Leonardo da Vinci as a scientist artist. Summary: Biography of Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci's contribution to medicine
Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
State educational institution
higher professional education
"Tver State Technical University"
(GOU VPO "TSTU")
in the discipline "History of Science"
on the topic: "Leonardo da Vinci is a great scientist and engineer"
Performed: 1st year student
FAS AU ATP 1001
Ivanova Tatiana Lyubomirovna
Tver, 2010
I. Introduction
II. Main part
1. Artist and scientist
2. Leonardo da Vinci is a genius inventor
... "It is better to be deprived of movement than to be tired of being useful"
3.1 Aircraft
3.2 Hydraulics
3 Car
4 Leonardo da Vinci as a pioneer of nanotechnology
5 Other inventions of Leonardo
Conclusion
List of references
application
I. INTRODUCTION
Renaissance (French Renaissance, Italian Rinascimento) is an era of great economic and social transformations in the life of many European states, an era of radical changes in ideology and culture, an era of humanism and enlightenment.
During this historical period, in various areas of the life of human society, favorable conditions arise for an unprecedented rise of culture. The development of science and technology, the great geographical discoveries, the movement of trade routes and the emergence of new trade and industrial centers, the inclusion of new sources of raw materials and new markets in the sphere of production significantly expanded and changed man's perception of the world around him. Science, literature, and art are flourishing.
The Renaissance era gave mankind a number of outstanding scientists, thinkers, inventors, travelers, artists, poets, whose activities made a colossal contribution to the development of common human culture.
In the history of mankind, it is not easy to find another person as genius as the founder of the art of the High Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci's phenomenal research power penetrated all fields of science and art. Even after centuries, researchers of his work are amazed at the genius of the insights of the greatest thinker. Leonardo da Vinci was an artist, sculptor, architect, philosopher, historian, mathematician, physicist, mechanic, astronomer, anatomist.
II. MAIN PART
1. Artist and scientist
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) is one of the mysteries in human history. His versatile genius of an unsurpassed artist, great scientist and tireless researcher in all ages plunged the human mind into confusion.
"Leonardo da Vinci is a titan, an almost supernatural being, the owner of such a versatile talent and such a wide range of knowledge that there is simply no one to compare him with in the history of art."
For Leonardo da Vinci himself, science and art were fused together. Giving the palm to painting in the "dispute of the arts", he considered it a universal language, a science that, like mathematics in formulas, displays in proportions and perspective all the diversity and the rational principle of nature. The about 7000 sheets of scientific notes and explanatory drawings left by Leonardo da Vinci are an unattainable example of synthesis and art.
Long before Bacon, he expressed the great truth that the foundation of science is above all experience and observation. A specialist in mathematics and mechanics, he was the first to expound the theory of forces acting on a lever in an indirect direction. Astronomy and the great discoveries of Columbus led Leonardo to think about the rotation of the globe. Specially engaged in anatomy for the sake of painting, he figured out the purpose and functions of the iris. Leonardo da Vinci invented a camera obscura, conducted hydraulic experiments, deduced the laws of falling bodies and motion along an inclined plane, had a clear idea of \u200b\u200bbreathing and combustion, and put forward a geological hypothesis about the movement of continents. Already these merits alone would have been enough to consider Leonardo da Vinci an outstanding person. But if you consider that he was not serious about everything except sculpture and painting, and in these arts he showed himself as a real genius, it will become clear why he made such a stunning impression on subsequent generations. His name is inscribed on the pages of art history alongside Michelangelo and Raphael, but an impartial historian will give him an equally significant place in the history of mechanics and fortification.
With all his extensive scientific and artistic pursuits, Leonardo da Vinci had enough time to invent various "frivolous" devices with which he entertained the Italian aristocracy: flying birds, blowing bubbles and guts, fireworks. He also supervised the construction of canals from the Arno River; the construction of churches and fortresses; artillery pieces during the siege of Milan by the French king; While seriously engaged in the art of fortification, he nevertheless managed to simultaneously construct an unusually harmonious silver 24-string lyre.
"Leonardo da Vinci is the only artist about whom we can say that everything that his hand touched became eternal beauty. The structure of the skull, the texture of the fabric, the tense muscle ... - all this is done with an amazing flair on the line, color and illumination turned into true values \u200b\u200b"(Bernard Berenson, 1896).
In his works, the issues of art and science are practically inseparable. In "Treatise on Painting", for example, he conscientiously began to set out advice to young artists on how to correctly recreate the material world on canvas, then imperceptibly moved on to discussions about perspective, proportions, geometry and optics, then about anatomy and mechanics (moreover, to mechanics as animate and inanimate objects) and, ultimately, to thoughts about the mechanics of the universe as a whole. It seems obvious that the scientist strives to create a kind of reference book - an abbreviated presentation of all technical knowledge, and even distribute them according to their importance, as he imagined. His scientific method boiled down to the following: 1) careful observation; 2) numerous checks of observation results from different points of view; 3) a sketch of an object and phenomenon, possibly more skillful, so that they can be seen by everyone and understood with the help of short accompanying explanations.
For Leonardo da Vinci, art has always been a science. To do art meant for him to make scientific calculations, observations and experiments. The connection of painting with optics and physics, with anatomy and mathematics forced Leonardo to become a scientist.
2. Leonardo da Vinci is a genius inventor
Leonardo da Vinci enriched the Renaissance worldview with the idea of \u200b\u200bthe value of science: mathematics and natural science. Alongside aesthetic interests - and above them - he placed scientific ones.
Mathematics is at the center of his scientific constructs. "No human research can claim to be a true science if it does not use mathematical proof." "There is no certainty where one of the mathematical sciences does not find applications, or where sciences that are not related to mathematical ones are applied." It was no accident that he filled his notebooks with mathematical formulas and calculations. It was not by chance that he sang hymns to mathematics and mechanics. No one sensed more keenly than Leonardo the role that mathematics had to play in Italy in the decades between his death and the final triumph of mathematical methods in Galileo's work.
His materials were collected and, to a large extent, scientifically processed in a wide variety of disciplines: mechanics, astronomy, cosmography, geology, paleontology, oceanography, hydraulics, hydrostatics, hydrodynamics, various branches of physics (optics, acoustics, theriology, magnetism), in botany, in zoology, in anatomy, in perspective, in painting, in grammar, in languages.
His notes contain such amazing propositions that, in all their conclusions, were revealed only by mature science of the second half of the 19th century and later. Leonardo knew that "motion is the cause of all manifestations of life" (il moto e causa d "ogni vita), the scientist discovered the theory of speed and the law of inertia - the basic principles of mechanics. He studied the fall of bodies along a vertical and inclined line. He analyzed the laws of gravity. He established the properties of the lever as a simple machine, the most versatile.
If not earlier than Copernicus, then simultaneously with him and independently of him, he understood the basic laws of the structure of the universe. He knew that space is infinite, that the worlds are countless, that the Earth is the same luminary as the others, and moves like them, that it "is neither in the center of the circle of the Sun, nor in the center of the universe." He found that "the sun is not moving"; he wrote this position, as especially important, in large letters. He had a correct understanding of the history of the Earth and its geological structure.
Leonardo da Vinci had a very solid scientific background. He was, without a doubt, an excellent mathematician, and, curiously enough, he was the first in Italy, and perhaps in Europe, to introduce the signs + (plus) and - (minus). He was looking for the squaring of the circle and was convinced of the impossibility of solving this problem, that is, more precisely, in the incommensurability of the circumference of the circle with its diameter. Leonardo invented a special tool for drawing ovals and for the first time determined the center, gravity of the pyramid. The study of geometry allowed him for the first time to create a scientific theory of perspective, and he was one of the first painters to paint landscapes that somehow correspond to reality.
More than other areas of science, Leonardo da Vinci was occupied by various branches of mechanics. The scientist is also known as a brilliant improver and inventor, equally strong in theory and practice. The theoretical conclusions of Leonardo da Vinci in the field of mechanics are striking in their clarity and provide him with an honorable place in the history of this science, in which he is the link connecting Archimedes with Galileo and Pascal.
The scientist-artist expounds with remarkable clarity the theory of the lever in general, large outline, explaining it with drawings; without stopping at this, he gives drawings relating to the motion of bodies along an inclined plane, although, unfortunately, he does not explain them in text. From the drawings, however, it is clear that Leonardo da Vinci was 80 years ahead of the Dutchman Stevin and that he already knew the ratio of the weights of two weights located on two adjacent faces of a triangular prism and connected to each other by a thread thrown over a block. Leonardo also investigated, long before Galileo, the length of time required for a body to fall down an inclined plane and along various curved surfaces or sections of these surfaces, that is, lines.
Even more curious are the general principles, or axioms, of mechanics that Leonardo is trying to establish. Much here is unclear and downright wrong, but there are thoughts that positively amaze a writer of the late 15th century. "Not a single perceptible body," says Leonardo, "can move by itself. It is set in motion by some external cause, force. Force is an invisible and incorporeal cause in the sense that it cannot change either in form or in tension. If a body is moved by a force at a given time and passes through a given space, then the same force can move it in half the time to half the space. Any body exerts resistance in the direction of its motion. (Here Newtons almost guessed the law of action equal to opposition). the falling body at each moment of its motion receives a certain increment of speed. The impact of bodies is a force acting for a very short time. "
Even more distinct and remarkable are Leonardo da Vinci's views on undulating motion. To explain the movement of water particles, Leonardo da Vinci begins with the classical experience of the latest physicists, that is, throws a stone, making circles on the surface of the water. He gives a drawing of such concentric circles, then throws two stones, receives two systems of circles and wonders what happens when both systems meet? "Will the waves bounce off at equal angles?" Asks Leonardo and adds. "This is a magnificent (bellissimo) question." Then he says: "The movement of sound waves can be explained in the same way. The waves of air move away in a circular fashion from their place of origin, one circle meets another and passes on, but the center always remains in the same place."
These extracts are enough to be convinced of the genius of the person who, at the end of the 15th century, laid the foundation for the wave-like theory of motion, which received full recognition only in the 19th century.
3. "Better to be deprived of movement than to be tired of being useful "
Leonardo da Vinci is a genius whose inventions belong to the past, present and future of humanity. He lived ahead of his time, and if even a small part of what he invented was brought to life, then the history of Europe, and perhaps the world, would be different: already in the 15th century we would drive around in cars and cross the seas on submarines.
Historians of technology count hundreds of Leonardo's inventions, scattered across his notebooks in the form of drawings, sometimes with short expressive remarks, but often without a single word of explanation, as if the rapid flight of the inventor's imagination did not allow him to dwell on verbal explanations.
Let's dwell on some of the most famous inventions of Leonardo.
3.1 Aircraft
"The big bird begins its first flight from the back of a gigantic swan, filling the universe with amazement, filling all the scriptures with rumors about itself, eternal glory to the nest where it was born."
The most audacious dream of Leonardo the inventor was without a doubt the flight of a man.
One of the earliest (and most famous) sketches on this topic is a diagram of the device, which in our time is considered to be a prototype of a helicopter. Leonardo proposed to make a propeller 5 meters in diameter from thin flax soaked in starch. It was to be set in motion by four people rotating the levers in a circle. Modern experts say that the muscular strength of four people would not be enough to lift this device into the air (all the more so since even in the event of lifting, this structure would begin to rotate around its axis), but if, for example, a powerful spring were used as an "engine", such a "helicopter" would be capable of flight, albeit a short one.
Soon Leonardo lost interest in propeller-driven aircraft and turned his attention to a flight mechanism that had been successfully operating for millions of years - the bird's wing. Leonardo da Vinci was convinced that "a person who overcomes air resistance with the help of large artificial wings can rise into the air. If only her limbs were more resilient, able to resist the impulse and impulse of descent with ligaments of strong tanned leather and tendons of raw silk. And let no one tinker with iron material, because the latter quickly breaks on bends or wears out. "
Leonardo thought about flying with the help of the wind, that is, about soaring flight, rightly noting that in this case less effort is required to hold and move in the air. He designed a glider that was attached to a person's back so that the latter could balance in flight. The drawing of the device turned out to be prophetic, which Leonardo himself described as follows: "If you have enough linen fabric sewn into a pyramid with a base of 12 yards (about 7 m 20 cm), then you can jump from any height without any harm to your body." ...
