florence and Pisa through a canal. Project of a mechanical spit for cooking meat. A kind of propeller was attached to the spit, which was supposed to rotate under the influence of streams of heated air coming upward from the fire. A rotor was attached to a series of drives with a long rope; the forces were transmitted to the spit using belts or metal spokes. The hotter the oven heated up, the faster the spit rotated, which protected the meat from burning. Instrument for measuring light intensity. The photometer drawn by Leonardo is no less practical than the one proposed by the American scientist Benjamin Rumfoord three centuries later. Project of ski-like shoes for walking on water Webbed Swimming Gloves Rotating exhaust hood for chimneys Rotary mills for the production of thin, uniform sheet metal Project of portable collapsible houses Grinding machines Oil lamp with a glass sphere filled with water to enhance the brightness of the light Scattered formulations of the principle of inertia, which for many years was called Leonardo's principle (later formulated as the law of inertia - Newton's first law): “Nothing can move by itself, movement is caused by the influence of something else. This other is force,” “motion tends to be conserved, or rather, moving bodies continue to move as long as the force of the mover (initial impulse) continues to act in them.”
The great Florentine is the most undisputed genius of mankind. Leonardo created in the 15th century, but his works have not only survived to this day, the miracle is that they also develop as if on their own. The author breathed such a life-giving impulse into seemingly inanimate objects! How?
1. Leonardo encrypted a lot so that his ideas would be revealed gradually, as humanity “matured” to them. The inventor wrote with his left hand and in incredibly small letters, and even from right to left. But this was not enough - he turned all the letters over in a mirror image. He spoke in riddles, made metaphorical prophecies, and loved to make puzzles. Leonardo did not sign his works, but they have identification marks. For example, if you look closely at the paintings, you can find a symbolic bird taking off. There are apparently many such signs, which is why one or another of his brainchildren is suddenly discovered centuries later. As was the case with Benoit’s Madonna, who for a long time was carried along by traveling actors as a home icon.
2. 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.
3. Leonardo preferred the method of analogy to all others. The approximate nature of an analogy is an advantage over the precision of a syllogism, when a third inevitably follows from two conclusions. But one thing. But the more bizarre the analogy, the further the conclusions from it extend. Take for example the famous illustration of the Master, proving the proportionality of the human body. With arms outstretched and legs spread, the human figure fits into a circle. And with closed legs and raised arms - in a square, while forming a cross. This “mill” gave impetus to a number of diverse thoughts. The Florentine was the only one who came up with designs for churches where the altar is placed in the middle (the human navel), and the worshipers are evenly distributed around. This church plan in the form of an octahedron served as another invention of the genius - the ball bearing.
4. Leonardo liked to use the rule of contrapposto - opposition of opposites. Contrapposto creates movement. When making a sculpture of a giant horse in Corte Vecchio, the artist placed the horse’s legs in contrapposto, which created the illusion of a special free movement. Everyone who saw the statue involuntarily changed their gait to a more relaxed one.
5. Leonardo was never in a hurry to finish a work, because incompleteness 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 specially create “windows of incompleteness” in the finished painting. Apparently, in this way he left a place where life itself could intervene and correct something.
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.
But, as often happens, recognition of geniuses comes centuries later: many of his inventions were expanded and modernized, and are now used in everyday life.
For example, Leonardo da Vinci created a device that could compress air and force it through pipes. This invention has a very wide range of applications: from lighting stoves to... ventilation of rooms.
Leonardo is not the first scientist who was interested in the possibility of a person remaining under water for a long time. For example, Leon Battista Alberti planned to raise some Roman ships from the bottom of Lake Nemi. Leonardo went further than just plans: he created a design for a diving suit, which was made of waterproof leather. It was supposed to have a large chest pocket, which was filled with air to increase volume, making it easier for the diver to rise to the surface. Leonardo's diver was equipped with a flexible breathing tube that connected his helmet to a protective floating dome on the surface of the water (preferably made of reeds with leather joints).