The master made this entry between 1483 and 1486. Several centuries later, such a device was called "parachute" (from the Greek para - "against" and the French "chute" - fall). This idea of \u200b\u200bLeonardo was brought to its logical end only by the Russian inventor Kotelnikov, who in 1911 created the first knapsack rescue parachute attached to the pilot's back.
3.2 Hydraulics
Leonardo da Vinci became interested in hydraulics while working in the Verrocchio workshop in Florence, dealing with fountains. As the Duke's chief engineer, Leonardo da Vinci developed hydraulics for use in agriculture and for powering machines and mills. "Water moving in the river, or called, or driven, or moves by itself. If driven - who is the one who drives it? If called or required - who is demanding."
Leonardo often used wooden or glass models of canals, in which he painted the created streams of water, marked them with small buoys to make it easier to follow the flow. The results of these experiments have found their practical application in solving sewage problems. Among his drawings are ports, gates and sluices with sliding doors. Leonardo da Vinci even planned to dig a navigable canal that diverts the river. Arno to connect Florence to the sea via Prato, Pistoia and Serraval. Another hydraulic project was conceived for Lombardy and Venice. He assumed the flooding of the Isonzo Valley in the event of a Turkish invasion. There was also a plan to drain the Pontine Marshes (about which the Medici Pope Leo X consulted with Leonardo da Vinci).
Leonardo da Vinci created lifebuoys and gas masks for both military and practical needs. Imitating the outlines of a fish, he improved the shape of the ship's hull to increase its speed, for the same purpose he used a device to control the oars. For military purposes, Leonardo da Vinci invented the double skin of the ship, capable of resisting shelling, as well as a secret device for anchoring the ship. This problem was solved with the help of divers, who went under water in special suits or on simple submarines.
To speed up swimming, the scientist developed a scheme of webbed gloves, which over time turned into well-known fins.
One of the most essential things for teaching a person to swim is a lifebuoy. This invention of Leonardo remained practically unchanged.
3.3 Vehicle
It was in the head of Leonardo da Vinci that the idea of \u200b\u200ba car was born. Unfortunately, the drawings of the body were not fully drawn, because during the development of his project, the master was very passionate about the engine and chassis.
This famous drawing shows a prototype of a modern car. The self-propelled three-wheeled cart is driven by a sophisticated crossbow mechanism that transfers energy to drives connected to the rudder. The rear wheels have differentiated drives and can move independently. In addition to the large front wheel, there was one more - a small, swivel one, which was located on a wooden lever. Initially, this vehicle was intended for the amusement of the royal court and belonged to the series of self-propelled vehicles that were created by other engineers of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Today you will not surprise anyone with the word "excavator". But hardly anyone thought about the history of the creation of this universal machine. The Leonardo excavators were designed more for lifting and transporting excavated material. This made the work of the workers easier. The excavator was mounted on rails and, as the work progressed, moved forward using a screw mechanism on the central rail.
3.4 Leonardo da Vinci as a pioneer of nanotechnology
hydraulic screw saw artist
A group of researchers from the laboratory of the Center for Research and Restoration of French Museums under the leadership of Philippe Walter once descended into the Louvre and, pushing the museum workers aside, conducted an X-ray fluorescence analysis of Leonardo da Vinci's works. Seven portraits by the great master, including "Mona Lisa", fell under the beams of a portable X-ray machine.
The analysis made it possible to determine the thickness of individual layers of paint and varnish in the paintings and to find out some features of the sfumato painting technique (sfumato - it. "Blurry, blurred"), which made it possible to soften the transition between light and dark areas in the picture and create believable shadows. Actually, sfumato - this is da Vinci's invention, and it was he who reached the greatest heights in this technique.
As it turned out, Leonardo used varnish and paint with unique additives. But most importantly, da Vinci was able to apply glizal (glaze) in a layer 1-2 microns thick. The total thickness of all layers of varnish and paint on the portraits of Leonardo's brush does not exceed 30-40 microns; however, refracting light rays in various transparent and translucent layers creates a powerful effect of volume and depth. It is curious that modern screen coatings that form a stereoscopic effect are arranged according to the same principle (see Appendix).
The question of how Leonardo managed to apply paint and varnish in such a thin layer (up to 1/1000 millimeter!), The study left open. In addition, intriguing is the fact that traces of brush strokes and even more so fingerprints were not found in any layer of the paintings.
3.5 Other inventions of Leonardo
Leonardo's theoretical contribution to science is contained in his research on "gravity, force, pressure and impact ... children of movement ...". His drawings of the components of mechanisms and devices for the transmission of motion remained. Five basic types of mechanisms have been known since ancient times: winch, lever, block (gate), wedge and screw. Leonardo used them in complex devices that automate various operations. He paid special attention to screws: "On the nature of a screw and its application, on how many eternal screws can be made and how to supplement them with gear wheels"
Friction research is closely related to the problem of transmission of motion, which led to the emergence of bearings that are still used today. Leonardo tested bearings made of an antifriction material (an alloy of copper and tin), and eventually settled on a variety of ball bearings - the prototypes of modern ones.
Let us also mention the most famous inventions of Leonardo: devices for transforming and transmitting motion (for example, steel chain transmissions, and now used in bicycles); plain and interlaced belt drives; various types of clutches (tapered, spiral, stepped); roller bearings to reduce friction; double connection, now called "gimbal" and used in cars; various machines (for example, a precision machine for automatic notching or a hammer machine for forming gold ingots); a device (attributed to Cellini) to improve the clarity of coinage; friction test bench; suspension of axles on movable wheels located around it to reduce friction during rotation (this device, re-invented by Atwood in the late 18th century, led to modern ball and roller bearings); a device for testing the tensile strength of metal threads; numerous weaving machines (eg shearing, twisting, carding); mechanical loom and spinning machine for wool; war machines for waging war ("the most brutal insanity," as he called it); various intricate musical instruments.
Oddly enough, only one invention of da Vinci received recognition during his lifetime - a wheel lock for a pistol, which was started with a key. At first, this mechanism was not widely used, but by the middle of the 16th century it gained popularity among the nobles, especially in the cavalry, which even affected the design of the armor: for the sake of firing pistols, armor 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 comes to geniuses after centuries: many of his inventions have been supplemented and modernized, and are now used in everyday life.
Archimedean screws and water wheels
Hydraulic saw
CONCLUSION
In the history of science, which is the history of human knowledge, people who make revolutionary discoveries are important. Without this factor, the history of science becomes a catalog or inventory of discoveries. The most striking example of this is Leonardo da Vinci.
Leonardo da Vinci is an Italian artist, sculptor, architect, scientist, engineer, naturalist. His extraordinary and versatile giftedness aroused the amazement and admiration of his contemporaries, who saw in him a living embodiment of the ideal of a harmoniously developed perfect man. In all his endeavors, he was a researcher and discoverer, and this directly affected his art. He left behind a few works, but each of them was a stage in the history of culture. The scientist is also known as a versatile scientist. The scale and uniqueness of Leonardo da Vinci's talent can be judged by his drawings, which occupy one of the places of honor in the history of art. Not only manuscripts devoted to the exact sciences are inextricably linked with Leonardo da Vinci's drawings, sketches, sketches, diagrams. Leonardo da Vinci owns numerous discoveries, projects and experimental research in mathematics, mechanics, and other natural sciences.
The art of Leonardo da Vinci, his scientific and theoretical research, the uniqueness of his personality went through the entire history of world culture and science, had a huge impact on it.
The legendary fame of Leonardo has lived for centuries and still not only has not faded, but is flaring up more and more: the discoveries of modern science again and again stir up interest in his engineering and sci-fi drawings, in his encrypted records. Particularly hot heads even find in Leonardo's sketches almost foresight of atomic explosions.
Leonardo believed in the idea of \u200b\u200bhomo faber, man - the creator of new tools, new things that were not in nature. This is not human resistance to nature and its laws, but creative activity on the basis of the same laws, for man is the "greatest instrument" of the same nature. Dams can be opposed to river floods, artificial wings are destined to lift a person into the air. In this case, it is no longer possible to say that human forces are wasted in vain and drown without a trace in the flow of time, "the destroyer of things." Then, on the contrary, it will be necessary to say: "People are unjustly complaining about the running of time, blaming it for excessive speed, not noticing that its passage is rather slow." And then the words of Leonardo, which he wrote on the 34th sheet of the "Trivulzio Code", will be justified:
A life well lived is a long life.
La vita bene spesa longa `e.
LIST OF REFERENCES
1. Arshinov, V.I., Budanov V.G. Cognitive foundations of synergetics. Synergetic paradigm. Non-linear thinking in science and art. - M., 2002, S. 67-108.
2. Voloshinov, A.V. Mathematics and art. - M., 1992, 335 p.
Gasteev A.A. Leonardo da Vinci. The life of wonderful people. - M .: Molodaya gvardiya, 1984, 400 p.
Gnedich P.I. Art history. High Renaissance. - M .: Publishing house Eksmo, 2005, 144 p.
V.P. Zubov Leonardo da Vinci. - L .: Publishing house of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1962, 372 p.
Kaming R. Artists: the life and work of 50 famous painters. - M., 1999, 112 p.
7. COMPULENT. Science and technology / Applied research / <#"526349.files/image003.gif">
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci is a Renaissance art man, sculptor, inventor, painter, philosopher, writer, scientist, polymath (universal man).
The future genius was born as a result of the love affair of the noble Piero da Vinci and the girl Catherine (Catarina). 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 from her husband she gave birth to four daughters and a son.
Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci
The firstborn Piero da Vinci lived with his mother for three years. Leonardo's father immediately after his birth married a wealthy representative of a noble family, but his legal wife could not give birth to an heir. Three years after the marriage, Piero took his son to him and took up his upbringing. Stepmother Leonardo died 10 years later trying to give birth to an heir. Pierrot remarried, but quickly became a widow again. In total, Leonardo had four stepmothers, as well as 12 paternal half-brothers and sisters.
Da Vinci's creativity and inventions
The parent gave Leonardo a student of the Tuscan master Andrea Verrocchio. During his studies with a mentor, Pierrot's son learned not only the art of painting and sculpture. Young Leonardo studied the humanities and technical sciences, the craftsmanship of leather, the basics of working with metal and chemical reagents. All this knowledge was useful to da Vinci in life.
Leonardo received confirmation of the master's qualifications at the age of twenty, after which he continued to work under the direction of Verrocchio. The young artist was attracted to small work on the paintings of his teacher, for example, he painted background landscapes and clothes of minor characters. Leonardo got his own workshop only in 1476.
Drawing "Vitruvian Man" by Leonardo da Vinci In 1482, da Vinci was sent by his patron Lorenzo Medici to Milan. During this period, the artist worked on two paintings that were never completed. In Milan, Duke Ludovico Sforza enlisted Leonardo as an engineer in the court staff. The high-ranking person was interested in defensive devices and devices for the amusement of the yard. Da Vinci had the opportunity to develop the talent of an architect and the ability of a mechanic. His inventions turned out to be an order of magnitude better than those offered by his contemporaries.
The engineer stayed in Milan under the Duke of Sforza for about seventeen years. During this time, Leonardo painted pictures "Madonna in the grotto" and "Lady with an ermine", created his most famous drawing "Vitruvian Man", made a clay model of the equestrian monument of Francesco Sforza, painted the wall of the refectory of the Dominican monastery with the composition "The Last Supper", made a number of anatomical sketches and drawings of the apparatus.
Leonardo's engineering talent also came in handy after returning to Florence in 1499. He got a job with the Duke Cesare Borgia, who counted 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 second Milanese period of the master 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 the apparatus built according to Leonardo's drawings, view 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. 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 a series of films "The Da Vinci Apparatus". Each of the ten episodes of the documentary series was devoted to the construction and testing of mechanisms according to the original drawings of Leonardo. 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 by him in the strictest confidence. Leonardo used a cipher for entries in his diaries, but even after decryption, the researchers received little reliable information. There is a version that da Vinci's unconventional orientation was the reason for the secrecy.
The theory that the artist loved men was based on the guesses of researchers based on indirect facts. At a young age, the artist appeared in the sodomy case, 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.
Possible lovers of Leonardo 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. The painting "John the Baptist" is one of the surviving works of Leonardo, for which Salai posed.
There is a version that "Mona Lisa" was also written from this model, 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 to Salai.
Historians also consider Francesco Melzi to be 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, presumably, is depicted in the portrait "Lady with an Ermine". This woman was the favorite of the Duke of Milan, the holder of the literary salon, the patroness of the arts. She introduced the young artist to the circle of Milanese bohemia.
Fragment of the painting "Lady with an Ermine" Among da Vinci's notes was found a draft of a letter addressed to Cecilia, which began with the words: "My beloved goddess ...". Researchers suggest that the portrait "Lady with an Ermine" was painted with clear signs of unspent feelings for the woman depicted on it.
Some researchers believe that the great Italian did not know carnal love at all. Men and women did not attract him physically. In the context of this theory, it is assumed that Leonardo led the life of a monk who did not bear descendants, but left a great legacy.
Death and grave
Modern researchers have concluded that the likely cause of the artist's death is a stroke. Da Vinci died at the age of 67, it happened in 1519. Thanks to the memoirs of contemporaries, it is known that by that time the artist was already suffering from partial paralysis. Leonardo could not move his right hand, as the researchers believe, due to a stroke suffered in 1517.
Despite the paralysis, the master continued an active creative life, resorting to the help of his student Francesco Melzi. Da Vinci's health worsened, 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 completed the life of the famous Italian.
Monument to Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, Italy At the time of his death, the master was at the Clos-Luce castle near the city of Amboise, where he lived the last three years of his life. In accordance with the testament of Leonardo, 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 rested, was plundered, after which it fell into desolation and was demolished by the new owner of the castle of Amboise, Roger Ducos in 1807.
After the destruction of the Saint-Florentin chapel, the remains from many graves of different years were mixed and buried in the garden. Since the mid-nineteenth century, researchers have made several attempts to identify Leonardo da Vinci's bones. The innovators in this matter were guided by the lifetime description of the master and selected the most suitable fragments from the remains found. They studied them for some time. The work was supervised by the archaeologist Arsen Ussay. He also found fragments of a tombstone, presumably from da Vinci's grave, and a skeleton that lacked some of the fragments. These bones were reburied in the reconstructed tomb of the artist in the chapel of Saint Hubert on the grounds of the castle of Amboise.
In 2010, a team of researchers led by Silvano Vincheti planned to exhume the remains of a 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 owners of the castle to carry out the necessary work.
In the place where the Church of Saint-Florentin used to be, a granite monument was erected at the beginning of the last century, marking the four hundredth anniversary of the death of the famous Italian. The reconstructed tomb of the engineer and the stone monument with his bust are some of the most popular attractions in Amboise.
Secrets of da Vinci paintings
Leonardo's work has occupied the minds of art historians, religious researchers, historians and ordinary people for more than four hundred years. The works of the Italian artist have become 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.
With the help of a device of several mirrors, the researchers managed to find out that the secret of the views of the heroes from the paintings "La Gioconda" and "John the Baptist" lies in the fact that they look at a creature in a mask that resembles an alien alien. The secret cipher in Leonardo's notes was also deciphered using an ordinary mirror.
Hoaxes around the work of the Italian genius have led to the emergence of a number of works of art, the author of which was the writer. His novels have become bestsellers. In 2006, the movie "The Da Vinci Code" was released, based on the work of the same name by Brown. The film was greeted 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 our time. The works that have not survived include: a shield with a painting in the form of the head of Medusa, a horse sculpture for the Duke of Milan, a portrait of the Madonna with a spindle, the painting "Leda and the Swan" and the fresco "Battle of Anghiari".
Modern researchers know about some of the master's paintings thanks to the surviving copies and memoirs of da Vinci's contemporaries. For example, the fate of the original Leda and the Swan is still unknown. Historians believe that the painting may have been destroyed in the mid-seventeenth century by order of the Marquise de Mentenon, wife Louis XIV... Sketches made by Leonardo's hand and several copies of the canvas made by various artists have survived to our time.
The painting depicted a young nude woman in the arms of a swan, at whose feet babies are playing, hatching from huge eggs. When creating this masterpiece, the artist was inspired by a famous mythical plot. Interestingly, the canvas based on the story of Leda's copulation with Zeus, who took the form of a swan, was painted not only by da Vinci.
A lifetime rival of Leonardo also painted a picture dedicated to this ancient myth. Buonarotti's canvas suffered the same fate as da Vinci's work. The paintings of 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 clients found another artist, and Leonardo saw no reason to continue working on the picture.
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 there are riders on horseback and the ruins of a pagan temple. There is an assumption that Leonardo depicted in the picture among the men who came to the son of God, and himself at the age of 29.
- Researcher of religious secrets Lynn Picknett published Leonardo da Vinci and the Brotherhood of Zion in 2009, naming the famous Italian one of the masters of the secret religious order.
- Da Vinci is believed to have been a vegetarian. He wore linen clothes, neglecting leather and natural silk clothes.
- A group of researchers plans to isolate Leonardo's DNA from the surviving personal belongings of the master. Historians also claim they are close to finding Da Vinci's maternal relatives.
- The Renaissance was a time when noble women in Italy were addressed with the words "my lady", in Italian - "madonna" (ma donna). In colloquial speech, the expression has been shortened to monna. This means that the title of the painting "Mona Lisa" can literally be translated as "Mrs. Lisa".
- Rafael Santi called da Vinci his teacher. He visited Leonardo's studio in Florence, tried to adopt some of the features of his artistic style. Raphael Santi also referred to Michelangelo Buonarroti as 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 designed with the participation of the Leonardo da Vinci Museum in Italy. The exhibition has already traveled to six continents. During its work, five million visitors were able to see and touch the works of the most famous engineer of the Renaissance.
Great Italian artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the small village of Anchiano LU, located near the town of Vinci FI. He was the illegitimate son of a wealthy notary, Piero da Vinci, and a beautiful villager, Katarina. Shortly after this event, the notary married a girl of noble birth. They had no children, and Pierrot and his wife took a three-year-old child with them.
The short period of childhood in the village is over. The notary Piero moved to Florence, where he gave his son as an apprentice (Andrea del Veroccio), a famous Tuscan master. There, in addition to painting and sculpture, the future artist got the opportunity to study the basics of mathematics and mechanics, anatomy, working with metals and plaster, and methods of leather dressing. The young man eagerly absorbed knowledge and later widely used it in his activities.
An interesting creative biography of the maestro belongs to the pen of his contemporary Giorgio Vasari. Vasari's book The Life of Leonardo contains a short story of how Andrea del Verrocchio attracted a disciple to fulfill the order of the Baptism of Christ (Battesimo di Cristo).
The angel painted by Leonardo so clearly demonstrated his superiority over the teacher that the latter, in frustration, threw away the brush and never painted again.
The qualification of a master was awarded to him by the guild of Saint Luke. The next year of his life, Leonardo da Vinci spent in Florence. His first mature painting is Adorazione dei Magi, commissioned for the San Donato monastery.
Milan period (1482 - 1499)
Leonardo came to Milan as a messenger of peace from Lorenzo di Medici to Lodovico Sforza, nicknamed Moro. Here his work took on a new direction. He was enrolled in the court staff, first as an engineer and only later as an artist.
Dear reader, to find the answer to any question about your vacation in Italy, use. I answer all questions in the comments under the relevant articles at least once a day. Your guide in Italy Artur Yakutsevich.
The Duke of Milan, a cruel and narrow-minded man, was of little interest in the creative component of Leonardo's personality. The Duke's indifference worried the Master even less. Interests converged on one thing. Moreau needed engineering devices for military operations and mechanical structures for the amusement of the yard. Leonardo knew this better than anyone else. His mind was not asleep, the master was sure that man's possibilities are endless. His ideas were close to the humanists of the modern era, but in many respects they were incomprehensible to contemporaries.
Two important works belong to the same period - (Il Cenacolo) for the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie (Chiesa e Convento Domenicano di Santa Maria delle Grazie) and the painting "Lady with an ermine" (Dama con l'ermellino).
The second is a portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, the favorite of the Duke of Sforza. The biography of this woman is unusual. One of the most beautiful and learned ladies of the Renaissance, she was simple and kind, knew how to get along with people. An affair with the duke saved one of her brothers from prison. She had the most tender relationship with Leonardo, but, according to the testimony of contemporaries and the opinion of most researchers, their brief connection remained platonic.
More widespread (and also not confirmed) is the version about the intimate relationship of the master with the students of Francesco Melzi and Salai. The artist preferred to keep the details of his personal life in deep secrecy.
Moreau commissioned the master to have an equestrian statue of Francesco Sforza. The necessary sketches were made and a clay model of the future monument was made. Further work was prevented by the French invasion of Milan. The artist left for Florence. Here he will return, but to another gentleman - the French king Louis XII (Louis XII).
Again in Florence (1499 - 1506)
Returning to Florence was marked by the admission to the service of the Duke Cesare Borgia and the creation of the most famous painting - "Gioconda" (Gioconda). The new work involved frequent travels, the master traveled around Romagna, Tuscany and Umbria on various errands. His main mission was reconnaissance and preparation of the area for hostilities on the part of Cesare, who planned to subjugate the Papal States. Cesare Borgia was considered the greatest villain of Christendom, but Leonardo admired his tenacity and remarkable talent for a military leader. He argued that the vices of the duke are balanced by "equally great virtues." The ambitious plans of the great adventurer did not come true. The master returned to Milan in 1506.
Later years (1506 - 1519)
The second Milanese period lasted until 1512. Maestro studied the structure of the human eye, worked on the monument to Gian Giacomo Trivulzio and his own self-portrait. In 1512 the artist moved to Rome. Giovanni di Medici, a son who was ordained under the name Leo X, was elected Pope. The Pope's brother, Duke Giuliano di Medici, praised the work of his compatriot. After his death, the master accepted the invitation of King Francis I (François I) and departed for France in 1516.
Francis proved to be the most generous and grateful patron. The maestro settled in the picturesque castle of Clos Lucé in Touraine, where he had the full opportunity to do what was interesting to him. On a royal commission, he constructed a lion, from whose chest a bouquet of lilies opened. The French period was the happiest in his life. The king appointed his engineer an annual rent of 1000 crowns and donated lands with vineyards, providing him with a quiet old age. The maestro's life ended in 1519. He bequeathed his notes, instruments and estates to his students.
Paintings
Inventions and works
Most of the master's inventions were not created during his lifetime, remaining only in notes and drawings. An airplane, a bicycle, a parachute, a tank ... The dream of flying possessed them, the scientist believed that a person can and should fly. He studied the behavior of birds and sketched wings of different shapes. His project for a two-lens telescope is surprisingly accurate, and his diaries contain a brief entry about the possibility of "seeing the big moon."
As a military engineer, he was always in demand, the lightweight bridge bridges and the wheel lock for the pistol invented by him were used everywhere. He was engaged in the problems of urban planning and land reclamation, in 1509 he built the St. Christopher, as well as the Martezana irrigation canal. The Duke of Moreau rejected his "ideal city" project. Several centuries later, this project was used to build up London. In Norway there is a bridge built according to his blueprint. In France, already being an old man, he designed the canal between the Loire and Saone.
Leonardo's diaries are written in an easy, lively language and are interesting to read. His fables, parables and aphorisms speak of the versatility of a great mind.