It is well known that Leonardo da Vinci also developed a drawing of the “ancestor” of the modern helicopter. The radius of the propeller was supposed to be 4.8 m. According to the scientist’s plan, it had a metal edging and a linen covering. The screw was driven by people who walked around the axis and pushed the levers. “I think that if this screw mechanism is well made, that is, made of starched linen (to avoid tears) and quickly spun, then it will find support in the air and fly high into the air,” wrote da Vinci in his works.
One of the most necessary things for teaching a person to swim is a lifebuoy. This invention of Leonardo remained virtually unchanged.
To speed up swimming, the scientist developed a design of webbed gloves, which over time turned into the well-known flippers.
It’s hard to believe, but to make the work of workers easier, Leonardo came up with... excavators, which were more likely designed for lifting and transporting dug material than for digging as such. Scientists suggest that excavators could be needed for the Arno River diversion project. It was planned to dig a ditch 18 m wide and 6 m long. The inventor’s drawings give an idea of the size of the machine and the canal that was to be dug. The crane, with booms of different lengths, was interesting because it could be used with multiple counterweights on two or more excavation levels. The crane's booms swiveled 180° and covered the entire width of the channel. The excavator was mounted on rails and, as work progressed, moved forward using a screw mechanism on the central rail.
One of Leonardo's most famous drawings represents the ancient development of the automobile. The self-propelled cart had to be propelled by a complex crossbow mechanism that would transmit energy to drives connected to the steering wheel. The rear wheels had differentiated drives and could move independently. The fourth wheel is connected to a steering wheel, with which you can steer the cart. Initially this vehicle intended for the amusement of the royal court and belonged to that series of self-propelled machines that were created by other engineers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Humanity is only now daring to try some of the scientist’s inventions: for example, in the Norwegian town of As in 2001, a 100-meter pedestrian bridge designed by Leonardo da Vinci was opened. This was the first time in 500 years when the architectural project of the Master, who was far ahead of his time, received a real embodiment...
Leonardo da Vinci designed this structure for the Turkish Sultan: the bridge was to span the Golden Horn Bay in Istanbul. If the project had been implemented, this bridge would have been the longest bridge of its time - its length was 346 meters. However, Leonardo failed to implement his project - Sultan Bayazet II refused the proposals of the Florentine artist.
True, the new bridge is inferior to its medieval prototype in length - 100 m instead of 346 - but it exactly repeats all the design and aesthetic advantages of Leonardo's project. This bridge serves as a pedestrian crossing at a height of 8 m above the E-18 motorway, 35 km south of Oslo. During its construction, it was necessary to sacrifice only one idea of Leonardo da Vinci - as building material wood was used, whereas 500 years ago the bridge was planned to be built from stone.
In 2002, one of the inventions of the great Leonardo da Vinci was also recreated in the UK: a prototype of a modern hang glider, assembled exactly according to his drawings, was successfully tested in the skies over Surrey.
Test flights from the Surrey hills were carried out by two-time world hang gliding champion Judy Liden. She managed to lift da Vinci’s “proto-hang glider” to a maximum height of 10 m and stay in the air for 17 seconds. This was enough to prove that the device actually worked.
The flights were carried out as part of an experimental television project. The device was recreated based on drawings familiar to the whole world by 42-year-old mechanic from Bedfordshire, Steve Roberts.
A medieval hang glider resembles the skeleton of a bird from above. It is made from Italian poplar, cane, animal tendon and flax, treated with a glaze derived from beetle secretions.
The flying machine itself was far from perfect. “It was almost impossible to control her. I flew where the wind was blowing and couldn't do anything about it. The tester of the first car in history probably felt the same way,” Judy said.
As Leonardo da Vinci believed, “if a person has an awning made of thick fabric, each side of which is 12 arm lengths, and the height is 12, then he can jump from any significant height without breaking.” He himself was not able to test this device, however, in December 2000, British parachutist Adrian Nicholas in South Africa descended from a height of 3 thousand meters from hot air balloon on a parachute made according to a sketch by Leonardo da Vinci. The descent was successful.