The secret of a genius
There were plenty of secrets in the life of the Titan of the Renaissance. The main one was opened relatively recently. But did it open? In 1950, a list of the Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion (Prieuré de Sion), a secret organization formed in 1090 in Jerusalem, was published. According to the list, Leonardo da Vinci was the ninth of the Grand Masters of the Priory. His predecessor in this amazing post was (Sandro Botticelli), and his successor was Constable Charles de Bourbon (Charles III de Bourbon). The main goal of the organization was to restore the Merovingian dynasty to the throne of France. The Priory considered the offspring of this family to be the descendants of Jesus Christ.
The very existence of such an organization raises doubts among most historians. But such doubts could have been sown by members of the Priory who wished to continue their activities in secret.
If this version is accepted as true, the master's habit of complete independence and the strange attraction for a Florentine to France become clear. Even Leonardo's writing style - left hand and right to left - can be interpreted as an imitation of Hebrew writing. This seems unlikely, but the scale of his personality allows him to make the most daring assumptions.
The stories about the Priory cause the distrust of scholars, but they enrich artistic creativity. The most striking examples are Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code and the film of the same name.
- At the age of 24 together with three Florentine youths was accused of sodomy... The company was acquitted for lack of evidence.
- Maestro was a vegetarian... People consuming animal food were called "walking cemeteries".
- He shocked his contemporaries with the habit of carefully examining and sketching the hanged in detail. He considered the study of the structure of the human body the most important of his studies.
- It is believed that the maestro developed tasteless and odorless poisons for Cesare Borgia and wiretapping devices made of glass tubes.
- TV mini-series "The Life of Leonardo da Vinci" (La vita di Leonardo da Vinci) by Renato Castellani, received the Golden Globe Award.
- named after Leonardo da Vinci and is decorated with a huge statue depicting a master with a model of a helicopter in his hands.
↘️🇮🇹 USEFUL ARTICLES AND SITES 🇮🇹↙️ SHARE WITH YOUR FRIENDS
THESIS
ON THE HISTORY OF EARLY NEW TIME ON THE TOPIC:
Leonardo da Vinci as artist and scientist
Introduction
Features of the development of Italy in the second half of the XV - XVI centuries
Renaissance characteristics
Features of High Renaissance art
Leonardo
1 Leonardo as an artist
2 First Florentine Perio
2.1 "Madonna Benoit"
2.2 "Adoration of the Magi"
3 Milanese period
3.1 "Madonna in the grotto"
3.2 The Last Supper
4 Second Florentine period and later creativity
5 "Mona Lisa"
Contribution to world culture of Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo as a scientist
1 Mathematics
2 Mechanics
3 Hydraulics
5 Military
7 Anatomy
8 Praise to the Eye
9 Perspective theory
Conclusion
Sources
Introduction
Only three names are enough to understand the significance of the High Renaissance: Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo.
To Leonardo da Vinci, perhaps more than to all other figures of the Renaissance, the concept of homo universale fits. This extraordinary man knew everything and could do everything - everything that his time knew and skillfully; in addition, he foresaw many things that were not yet thought of in his time. So, he pondered the design of the aircraft and, as can be judged from his drawings, came up with the idea of \u200b\u200ba helicopter. Leonardo was a painter, sculptor, architect, singer and musician, poet-improviser, art theorist, theater director and fabulist, philosopher and mathematician, engineer, mechanic-inventor, physicist and astronomer, anatomist and optician, geologist, zoologist, botanist, and everything this does not exhaust his studies. Moreover, in scientific pursuits he remained an artist, just as in art he remained a thinker and scientist.
Leonardo's legendary fame has lived for centuries and has not only not faded, but is flaring up more and more: the discoveries of modern science again and again stir up interest in his engineering and science fiction drawings, in his encrypted records.
.Based on sources and historical research, create a historical portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, a representative of the Renaissance;
.Having illuminated the features of the Renaissance, find out what factors influenced the formation of the character of an outstanding artist and scientist and his choice of life path;
.Show the significance of Leonardo da Vinci's creativity and scientific discoveries for his home country and for the world in general;
.To reveal in Leonardo da Vinci the features of a typical representative of his social stratum, his nation, his era throughout his entire life path.
.Describe the features of the Renaissance;
.Describe the features of the development of Italy in the 15th - early 16th centuries;
.To assess the creative and scientific discoveries of Leonardo da Vinci.
Historiography
Leonardo's posthumous fame arose - surprisingly, given his own views - thanks to the writings of professional authors. The remarkable and captivating biography of the artist, written by Giorgio Vasari in the Biographies of the Most Famous Painters, Sculptors and Architects, remains the main source in the 19th century. The advantage of Vasari's essays published in 1550 and 1565 was that he studied his profession as an artist and architect in Florence, where Leonardo's presence was still felt. On his numerous travels, Vasari met with many who personally knew Leonardo, including Melzi. In the Biography, he fully recognizes Leonardo as the founder of the third, golden age of Florentine art - what we call the High Renaissance - and ranks him, along with Raphael and Michelangelo, a "divine" triumvirate who reached the pinnacle of art, imitating the beauties of nature and surpassing the old masters. Vasari appreciated Leonardo not only as an artist, but also as a thinker with great knowledge of anatomy, optics and other sciences important for creativity, he could not underestimate the breadth of his views. However, he did not approve of the fact that his desire for unattainable perfection and mystical knowledge distracted the artist and sculptor from his professional activities, which Vasari also highly valued. The work contains stories from the life of Leonardo. The old French author Gabriel Seail wrote: “Vasari's work is especially valuable: it gives us the image left by the artist in the soul of his contemporaries and students. A person turns out, perhaps, much better by a legend about him than by his history "
Book of Batkin L.M. Leonardo da Vinci and the Peculiarities of the Renaissance Creative Thinking is dedicated to a comprehensive study of the creative genius of Leonardo - the most complete embodiment of the humanistic culture of the Renaissance. The work is based on a specific examination of Leonardo's pictorial and graphic heritage, as well as his manuscripts. A wide range of issues at the intersection of art history with philosophy and theory of culture, psychology, aesthetics, literary criticism are touched upon. In terms of its angle of view and the way of researching the material, the book is innovative and does not repeat the existing literature about Leonardo. At the same time, the book was written in a free, lively manner.
A. Gastev's book "Leonardo da Vinci" may seem unusual in many ways for those who are sufficiently familiar with other editions of the "Life of Remarkable People" series. The biographer deliberately sets himself the task of finding a style of presentation that is adequate to the artistic and scientific style of the era he describes. For example, if Leonardo da Vinci, the artist, was concerned about creating a special painting style, when the clarity of the boundaries of the depicted object disappears, and the light gradually and imperceptibly dissipates in the darkness, and vice versa (the famous "sfumato", "diffusion"), then the author is looking for there is a corresponding literary equivalent to this, so that the contours of the personality of his hero sometimes appear indistinct. Here the author relies on the reader's ability to determine the attitude towards different hypostases of the artist-revivalist himself.
The compositional structure of the book also differs in an obvious, in many respects inevitable complexity: different periods of the hero's life are given not in chronological sequence, but mixed, some of them are considered in much greater detail than others. Before us is like an old mosaic image with numerous lost fragments. There is also a new test for the reader, a call for his activity and attention.
Without hiding the deep contradictions between the personality and creativity of his hero (his humanistic pathos is adjacent to the unbridled curiosity of an analyst, an engineer who gladly fulfills purely military orders), the biographer instructs the reader to make the final judgment about the greatness of his hero.
The novel by D. S. Merezhkovsky "The Resurrected Gods of Leonardo da Vinci" is included in the trilogy "Christ and the Antichrist", which was widely known in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Being originally connected by the author's through thought about the movement of history as a struggle between the religion of spirit and religion of the flesh with the novels “Death of the Gods. Julian the Apostate ”(1895) and“ Antichrist, Peter and Alexei ”(1904), this novel retains the semantic independence and completeness of the plot, being a vivid historical narrative about the life and work of the great Italian humanist of the Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci.
This fascinating study of the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci explains the phenomenon of the most famous genius in the world, whose personality has attracted our attention and inspired us for more than 500 years. Martin Camp offers an unusual look at what made this Renaissance titan so special, trying to penetrate the “true” meaning of such masterpieces as Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. Tracing the work of Leonardo in all its diversity, we get to know his unfulfilled dreams, relationships with omnipotent patrons and find out the truth about his views on God, humanity, and nature.
The favorite literary genre of A.K. Dzhivelegova - a biographical sketch: a short sketch or a large monograph. But it is always a living, slightly dramatized story about a person and an era. Out of a multitude of events, testimonies, interesting details, he skillfully chooses such facts that make it possible to recreate the characteristic features of Leonardo, his life, his work. Jivelegov is a master of historical portraiture. In the biography of Leonardo, as in a mirror, large and small events of the social life of Italy during the Renaissance, changes in its political and economic structure are reflected.
Monograph by M.A. Gukovsky "Leonardo da Vinci" gives us detailed answers about all the works of the titan of the Renaissance, about the history of their creation. In addition, the monograph also traces a complex relationship with the patrons of Leonardo.
The rest of the books, namely textbooks, were used as supplementary, although many interesting things were taken from them.
1. Features of the development of Italy in the second half of the XV - first third of the XVI centuries
The history of Italy in the 15th - first half of the 16th century is still the history of separate states, fragmentation and diversity of political forms.
In the second half of the 15th century. the decisive role was played by five relatively large states on the scale of Italy: the Kingdom of Naples, the Duchy of Milan, the Papal State, the Florentine and Venetian republics. Smaller states were the republics of Genoa, Siena and Lucca, the duchies of Savoy, Mantuan, Ferrara, etc. There were also small imperial fiefs. Within the Papal State there were a number of tiny signorias. The variegation of the picture was complemented by the constant or temporary dependence of a particular region of Italy on foreign states.
The first decades of the 15th century were marked by significant changes in the political system of the cities of Northern and Central Italy. In many of them, the republican form of government is replaced by a monarchical one, sometimes serving in a latent form. Such a political system in Italy is called the signoria, or tyranny. By the XV century. tyranny is firmly established in Florence, Milan, Bologna, Ferrara, Urbino and in other cities and regions of Italy, although in some of them its origins are observed much earlier.
I would like to dwell on the development of the Florentine Republic and the Duchy of Milan, since the name of Leonardo da Vinci is directly connected with them.
The history of tyranny in Florence is most characteristic. In 1434, after a long struggle between several rival richest families of Florence, the banker Cosimo Medici (ruled until 1468) became the de facto ruler of this city-state. Under him, the appearance of republican forms of government was still preserved, but all the threads of the political and tax apparatus were concentrated in his hands. The most important positions in government institutions were held by people loyal to him. Cosimo Medici and his successors Piero and Lorenzo, being henchmen of bankers and owners of manufactures, demagogically pretended to be patrons of the poor: by ruining their rivals with taxes, they sometimes reduced the tax burden of wider sections of the population at their expense. The Medici gained a well-known popularity by the fact that they carried out large-scale construction in the city, which gave income to the common people.
The Medici tyranny reached its greatest power under Lorenzo the Magnificent (1469 - 1492), so called by his contemporaries for his subtle mind, poetic talent and outward splendor of his reign. Lorenzo, head of the richest banking house in Florence, had offices in all major cities in Italy and Europe and, being a creditor of many monarchs, influenced the politics of several countries. The splendor of Lorenzo's court, his patronage of the arts, were combined with clever, but subtly brutal politics. The old democratic order was essentially destroyed. Although Florence remained formally a republic, the weight of the matter was decided not in republican institutions, but in the Council, which was completely subordinate to Lorenzo. On his order, uprisings were ruthlessly suppressed in the cities subordinate to Florence: in Volterra in 1472, where the masses of the people under the leadership of the poor Michele Meo seized power, and in Prato in 1470.
After an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Lorenzo in 1478, his power was further strengthened. A law was passed, according to which every attempt on the life and well-being of Lorenzo was considered an "insult to the majesty" and was punished in the most severe way. Thus, Lorenzo was actually recognized as a monarch.
Behind the external power of the Medici rule, the luxury of the court and the generous patronage of arts, deep internal contradictions were hidden, undermining the economy of the state. Many foreign policy successes of Florence were achieved during this period by an unprecedented exertion of all the forces and means of the state, which Lorenzo disposed of as his own.
The Medici policy, despite their demagogic flirtation with the people, led to massive discontent. It was expressed by the abbot of the Dominican monastery of St. Mark in Florence, ardent orator Girolamo Savonarola. His program was aimed at the political and religious renewal of Italy: he opposed the secular authority of the church, criticized the papacy, anticipating in part the future demands of the European Reformation, condemned wealth and usury.
Savonarola's sermons, although he himself was opposed to the popular uprising, contributed to the action of the popular masses. In 1494, during the invasion of Italy by French troops, when they approached Florence, Lorenzo's son, Piero Medici, was expelled from the city as a result of an uprising, and a republic headed by Savonarola was established there. Savonarola, expressing the interests of the small-proprietor, trade and craft layers of Florence, carried out a series of reforms that were of a dual nature.
The abolition of compulsory loans, the prohibition of usury, the organization of a pawnshop, the introduction of the progressive real estate tax (decim), which dealt a blow to patrician land tenure, looked like measures carried out in the interests of the people; at the same time, the republic was headed by a Grand Council, consisting of the most prosperous citizens. This compromise could not satisfy the rich and did not improve the condition of the people. In addition, Savonarola's fanatical asceticism, which, under the slogan of fighting "vanity", called for burning paintings, musical instruments, books, forbade all kinds of entertainment, began to displease the Florentines, who were accustomed to appreciate art and fun shows. The authority of Savonarola among the common people began to decline. The papal curia and the party that supported it in Florence took advantage of this. In 1498 Savonarola was captured, convicted, and burned as a heretic.
leonardo artist scientist revival
2. Characteristics of the Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance is one of the most striking phenomena in the history of European culture. Disputes about its nature, historical roots, stages of three-century development do not subside to this day. In Soviet historical science, the Renaissance is viewed as an advanced culture, characteristic of the era of transition from feudal relations to capitalist ones, when the medieval church-scholastic system of thought was replaced by the establishment of secular-rationalistic principles of the worldview.
The entire Renaissance period was subdivided into several periods: the Proto-Renaissance in Italy lasted about a century and a half, the Early Renaissance - about a century, the High Renaissance - only fifty years and the last period, the Late Renaissance - until the 80s of the 16th century.
In this work, I would like to consider only the High Renaissance period.
High Renaissance art developed in the first three decades of the 16th century. This period is called the "Golden Age" of Italian art. Chronologically, it was short, and only in Venice did it last longer, until the middle of the century.
The highest rise of culture took place in the most difficult historical period of the life of Italy, in the conditions of a sharp economic and political weakening of the Italian states caused by the opening of America and new trade routes to India and, as a result, the loss of the role of the most important trade centers. Other reasons include the disunity and constant internecine feud of the Italian states, which made them an easy prey for the growing centralized northwestern states.
The invasion of French troops in 1494, the devastating wars of the first decades of the 16th century, and the defeat of Rome weakened Italy. There is a movement within the country of capital from trade and industry to agriculture, a gradual transformation of the bourgeoisie into a class of landowners interested in preserving feudal order. All this contributed to the spread of feudal reaction. However, it was during this period, when the country was under the threat of its complete enslavement by foreigners, that national consciousness grew.
In these difficult conditions of the first decades of the 16th century, the principles of culture and the art of a new style were formed.
3. Features of the High Renaissance art
A distinctive feature of the High Renaissance culture was the extraordinary expansion of the social horizons of its creators, the scale of their ideas about the world and space. The view of a person and his attitude to the world is changing. The type of artist himself, his worldview, and his position in society are drastically different from that held by the masters of the 15th century, who are still largely associated with the class of artisans. Artists of the High Renaissance are not only people of great culture, but creative personalities, free from the framework of the guild foundations, forcing representatives of the ruling classes to reckon with their designs.
In the center of this art, generalized in artistic language, is the image of an ideally beautiful person, perfect physically and spiritually, the image of a human hero who managed to rise above the level of everyday life. In the name of this generalized image, in the name of striving for a harmonious synthesis of the beautiful sides of life, the art of the High Renaissance abandons particulars, insignificant details. The basis of such art is an all-consuming belief in the limitless possibilities of man for self-improvement, self-affirmation, belief in the rational structure of the world, in the triumph of progress. Problems of civic duty, high moral qualities, and heroic deeds came to the fore.
The creators of this deeply humanistic art were people not only of great culture, broad outlook, but also creative personalities, free from the framework of the medieval guild. The era gave birth to creative individuals in which there is a synthesis of science and art. The great creators of the High Renaissance were later called titans. In their work, they reached such heights that no era has been able to achieve either before or after them. Each of them is a whole world, complete, perfect, absorbing from itself all the knowledge, all the achievements of previous centuries and lifted them to the top of art.
Even before its discovery and clear identification, some features of the High Renaissance style are, as it were, latently contained in the art of the Early Renaissance. Sometimes individual tendencies, anticipating the art of the High Renaissance, break through, manifesting themselves in the aspiration of this or that painter and sculptor of the 15th century. to an increased degree of artistic generalization, to liberation from the power of details, then in the approval of a collective image instead of empirical following nature, and finally, in adherence to images of a monumental character. In this sense, such masters as Masaccio, Castagno, Piero della Francesca, Mantegna are, as it were, successive landmarks in the art of the Early Renaissance on the way to a new style.
And yet, the art of the High Renaissance itself does not arise in the process of smooth evolution, but as a result of a sharp qualitative leap that separates it from the previous stage. The transitional forms between the art of these two periods are expressed in the work of only a very few masters. With a few exceptions, the painters of the Early Renaissance were, as it were, already born as such, just like those of the 15th century painters who continued to work in the first decades of the 16th century. (including Botticelli, Mantegna, Luca Signorelli, Piero di Cosimo, Perugino), still remained in their art artists of the Early Renaissance.
In fact, one master, Leonardo da Vinci, acted as the founder of the art of the High Renaissance, and it is deeply symptomatic that he, like no one else, was fully armed with the highest achievements of the material and spiritual culture of his time in all its areas. Leonardo's contribution to the art of the High Renaissance can be compared with the role of Giotto and Masaccio, the founders of the previous stages of Renaissance art, with the difference that, according to the conditions of the new era and the greater scope of Leonardo's talent, the significance of his art became incomparably broader.
4. Leonardo
Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Anchiano, near Florence. He was the illegitimate son of a Florentine notary, Signor Piero da Vinci. Little information has survived about L. da Vinci's mother. It is only known that after Piero's first marriage, which took place in the same 1452 when Leonardo was born, Caterina, the daughter of a peasant, in 1453 married Accattabriga di Piero del Vacca. Leonardo stayed at his father's house.
L. da Vinci received at home such an upbringing that children in rich bourgeois families received: he was taught, in addition to reading, writing and the rudiments of arithmetic, for which he discovered brilliant abilities, elementary Latin, music and singing. However, training in those days in Florence was inexpensive, and yet the main mentors of the young Leonardo were the Italian nature and beauty of the Romanesque type that surrounded him. L. da Vinci in his early youth received a thorough mathematical training and until his death continued, from time to time, to study mathematics. Paolo Toscanelli, the famous Florentine physician and philosopher, was at the same time the greatest of the local mathematicians; he owns the famous definition of the latitude and longitude of Florence; he was also one of the earliest geographers of his time. The influence of this remarkable man on the mental development of young Leonardo was very significant, and it can be traced in many of the works and even works of art of the latter; so, thanks to Toscanelli, Leonardo was keenly interested in the features of tropical nature. In addition to mathematics, L. da Vinci diligently studied ancient languages \u200b\u200band history, and his writings and works of art testify to a deep knowledge of the classical world. In the form of entertainment, Leonardo also studied music, played the violin and harp and reached such perfection that he was one of the most fashionable teachers of musical art.
Noticing his son's hobby for drawing and modeling and "taking into account the loftiness of his character", Leonardo's father Piero da Vinci sent his son in 1466 to study with the famous Tuscan sculptor and painter Andrea Verrocchio; The real name of this chief of Leonardo's teachers was Andrea di Michele di Francesco Cioni. Verrocchio's workshop, where Leonardo developed as an artist and, to a large extent, as a scientist, was in the 70s of the 15th century. the main artistic center of Florence. The most gifted young men studied here, artistic experimentation based on serious scientific knowledge in the field of mathematics, perspective, anatomy flourished here. Here they brought up a love of nature, precise drawing and precise modeling. Verrocchio taught the young Leonardo not only to work conscientiously, but also to accurately observe nature, pointing out to him the need for a thorough study of anatomy.
In addition to Verrocchio, Leonardo had two more gifted teachers. One of them is Luca della Robbia, the founder of a whole family of painters who became famous for their beautiful work on porcelain. Luke's reliefs of the Robbia case, such as his Plato arguing with Aristotle, have become almost classical, and quite a few of the drawings and even paintings by L. da Vinci were drawn and written, apparently under the influence of the work of the Robbia case. The other is Settignano, a famous sculptor who was particularly successful in depicting women and children. Of the senior fellow students of Leonardo, only Botticelli, who became famous for his wonderful drawings for Dante's "Divine Comedy", a real painter-poet, a dreamy idealist, who, like Leonardo, loved scientific and philosophical pursuits, influenced him.
An excellent companion in the circle of young people, Leonardo had many friends, but he also loved the company of beautiful Florentines, with whom he enjoyed great success. Everything was on the side of the young artist: beauty, strength, dexterity in dancing, everything that women liked and liked, besides, outstanding attractive talents - painting, music, even poetry. Leonardo attended all balls, all concerts, participated in all the brilliant cavalcades; he was nicknamed the wizard for his ability to animate and charm society. He composed melodies for dancing, wrote words and composed music for serenades, improvised sonnets, of which only one survived - elegiac, more philosophical than love character. The somewhat eccentric and capricious nature of the young man, spoiled by women, is reflected in the words of the sonnet: the poet cries after he has received the object of his ardent desires. Leonardo's anonymous biography (written either during his lifetime or shortly after his death) tells us: "He was beautiful in himself, proportionally built, graceful, with an attractive face," and Vasari adds: "With his brilliant appearance, which showed the highest beauty, he returned clarity to every saddened soul, and with his words he could force any stubbornness to say “yes” or “no.” With his power, he subdued any violent rage and with his right hand bent an iron wall ring or a horseshoe, as if they were made of lead. " This young man led the most diverse life, one cannot say that it was disorderly, because it was completely in the mores of that cheerful time, and even more because Leonardo knew how to extract artistic material from this very life. There was, no doubt, a lot of eccentricity in his nature: for example, he loved to write in the manner of the Eastern peoples, that is, from right to left. Leonardo accepted mirror writing for a number of reasons. First, he was left-handed: he wrote and drew with his left hand, although he could work almost as well with his right. With the left hand, it is more convenient to hatch the drawing and write from right to left. This method is adopted by Leonardo, whose drawings and notes are easily distinguished from those of his contemporaries. The second reason for the adoption of the mirror letter was, undoubtedly, the desire for mystery inherent in young people, the desire to classify their notes, which, of course, could easily fall into the wrong hands both in Verrocchio's workshop, always full of curious people, and in the father's house, sometimes overly interested in life. and the work of his already grown son. The third and, perhaps, the main reason that determined the choice of such a strange method of recording was Leonardo's characteristic striving for originality at all costs, to emphasize his individual dissimilarity with all other people. With the same ardor, Leonardo indulged in science, art, fun, love. All Florence knew him, and often this merry fellow, turning into a serious dreamer, wandered thoughtfully through the city streets, in a soft cloth hat, a dark cloak, fashionable leather or velvet shoes and always with a notebook in his belt: here he made notes about what he had seen and heard , here he sketched the first rough sketches.
The whole life of L. da Vinci can be divided into several periods: from 1472 to 1482 he lives and works in Florence, from 1c482 to 1499 - in Milan, then again in Florence (1499-1506) and in Milan (1506- 1513). In 1516, after three years of work in Rome, Leonardo da Vinci left for France at the invitation of the French king and spent his last years there.