Leonardo da Vinci, whose years of life and death are known to the whole world, is perhaps the most mysterious figure of the Renaissance. Many people care about where Leonardo da Vinci was born and who he was. He is known as an artist, anatomist and engineer. In addition to numerous discoveries, this unique man left behind great amount various mysteries that the whole world is trying to solve to this day.
Biography
When was Leonardo da Vinci born? He was born on April 15, 1452. It is interesting to know where Leonardo da Vinci was born, and specifically in which city. Nothing could be simpler. His surname came from the name of his place of birth. Vinci is an Italian city in the then existing Florentine Republic.
Leonardo was the illegitimate child of an official and an ordinary peasant girl. The boy grew up and was brought up in his father's house, thanks to whom he received a good education.
As soon as the future genius turned 15 years old, he became an apprentice to Andrea del Verrocchio, who was a talented sculptor, painter and representative of the Florentine school.
One day Leonardo's teacher took on an interesting job. He agreed to paint an altarpiece in the church of Santi Salvi, which depicted the baptism of Christ by John. Young da Vinci participated in this work. He painted only one angel, which turned out to be an order of magnitude more beautiful than the entire image. This circumstance was the reason that I decided never to pick up brushes again. His young but incredibly talented student was able to surpass his teacher.
After another 5 years, Leonardo da Vinci becomes a member of the guild of artists. There, with particular passion, he began to study the basics of drawing and many other required disciplines. A little later, in 1476, he continued to work with former teacher and mentor Andrea del Verrocchio, but already as a co-author of his creations.
Long-awaited glory
By 1480, the name Leonardo da Vinci became famous. I wonder when Leonardo da Vinci was born, could his contemporaries have imagined that he would become so famous? During this period, the artist receives the largest and most expensive orders, but two years later he decides to leave hometown and moves to Milan. There he continues to work, painting several successful paintings and the famous fresco “The Last Supper”.
It was during this period of his life that Leonardo da Vinci began to keep his own diary. From there we learn that he is no longer just an artist, but also an architect-designer, hydraulic engineer, anatomist, inventor of all kinds of mechanisms and decorations. In addition to all this, he also finds time to write riddles, fables or puzzles. Moreover, his interest in music awakens. And this is only a small part of what Leonardo da Vinci became famous for.
Some time later, the genius realizes that mathematics is much more exciting than painting. He is so keen on exact science that he forgets to even think about painting. Even later, da Vinci begins to show interest in anatomy. He leaves for Rome and stays there for 3 years, living under the “wing” of the Medici family. But very soon joy gives way to sadness and longing. Leonrado da Vinci is upset due to the lack of material for conducting anatomical experiments. Then he tries various experiments, but this also leads to nothing.
Life changes
In 1516, the life of the Italian genius changed dramatically. The king of France notices him, truly admiring his work, and invites him to court. Later, the sculptor would write that although Leonardo’s main job was the very prestigious position of court advisor, he did not forget about his creativity.
It was during this period of life that da Vinci began to develop the idea of an aircraft. At first he manages to come up with a simple design based on wings. In the future, it will serve as the basis for a completely crazy project at that time - an airplane with full control. But even though da Vinci was talented, he was never able to invent a motor. The dream of an airplane turned out to be unrealistic.
Now you know exactly where Leonardo da Vinci was born, what he was interested in and what path of life he had to go through. The Florentine died on May 2, 1519.
Painting by a famous artist
The Italian genius was very versatile, but most people think of him solely as a painter. And this is not without reason. Leonardo da Vinci's painting is true art, and his paintings are true masterpieces. Thousands of scientists from all over the globe are struggling with the mysteries of the most famous works written by the Florentine.
It is quite difficult to choose a few paintings from the whole variety. Therefore, the article will present the top 6 most famous and earliest works of the author.
1. First job famous artist- "A small sketch of a river valley."
This is a really neat drawing. It shows a castle and a small wooded hillside. The sketch is made with quick strokes using a pencil. The entire landscape is depicted in such a way that it seems as if we are looking at the picture from some high point.