1 Leonardo as an artist
As an artist, Leonardo da Vinci stands on the verge of two eras - the Early and High Renaissance. It sums up the rich artistic experience of the 15th century - the quattrocento - and lays the foundation for the art of the 16th century - the cinquecento. Leonardo aims to give an objective reflection of reality. But he perceives this reality in a different way. He is looking for a generalized form, typical solutions, a clear artistic language. He was no longer satisfied with the analytical realism of the 15th century, in which interest in detail often obscured the main thing.
He is interested in a new task - the improvement of psychological means of expression and a deeper disclosure of the inner world of a person, simplification of the compositional structure, for the sake of achieving greater monumentality, the use of chiaroscuro, in order to enhance the vitality of images, the development of a realistic creative method and bringing it under a solid theoretical foundation.
A realist in science, Leonardo remains a realist in art. But his realism marks a higher stage of development. And since for Leonardo the process of artistic generalization is a deeply conscious process, in so far as he acts as a direct predecessor of all the great masters of the High Renaissance.
Art for Leonardo was a means of knowing the world, knowing man. He considered nature as a mentor and in his work proceeded from their concrete reality, repelled from it. He constantly experimented with colors, trying to reveal the possibilities hidden in them in the transmission of light and shadow, pictorial nuances, almost imperceptible tone-to-tone transitions. The discovery of the instability, variability, fluidity of the visible world and the way it is conveyed in the picture was of great importance for all his work and all subsequent painting.
This coup, where an unshakable and self-sufficient line reigned before him, he called "the disappearance of outlines." Moving from theoretical thinking to practice, Leonardo begins to apply his famous "sfumato" - "smoky chiaroscuro", an optical impression in the spirit of impressionism. In his canvases, this is a gentle semi-light with a soft range of milky-silvery, bluish tones, sometimes with greenish tints, in which the line becomes, as it were, airy.
Art and science for Leonardo existed inseparably. He connected the scale of the proportions of the human figure with a square, the length of which is determined by the length of the human body and includes a system of divisions that allows you to set dimensions using a compass in the ratio from 1/2 to 1/96 of the figure. He expressed this in terms of "squaring the circle" and "Vitruvian man". He coined the term "golden ratio" for the harmonic division of a segment, known in antiquity and recognized in medieval Europe from the Arabic translation of Euclid's "Elements".
Leonardo da Vinci's artistic legacy is quantitatively small. It has been suggested that his preoccupations with natural science and engineering interfered with his fruitfulness in art. However, an anonymous biographer, a contemporary of his, points out that Leonardo "had wonderful ideas, but created a little thing in paint, because, as they say, he was never pleased with himself." This is confirmed by Vasari, according to which obstacles lay in the very soul of Leonardo - "the greatest and most unusual, it was she who prompted him to seek advantages over perfection, so that each work of his slowed down from an excess of desires."
Leonardo developed both as an artist and, to a large extent, as a scientist in Verrocchio's workshop. Leonardo's early drawings and paintings clearly show what a remarkable school of realistic art the Renaissance workshop was.
Drawings by Leonardo of the 70s testify to the close and careful study of nature by the young artist. He sketches the faces that he liked, landscapes, plants, animal figures, without fatigue he makes the most detailed sketches of draperies, achieving maximum relief in the transfer of folds, performs compositional sketches for the picture that are striking at this early stage with their maturity. Leonardo bows to the strange beauty and perfection of nature, to the endless variety of its forms.
The first serious work of L. da Vinci was the image of one of the two angels featured in the best painting of his teacher Verrocchio, namely "The Baptism of Christ", which is currently in the Florentine Uffizi Gallery. “Verrocchio,” says Vasari, “commissioned Leonardo to paint an angel holding a garment. And although he was still a youth, he did it in such a way that the angel Leonardo came out better than the figures of Verrocchio. " The latest research has shown that, not limiting himself to the figure of an angel, the boy-painter altered and improved almost the entire painting of the teacher, starting with the figure of Christ and ending with the hands of the first angel painted by the teacher. As for the second, completely unsuccessful Verrocchio angel, Leonardo simply covered it with paint - traces of this work are still noticeable in the picture - and painted another on top. The tropical landscape is also, in all likelihood, Leonardo's, and from beneath the rocks and water visible in the distance, traces of the original landscape painted by Verrocchio are still clearly visible. Only the figure of John the Baptist, apparently, belongs exclusively to Verrocchio and, without a doubt, is the crown of his artistic creativity.
The main interest of the painting focuses on the figures of both angels. Careful study of them makes it possible to compare the teacher with the student, and the comparison turns out to be unconditionally in favor of the brilliant boy. By instinct and reflection, he guessed and appreciated all the mistakes of the teacher and managed to avoid them. The Angel of Verrocchio is a child figurine of indeterminate gender with an ugly thick nose, "Kalmyk" eyebrows, silly eyes, a rough saucer radiance, and clumsy painted attire, like the ones worn by boys at Catholic religious festivals. He does not see baptism at all and looks questioningly at the other angel in perplexity. This other angel, written by Leonardo, is at the same time more real and more ideal than his comrade. More realistic because it represents the result of careful observation of real children's faces. This is a composite type of beautiful 11 \u200b\u200b- 12 - year old Florentine girls, with whom Leonardo recently played. Ideal for beauty and expressiveness. Dreamy, serious, intelligently surprised and realizing the importance and significance of what is happening, the gaze of this angel is in complete harmony with the general idea of \u200b\u200bthe picture. Luxurious curls, crowned, like a haze, with a thin, transparent radiance, plastically delineated, sharp, but completely natural folds of clothes - in everything, signs of Leonardo's future manner are already visible. Even the ease of posture compared to the wooden posture of the first angel indicates the difference between a free genius and a talented technician.
The first major work of L. da Vinci can be considered the painting "Annunciation", written by him at the age of eighteen (1470). In order to evaluate the picture not from a modern, but from a historical point of view, it is necessary to compare this youthful work with the best works on the same topic that came out of the hands of artists of the first half of the 15th century. It is worth looking, for example, first at the picture of the talented Filippo Lippi, who still has not been able to free himself from the routine that required a purely conventional depiction of the Gospel episodes. At Filippo Lippi we see a traditional richly decorated room, the Holy Virgin stands in half-monastic vestments and in a frozen pose. This is a good icon, but not a work of art yet. Leonardo, in his first painting depicting the Annunciation, already tries to do without any symbolism as much as possible and replaces dry allegory with movement and life. We do not see the cherubim hovering under the ceiling in the paintings of many former artists, nor the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, nor the clouds that appear from nowhere in the room. With the courage typical of a young genius, Leonardo for the first time decided to move the scene to fresh air, under the open sky, which gives him the opportunity to furnish the action with a beautiful landscape. The Holy Virgin is depicted in reality, with the preservation of the Jewish type. Kneeling down, reverently crossing her arms over her chest, lowering her eyes, she listens to an angel who, with a joyful and slightly sly smile, communicates the good news to her. Only the wings of an angel and two raised fingers are consistent with the tradition of Italian icon painters. But wonderful turf, but blooming lilies, a cheerful landscape, picturesque groups of trees, a river bordered by hills - all these details that complement the impression belong to the happy imagination of the artist.
After 2 years, full of careful preparation: sketches of angels, heads of Madonnas, Leonardo painted the second picture on the "Annunciation" plot. Compared to the first one here new step forward. The angel no longer smiles slyly, he became serious and thoughtful. But the Holy Virgin has grown considerably younger. This is no longer a Jewish woman of about twenty, as in the first picture, but a completely young Florentine beauty. She listens with joy and surprise to the serious, almost incomprehensible words of the angel. With an involuntary movement of her hand, she removes the good news, which pleases her as much as it scares her. The landscape frame is almost the same as in the first picture: the same fragrant turf and distant cypresses, water and rocks even further away. The wall of the house, near which the action takes place, is written out more carefully and with even greater knowledge of the perspective than before, and the table on which the book lies - the angel caught the Virgin while reading - simple and artless in the first picture, this time turned into a miracle artistic decoration. With the same love, the folds of the Virgin's dress are painted, which perfectly outlines her graceful figure and girlish figure.
In all these works, Leonardo appears before us as a typical master of the 15th century, who gives priority to detail over the whole.
2 First Florentine period
The first Florentine period (c. 1470-1480) occupies an important place in the formation of the young artist's creative image. Probably Leonardo da Vinci had his own workshop in Florence in 1476-1481.
2.1 "Madonna Benoit"
In the works of the first Florentine period, the features of a new artistic style are formed, marked by the desire for generalization, laconic speech, concentration on the image of a person, a new degree of completeness of images; chiaroscuro begins to play an important role, which gently models the forms and unites them with the spatial environment. In the painting "Benois Madonna" by Leonardo da Vinci, he abandons the detailing characteristic of his contemporaries, focusing all attention on the Virgin Mary and the Child, combining in this depicted moment the natural manifestation of feeling and solemn seriousness. Preparatory drawings make it possible to trace the search for the most harmonious and compact compositional formula, when the figures seem to fit into a kind of invisible arch repeating the outline of the picture. Moreover, with his characteristic thoroughness and attention, he sketches how the different positions of the bodies of the mother and the child, tai and details: arms with folds of legion and heavy clothes, pieces of fabric. These drawings are still somewhat naive and dryish, but they already speak of the gradual mastery of the technique. Their line becomes more confident, shading and shading sets off the volumes. Numerous variants of different and similar positions of the bodies of the mother, the child, and both together are undoubted evidence that the young master strove with light strokes of a pencil or pen to convey the fleeting impressions received from observing real reality, to capture this reality in all its life dynamics.
"Madonna Benois" is a youthful work, although in the course of the young artist's creative development it is by no means accidental. With an emphasized unity, even monotony of color, with an almost ascetic severity of the environment, the image of two figures, unusual both in their features and in their size and posture, enchants not with the beauty of their faces, but with the extraordinary significance of the depicted, a kind of inner life that he put into this small a painting, formally almost an icon, an experimental artist. The church plot is interpreted here without any reverence, almost atheistically. Madonna is given the appearance of a somewhat sickly girl playing with an oversized baby sitting on her lap. A peculiar deathly greenish coloring, an emphatically realistic interpretation of the human body, the complex position of both figures - everything in this picture shows us young Leonardo, although he is still looking for a wide free style, but already groping for the path along which he will go in the course of his further activities.
The composition of the picture is extremely remarkable. The young mother is located slightly to the left (from the viewer) from the central axis, but this displacement is ideally compensated for by the baby's body and the window placed above its head.
The compositional and ideological center of the picture is the intertwining of three hands: two plump little hands of a boy and a gentle, girlish hand of a mother holding a flower by the stem, to which the attentive and affectionate gaze of the Madonna and the inquisitive serious gaze of a baby, awkwardly trying to grab the flower, are directed. The thirst for knowledge, childishly unconscious, but not childishly passionate, of the knowledge that tormented and drove Leonardo forward, is expressed in the entire appearance of the baby. The viewer's gaze is involuntarily drawn to the semantic center of the picture - the interweaving of three hands; the simple and modest scene depicted in it acquires significance and ideological depth. A small picture attracts attention, interests, excites.
The light in the figure and the painting falls mainly from the left, but it is very possible that it is a small window and, probably, the mountains and water located behind it that determine that the room in which the Madonna is located is poorly illuminated and, moreover, with a kind of greenish light. He paints everything in greenish tones, casts greenish highlights on naked parts of the body, creates thick shadows in places that are darker, obscured by something from the light falling from the window. This arrangement and illumination of the figures is by no means accidental. It is not for nothing that in one of his somewhat later entries, Leonardo noted: "A shadow generated by a small but strong light will be darker than a shadow generated by a large light of lesser strength."
The study and depiction of various effects of light and shadow, changing as a result of a change in the place from which light falls, and the nature of this light, occupies the young Leonardo both as an artist and as a researcher and is reflected already in his early works, which include "Madonna Benoit" ... Here, although not yet in a completely expressed form, the artist uses to convey faces and naked parts of the body those transitions from light to shadow, barely perceptible to the eye, making the depicted look tender, as if melting, about which he writes: "... chiaroscuro along with perspective abbreviations constitutes the finest in pictorial science. " But to achieve these subtle shadows, the traditional tempera technique was not suitable, and Leonardo, who had already applied the oil paints brought in by the Flemings, opening up much wider pictorial possibilities, when reworking the angel in The Baptism of Christ by Verrocchio, applies them to Madonna.
But color, light and shadow, no matter how important they are, are of interest to him not by themselves, but primarily as a means of modeling the volumes and bodies of characters. These bodies are depicted in all their true reality, requiring detailed, careful study, not allowing the use of the usual pictorial patterns and techniques. In order to convey more fully the results of such a study, Leonardo does not hesitate to violate the scale of the bodies. The baby of "Madonna Benoit" is clearly too big for its young and fragile mother, but with what precision and at the same time artistic charm the artist conveyed his childishly plump little body, how real his movements, his large head that has not yet taken shape!
The image of bodies, again, is only a step in Leonardo's creative method, leading to the highest task - the image of faces, the transfer of their experiences. The young mother and her child are closely united by these experiences into an inseparable whole. The Madonna's eyes lowered to the playing baby, the half-smile of her somewhat large mouth, all her attention is drawn to the baby, lovingly caress him.
In addition to paintings by Leonardo, during this period he was engaged in sketches. These sketches have survived in fairly large numbers in the collections of Leonard's drawings in Windsor, Oxford, Venice, etc.
The technique of these sketches is flexible, the stroke is light, remarkably simple, succinctly and vividly characterize the objects of interest to the artist, serving as sketches for the prepared works of art and at the same time being such works themselves, striking the ability to grasp in a few clear lines what he saw in all his vitality, movement , uniqueness. This seen is extremely diverse - here are sketches of human faces and figures, about which Vasari speaks, and sketches of a scientific nature. The latter are becoming more and more, they capture the artist, displacing his artistic interests into the background, becoming one of his main occupations.
The first and main thing that is clear for Leonardo da Vinci from the beginning of these works is the confidence that all knowledge, like all art, has as its object a real reality, cognizable by human feelings. “All our knowledge begins with sensation,” says one of the relatively early records of Leonardo da Vinci, and he collects a huge number of different observations, writes down, sketches, remembers. Processing these observations is a matter of the future.
2.2 "Adoration of the Magi"
An even more decisive departure from the traditions of the Early Renaissance is shown by the unfinished "Adoration of the Magi" (1481-1482, Florence, Uffizi Gallery), built on the contrast of dramatic excitement permeating the crowd merged together by large masses of light and shadows, a strange landscape with ruins, fiercely fighting horsemen. and the reverent silence that unites the Madonna and the Magi.
The large painting, unfinished "Adoration of the Magi", testifies to the revolutionary result of his creative searches. In Florence, "The Adoration of the Magi" has long been portrayed as a solemn procession, in which many different characters took part - kings, servants, soldiers, horsemen, midwives, onlookers, local donors, whose different reactions provide the artist with an excellent opportunity to demonstrate his skills ... Leonardo emphasizes the tensions of the main and many minor characters, because they - consciously or unconsciously - feel that the greatest drama must unfold with the birth of a baby. In the composition, flanked by the figures of an old man and a romantic youth immersed in contemplation, the characters move and gesticulate, full of reverence, around the center - the static figure of Mary. In the depths, at the foot of the destroyed building, some figures are doing incomprehensible work. The destroyed building was a symbol of the birth of the new instead of the destroyed old, but for Leonardo it becomes an ominous background of restless movement, the picture, as it were, anticipates the events of Shakespeare's tragedies. It is unlikely that an artist would have coped with such a composition if he did not possess that special manner of drawing that could express the flow of ideas generated by the artist's imagination.
With all the mess in the arrangement of the figures, the background of the Adoration of the Magi was built with mathematical precision. In one of the early sketches of the entire composition, which is kept in the Louvre, Leonardo sketched out a strange structure with two staircases and arcades, without any connection with what is happening in the foreground. Later he depicted this structure very accurately. The use of linear perspective, based on observation, medieval optics and Euclidean geometry, spoke of the artist's intelligence. He divides the front pavement staircase into nine equal segments. Then he draws very thin lines ("orthogonal") from the bottom line to the "vanishing point". The orthogonal lines of some sections of the pavement are cut off by the lateral boundaries of the composition, without reaching the bottom line. Their direction had to be determined in advance. The next step is to determine the direction of the horizontal lines, which are more closely spaced one above the other as they move deeper. Again, a preliminary calculation has probably been made so that the plumb lines can be placed in the drawing. The line from the lower left corner goes up diagonally through the intersection points of the orthogonals and contour lines. This diagonal cannot be used to define all contour lines, since it only reaches the top of the top step in depth. Most likely, it served as a "check" or additional confirmation that the structure was built correctly. With the appearance of horizontal lines, each square, framed by two orthogonals and two horizontals, became an image of a square of pavement in perspective. Leonardo follows this method with a tenacity that goes beyond practical necessity, until, in the deepest places and wider areas of the bridge, the intervals between the lines become so small that it is impossible to depict separately even with such thin lines as he draws them. It adds three steps to the pavement, but does not match the position of all orthogonals of the bottom pavement sections.
On this lined base, he erects architectural structures, where, in full accordance with the perspective, not only staircases and arcades are depicted, but also the frame of a huge "hut" (an enlarged version of the cattle corral where the Holy Family stayed) and a fragment of the classic building on the right. Within this lined space, he sketches the figures of excited participants in the action and rearing horses. In front of the stairs, a camel is depicted, which restlessly watches what is happening, and poorly distinguishable characters perform some little understandable actions. Rocks protrude from the uneven pavement and plants break through. Furious energy, uncontrollable strength and fanatical precision interact wonderfully. Leonardo knew that the released force would inevitably exhaust itself in space and in time.
But even this huge work was only a test of strength for him. The finished picture will include only generalized solutions found as a result of an intense search for the field of perspective.
4.3 Milanese period
The Milanese period (1482-1499) was the time of the most intense and versatile Leonardo da Vinci's activity. Court engineer of the Duke Ludovico Moro, he supervised construction work and the laying of canals, designed military structures, siege devices, and developed projects to improve weapons. Most of Leonardo's scientific manuscripts and his notes on the problems of painting belong to the Milanese period, later systematized and published by his student Melzi under the title "Treatise on Painting".
3.1 "Madonna in the grotto"
Leonardo da Vinci's few paintings from the Milanese period are among his most significant creations. The altarpiece "Madonna in the grotto" (c. 1483, Paris, Louvre) is a large painting with a format reminiscent of a typical Renaissance window: a rectangle, rounded at the top. But through Leonardo's "window" we look into a semi-dark stalactite grotto, where space develops in depth smoothly, imperceptibly flowing from one plane to another, leading to the light exit from the cave. The painting is unusual for the motive chosen by the artist - the quiet solitude of the Madonna with the infant Christ, John the Baptist, a young wingless angel in the twilight of a grotto with a fantastic pile of sharp rocks. Their figures are inscribed in the pyramid, which is classical for the compositional decisions of the Renaissance, which gives the composition a clear readability, composure, balance; at the same time, gazes, gestures, turns of heads, the pointing finger of the angel who has turned his gaze to us create an inner movement, a cycle of rhythms that engages the viewer, forcing him to turn to each character again and again, imbued with an atmosphere of reverent mental concentration. An important role in the picture is played by the muffled diffused light penetrating through the crevices into the semi-darkness of the grotto, giving rise to smoky chiaroscuro - "sfumato", in Leonardo's terminology, - called by him "the creator of facial expressions". Softening, blurring the contours and relief of forms, sfumato creates a feeling of tenderness and warmth of naked children's bodies, gives the beautiful faces of the Madonna and the angel subtle spirituality. Leonardo seeks to convey this elusive movement of feelings in subsequent paintings. You can feel the real distance, the air between the Christ child, the mother and the Baptist.
Miri "Madonna in the grotto" is full of deep, mysterious charm, peculiar only to Leonardo's brush. These four beings, interconnected by intimate and spiritual bonds, do not look at each other - they have united around something invisible, as if being in the empty space between them. The long finger of an angel is pointed at this invisible and pointing. There is some kind of elusiveness in the inner concept of the picture, and it is felt all the more acutely because the execution from beginning to end is rationalistic. L. da Vinci was the least intuitive artist, everything he did was done consciously, with the full participation of the intellect. But he almost deliberately threw a veil of mystery over the content of his paintings, as if hinting at the bottomlessness, inexhaustibility of what is inherent in nature and man.
3.2 The Last Supper
It is generally accepted that the most complete, exemplary-perfect creation of Leonardo is "The Last Supper", a monumental painting (1495-1497, Milan, the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie). Rejecting the traditional fresco technique, which required speed of execution and almost did not allow edits, Leonardo da Vinci preferred a complex mixed technique, which caused the shedding of painting in the 16th century.Released today from numerous restoration records, it has preserved traces of destruction from numerous drops of paint, and the greatness of the artist's plan.This is the first work of Leonardo, in which he achieved that measure artistic generalization, greatness and spiritual power of images that are characteristic of the art of the High Renaissance.
The composition of the picture is clear and at the same time deeply expressive. The figure of Christ will be located in its center along the central axis, and to the right and to the left of it - two groups of apostles, each of three figures. The two groups closest to Christ are more huddled together, in a triangular outline, the two outer ones are more loosely connected, in a quadrangular design. The whole picture should depict the moment when Christ has just uttered the words: "One of you will betray me," and the apostles, shocked by the unexpected prophecy, each in their own way, react to the teacher's words. The wave of human emotions that suddenly raged on both sides of the long table should, as it were, crash against the calm, tragically doomed figure of Christ in the center. As in the early works of Leonardo, the stormy movement and emotional richness of this picture must be combined with a noble calm and harmonious completeness of the composition as a whole.
The "Last Supper" subdues the space, it seems that the refectory, in which the monks ate, goes into another room with a higher ceiling. However, this is an illusion. In the real refectory there were tables in the shape of the letter "U", and the abbot of the monastery was sitting at the table facing the wall with the "Supper". The long and narrow table shown in the picture thus closed the quadrangle of the tables. At the same time, in its shape, decoration, dishes standing on it, it exactly repeated real tables. When all the monks were sitting in their places, it seemed that Christ and the apostles were sitting with them, taking part in their meal. The desire to create a complete impression of living reality, which from early youth occupied the artist, in this greatest of his creations finds a remarkable embodiment. The space in The Last Supper is deliberately limited: the perspective lines continue the perspective of the refectory, “the vanishing point of the perspective lines is somewhere behind Christ's back, far beyond the window openings” - thus, the room where the fresco is located seems only slightly extended, but its simple straight outlines are not visually disturbed.
The second plan, the boundless landscape beyond the shoulders of Christ, is the endless passage of time. From this distance, Christ came to the present picture. And there he will retire.
Christ has just said, "One of you will betray me." There is a soft, submissive sadness on his face. These terrible, but calm words shocked the apostles: everyone has an involuntary movement, a gesture. Twelve people, twelve different characters, twelve different reactions. Many artists even before Leonardo depicted the "Last Supper", but no one set such a difficult task - to express a single meaning in the variety of psychological types of people and their emotional responses. The apostles gesticulate vigorously - a characteristic feature of Italians - except for the beloved disciple of Christ, young John, who folded his hands with sad resignation and silently listens to what Peter tells him. John alone seemed to have a presentiment of what Christ said and knows that it is inevitable. Others are stunned and do not believe. The movements of the young are impetuous, the reactions are stormy, the elders are trying to comprehend and discuss what they have heard. Everyone is looking for sympathy and response from a neighbor - this justifies a symmetrical, but natural-looking division into four groups. Only Judas is psychologically isolated, although he is in the group of John and Peter. He stumbled back, while all the others involuntarily rush to the center - to Christ. The convulsive movement of Judas's hand, his dark profile - Leonardo deliberately sat him with his back to the light source - betray a bad conscience. But this is betrayed without an accent - you need to look closely and ponder to understand.