2. “Turin Self-Portrait” - created by the artist at about 60 years old.
This work is interesting to us primarily because it gives us an idea of what the great Leonardo da Vinci looked like. Although there is an opinion that a completely different person is depicted here. Many art historians consider the “self-portrait” to be a sketch for the famous “La Gioconda”. This work is considered one of Leonardo's best works.
3. “Mona Lisa” or “La Gioconda” - the most famous and, perhaps, the most mysterious picture Italian artist, painted around 1514 - 1515.
This in itself is the most interesting fact about Leonardo da Vinci. There are so many theories and assumptions associated with the picture that it is impossible to count them all. Many experts argue that the canvas depicts an ordinary landscape against the backdrop of a very unusual landscape. Some believe that this is a portrait of the Duchess of Costanza d'Avalos. According to others, the picture shows the wife of Francesco del Gioconda. But there is a more modern version. It says that great artist captured the widow of Giovanni Antonio Brandano named Pacifica.
4. “Vitruvian Man” - a drawing created as an illustration for a book approximately in 1490-1492.
It shows a very nice naked man in two slightly different positions, superimposed on top of each other. This work received the status of not only a work of art, but also a scientific work.
5. The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci - a painting that shows the moment Jesus Christ announced to his disciples that he would be betrayed by one of them. Created in 1495-1498.
This work is as mysterious and enigmatic as La Gioconda. Perhaps the most truly amazing thing about this picture is the story of its composition. According to many historians, Leonardo da Vinci could not write Judas and Christ for a long time. Once he was lucky enough to find a beautiful young man in the church choir, so spiritual and bright that the author’s doubts disappeared - here he is, the prototype of Jesus. But the image of Judas still remained unfinished. For three long years Leonardo walked through the seedy alleys, looking for the most degraded and vile person. One day he found one like this. It was a drunk in a gutter. Da Vinci brought it to his workshop and painted Judas from it. How unimaginable was the author’s surprise when it turned out that he based Jesus and the disciple who betrayed him on the same person, simply met in different periods the life of the latter.
The Last Supper of Leonardo da Vinci is famous for the fact that right hand from Christ the master depicted Mary Magdalene. Because he placed her this way, many began to claim that she was the legal wife of Jesus. There was even a hypothesis that the contours of the bodies of Christ and Mary Magdalene represent the letter M, which means “Matrimonio”, that is, marriage.
6. “Madonna Litta” - a painting dedicated to the Mother of God and the Child Christ.
On hand, this is a very traditional religious plot. But it was Leonardo da Vinci’s painting that became one of the best in this subject. In fact, this masterpiece is not very big size, only 42 x 33 cm. But it still truly amazes with its beauty and purity. This picture is also notable for its mysterious details. Why does a baby hold a chick in his hand? For what reason is his mother's dress torn in the place where the baby is pressed to her chest? And why is the picture so dark?
The paintings of Leonardo da Vinci are not just beautiful canvases, they are a whole separate type of art, striking the imagination with their indescribable splendor and bewitching secrets.
What did the great creator leave to the world?
What was Leonardo da Vinci famous for besides his paintings? Undoubtedly, he was talented in many areas that, it would seem, cannot be combined with each other at all. However, despite all his genius, he had one interesting character trait that did not really fit with his work - he liked to abandon the work he had begun and leave it like that forever. But nevertheless, Leonardo da Vinci still completed several truly brilliant discoveries. They changed the then ideas about life.
Leonardo da Vinci's discoveries are amazing. What can we say about a man who created an entire science? Are you familiar with paleontology? But it was Leonardo da Vinci who was its founder. It was he who first made an entry in his diary about a certain rare fossil that he managed to discover. Scientists are still wondering what they were talking about. It is only known rough description: a kind of stone that looks like a fossilized honeycomb and has a hexagonal shape. Leonardo also described the first ideas about paleontology as a science in general.
Thanks to da Vinci, people learned to jump out of airplanes without crashing. After all, it was he who invented the parachute. Of course, initially it was only a prototype of a modern parachute and it looked completely different, but this does not diminish the importance of the invention. In his diary, the master wrote about a piece of linen fabric, 11 meters long and wide. He was confident that this would help the person land without any injury. And as time has shown, he was absolutely right.
Of course, the helicopter was invented much later than Leonardo da Vinci died, but the idea of the flying machine belonged to him. It doesn't look at all like what we now call a helicopter, but rather resembles an inverted round table with one leg, to which the pedals are screwed. It was thanks to them that the invention was supposed to fly.
Unbelievable but true
What else did Leonardo da Vinci create? Incredibly, he also had a hand in robotics. Just think, back in the 15th century he personally designed the first model of the so-called robot. His invention had many complex mechanisms and springs. But most importantly, this robot was humanoid and could even move its arms. Besides, Italian genius came up with several mechanical lions. They could move on their own using mechanisms like sentries.
Leonardo da Vinci made so many discoveries on earth that he became interested in something new in space. He could spend hours looking at the stars. And although it cannot be said that he invented a telescope, in one of his books you can find instructions for creating something very similar to it.
We even owe our cars to Da Vinci. He came up with a wooden model of a car with three wheels. This entire structure was driven by a special mechanism. Many scientists believe that this idea was born back in 1478.
Among other things, Leonardo was also interested in military affairs. He came up with a multi-barrel and rapid-fire weapon - a machine gun, or rather, its prototype.
Of course, Leonardo da Vinci could not help but come up with something for painters. It was he who developed an artistic technique in which all distant things appear blurry. He also invented chiaroscuro.
It is worth noting that all of Leonardo da Vinci’s discoveries turned out to be very useful, and some of his developments are still used today. They are only slightly improved.
Yet we cannot help but admit that Leonardo da Vinci, whose contribution to science was enormous, was a real genius.
Water is Leonardo da Vinci's favorite element
If you love diving or have dived to significant depths at least once in your life, then thank Leonardo da Vinci. It was he who invented scuba gear. Da Vinci designed a kind of floating cork buoy that held a reed tube above the water for air. It was also he who invented the leather air bag.
Leonardo da Vinci, biology
The genius was interested in everything: the principles of breathing, yawning, coughing, vomiting, and especially the beating of the heart. Leonardo da Vinci studied biology, closely connecting it with physiology. It was he who first described the heart as a muscle and almost came to the conclusion that it was it that pumped blood in the human body. Yes Vichni even attempted to create a prosthetic aortic valve through which blood flow passed.
Anatomy as art
Everyone knows that da Vinci was interested in anatomy. In 2005, researchers discovered his secret laboratory, where he allegedly dissected bones from corpses. And it apparently had an effect. It was Da Vinci who accurately described the shape of the human spine. Among other things, there is an opinion that he discovered diseases such as atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis. The Italian also managed to distinguish himself in dentistry. Leonardo was the first person to depict the correct structure of teeth in the oral cavity, describing in detail their number.
Do you wear glasses or contacts? And for this we should thank Leonardo. In 1509, he wrote down in his diary a certain model of how and with what help the optical power of the human eye can be changed.
Leonardo da Vinci, whose contribution to science is simply invaluable, created, studied or discovered so many things that it is impossible to count. The greatest discoveries definitely belong to his ingenious hands and head.
He was a very mysterious figure. And, of course, to this day there are various Interesting Facts about Leonardo da Vinci.
It is known for certain that he was a cryptographer. Leonardo wrote with his left hand and in very small letters. And he did it from right to left. But by the way, Da Vinci wrote equally well with both hands.
The Florentine always spoke in riddles and even made prophecies, most of which came true.
It is interesting that a monument to him was erected not where Leonardo da Vinci was born, but in a completely different place - in Milan.
It is believed that the Italian was a vegetarian. But this did not stop him from being the manager of court feasts for thirteen years. He even came up with several culinary “helpers” to make the chefs’ work easier.
Among other things, the Florentine played the lyre incredibly beautifully. But even this is not all the interesting facts about Leonardo da Vinci.