Christ is singled out and separated from his disciples in spatial and color relations, because he is detachedly pensive, because in his face and in the resting, divorced, all accepting and all blessing hands, no specific emotion, no individual state can be subtracted - only for this reason In relation to the semantic center of the action, the human "diversity" of the participants in the holy supper looks so striking. Vasari believed that the face of Christ remained unfinished. He, apparently, was mistaken. But his mistake is not accidental. The image of Christ next to a living and characteristic variety apostolic figures, the careful elaboration of some folds of the tablecloth, etc. may seem unfinished, just as next to Christ the gestures of the disciples may seem excessively abundant. Christ's “incompleteness” is a specific form of his completeness. Of course, Christ is immeasurable, too grandiose, divine to be just “this.” But, on the other hand, his individuality is fuller and (as befits, from our point of view, individuality) subtly more definite than that of the apostles, each of whom in his own way embodies the transient human condition and passion, but not dominating the eye of the person. Each of the apostles only moves towards self-determination, while Christ is completely determined by himself. He is the only one who knows and who made a decision.
Leonardo studies each component of the painting with equal care, primarily from the point of view of its features and qualities, but also in order to convey the meaning and mood of the scene as a whole. The hands were the focus of the artist, as they are less expressive than the face. The Windsor Collection contains expressive sketches of hands for The Last Supper. Another expressive means that Leonardo actively uses were clothes. They performed a number of functions. Their main characteristics: style, social or ethnic characteristics, functionality, quality of fabric, graceful cut, luxury or austerity, antique or modern look, modesty or austerity - clothes say a lot about who is wearing them. In addition, they give an idea of \u200b\u200bthe body they are ripping off. Finally, clothing is the main sign of movement. Beautiful and appropriately displayed clothes were an important part of the picture.
3 Second Florentine period and later creativity
In 1499, Leonardo left Milan. As a result of the ongoing wars, the city was captured by the French, led by Louis XII, and the Duke of Sforza, having lost power, fled abroad. Moving began from place to place and until 1503 Leonardo did not stay for a long time anywhere. And so, at the age of fifty, Florence was again waiting for him - the city where he once started as a simple apprentice, and now, at the peak of his creative path, he was working on the creation of the brilliant canvas "Mona Lisa".
4 "Mona Lisa"
Hardly any portrait has riveted to itself over the centuries, and especially in the last century, such greedy attention and caused so many comments. "Mona Lisa" gave rise to various legends, and attributed witchcraft power, she was kidnapped, forged, "exposed", she was mercilessly profaned, depicting on all kinds of advertising labels. And yet it is difficult to imagine a less vain work. The vulgar noise raised around "Mona Lisa" is the comedic underside of popularity, and the reason for the unfading popularity of the Mona Lisa is in its all-humanity. This is an image of a heartfelt, penetrating, eternally awake human intellect: it belongs to all times, local objects of time are dissolved in it and are almost imperceptible, just like in the blue "lunar" landscape over which Mona Lisa reigns.
Vasari, talking about the portrait of Mona Lisa, describes it with extraordinary detail. No other work of any other artist, not even the idol of Vasari Michelangelo, has received such a thorough analysis. Here's what Vasari says: ... This image to anyone who would like to see to what extent art can imitate nature, makes it possible to comprehend it in the easiest way, because it reproduces all the smallest details that can be conveyed by the subtlety of painting. Therefore, the eyes have that brilliance and that moisture that is usually visible in a living person, and around them all those reddish reflections and hairs are transmitted, which lend themselves to the image only with the greatest subtlety of skill. Eyelashes made like the way hair actually grows on the body, where it is thicker and where less often, and located according to the pores of the skin, could not be depicted with more naturalness. The nose, with its lovely openings, pinkish and tender, seems alive. The mouth, slightly open, with the edges connected by the scarlet of the lips with the physicality of its own kind, does not seem to be paints, but real flesh. In the deepening of the neck, with a close look, you can see the beat of the pulse. Indeed, we can say that the work was written in such a way that it plunges into confusion and fear any arrogant artist, whoever he may be. By the way, Leonardo resorted to the following trick: since Mona Lisa was very beautiful, while painting the portrait, he kept people who played the lyre or sang, and there were always jesters who kept her cheerful and removed the melancholy that is usually reported painting to the executed portraits. Leonardo's smile in this work is so pleasant that it seems as if you are contemplating a divine rather than a human being; the portrait itself is considered an extraordinary work, for life itself could not have been different.
The portrait, undoubtedly, was written for a long time and was brought to the end, so that Vasari did not say, who in his biography of Leonardo stylized it as an artist who, in principle, cannot finish any major work. And not only was it finished, but is one of the most carefully finished pieces of Leonardo. What explains the hobby that he put into this portrait?
Hundreds of pages have been written about this. There is, of course, no shortage of romantic explanations. So simple and understandable: Leonardo fell in love with Mona Lisa and deliberately delayed work in order to stay with her longer, and she teased him with her mysterious smile and brought him to the greatest creative ecstasies. Needless to say, these romantic speculations are not supported by anything? On the contrary, there are a number of factual and psychological indications, which decisively contradict them. Leonardo's infatuation is explained by others.
And this time, as always, art was a science for him, and each artwork is a series of scientific experiments. And when, in the person of Mona Lisa, he found a model that satisfied his needs, he tried to solve some of the highest and most difficult problems of painting technique, which he had not yet solved.
With the help of techniques that had already been worked out and tried before, especially with the help of his famous sfumato, which had previously given extraordinary effects, he wanted to do more than he did before: to create a living face of a living person and so reproduce the features and expression of this face, so that they were the inner world of a person is fully disclosed. Perhaps Leonardo did not fully solve this problem, but he made so much of Mona Lisa's portrait that all further art of portraiture should always return to "La Gioconda" as an unattainable but obligatory model.
Unfortunately, the state of the picture is such that much can no longer be seen on it. "La Gioconda" has darkened a lot - another disastrous result of Leonardo's experimenting with paints. True, we have the opportunity to compare with her early copies, which will help in some way. Especially the one in Madrid's Prado. The artist who copied La Gioconda , he was not wise with the colors, and they are as bright and fresh as, apparently, they were when he copied Leonardo. Looking at this copy, we can understand the enthusiasm of contemporaries about not only the composition, not only the drawing, not only the play of chiaroscuro, but also the color. Leonardo wanted to give in the portrait of Mona Lisa his most full-blooded, most cheerful and life-affirming work that he was capable of, and for this he gave free rein to his coloristic feeling. That is why he devoted himself to work on the portrait with such enthusiasm.
For a time, Leonardo's life passed between Milan and Florence, until in 1513 he moved to Rome under the patronage of Giuliano Medici, brother of Pope Leo X. For the next three years, the artist was mainly engaged in science, technical experiments and orders for engineering development.
The Italian genius spent the rest of his life in France, where he was invited by Francis I, who succeeded Louis XII on the throne. Life in the royal residence, the castle of Amboise, was surrounded by the highest honor for the maestro from the monarch. Despite the fact that the elderly Leonardo's right hand became numb, and his health condition was getting worse, he continued to draw sketches and study with students who replaced him with a family, which the master never created during his lifetime.
5. Contribution to world culture of Leonardo da Vinci
The contribution of Leonardo da Vinci to world art culture is extremely important even against the background of the cohort of geniuses that the Italian Renaissance gave. Thanks to his works, the art of painting moved to a qualitatively new stage in its development. The Renaissance painters who preceded Leonardo resolutely abandoned many of the conventions of medieval art. This was a movement towards realism and much has already been achieved in the study of perspective, anatomy, greater freedom in compositional decisions. But in terms of picturesqueness, work with paint, the artists were still rather conventional and constrained. The line in the picture clearly outlined the subject, and the image looked like a painted drawing. The most conditional was the landscape, which played a secondary role. Leonardo realized and embodied a new painting technique. His line has the right to blur, because this is 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.
6. Leonardo as a scientist
For Leonardo, art has always been a science. Engaging in art meant for him to make scientific calculations, observations and experiments. The connection of painting with optics and physics, with anatomy and mathematics forced Leonardo to become a scientist. And often the scientist pushed aside the artist.
As a scientist and engineer, L. da Vinci enriched almost all areas of science of that time with insightful observations, considering his notes and drawings as preparatory sketches for a giant encyclopedia of human knowledge. Skeptical about the ideal of the scientist-erudite, popular in his era, L. da Vinci was the most prominent representative of the new natural science based on experiment.
1 Mathematics
Mathematics was especially appreciated by Leonardo. He believed that "there is no certainty in the sciences where it is impossible to apply any of the mathematical disciplines, and in that which has no connection with mathematics." Mathematical sciences have, in his words, "the highest reliability, they impose silence on the language of the disputants." Mathematics was an experienced discipline for Leonardo. It is no coincidence that Leonardo da Vinci was the inventor of numerous devices designed to solve mathematical problems (proportional compasses, a device for drawing a parabola, a device for constructing a parabolic mirror, etc.) He was the first in Italy, and perhaps in Europe, to introduce the signs + (plus and minus).
Leonardo favored geometry over other branches of mathematics. He recognized the important role of number and was very interested in numerical ratios in music. But number meant less to him than geometry, since arithmetic relies on "finite quantities", while geometry deals with "infinite quantities." A number is made up of separate units and is something monotonous, devoid of the magic of geometric proportions that deal with surfaces, figures, space. Leonardo tried to achieve the squaring of the circle - that is, to create a square equal in size to the circle. He worked hard on this problem, as well as on other puzzling problems, including curved and rectilinear surfaces, applying a number of different ways... Leonardo invented a special tool for drawing ovals and for the first time determined the center of gravity of the pyramid. The highest expression of the greatness of geometry was the five regular bodies revered in classical philosophy and mathematics. These are the only solids that consist of equal polygons and are symmetrical with respect to all their vertices. These are tetrahedron, hexahedron, octahedron, dodecahedron, icosahedron. They can be truncated - that is, with the vertices cut off symmetrically, thus turned into semi-regular bodies. The peak of Leonardo's passion for mathematics came during his collaboration with the mathematician Luca Pacioli, who appeared in 1496 at the court of Sforza. Leonardo created a series of illustrations for Pacioli's treatise On Divine Proportion.
The study of geometry allowed him for the first time to create a scientific theory of perspective, and he was one of the first painters to paint landscapes that somehow correspond to reality. True, Leonardo's landscape is still not self-sufficient, it is a decoration for historical or portrait painting, but what a huge step compared with the previous era and how much the correct theory helped him here!
6.2 Mechanics
Leonardo da Vinci paid special attention to mechanics, calling it "the paradise of mathematical sciences" and seeing in it the main key to the secrets of the universe. Leonardo's theoretical conclusions in the field of mechanics are striking in their clarity and provide him with an honorable place in the history of this science, in which he is the link connecting Archimedes with Galileo and Pascal.
Leonardo's works in the field of mechanics can be grouped into the following sections: laws of falling bodies; laws of motion of a body thrown at an angle to the horizon; laws of motion of a body along an inclined plane; the effect of friction on the movement of bodies; theory of the simplest machines (lever, inclined plane, block); issues of addition of forces; determination of the center of gravity of bodies; issues related to the strength of materials. The list of these questions becomes especially significant, given that many of them were dealt with for the first time. The rest, if considered before him, were based mainly on the conclusions of Aristotle, which in most cases were very far from the true state of affairs. According to Aristotle, for example, a body thrown at an angle to the horizon must first fly in a straight line, and at the end of the ascent, having described an arc of a circle, fall vertically downward. Leonardo da Vinci dispelled this misconception and found that the trajectory in this case would be a parabola.
He expresses many valuable thoughts regarding the conservation of motion, coming close to the law of inertia. “Not a single sensuously perceived body,” says Leonardo, “can move by itself. It is set in motion by some external cause, force. Force is an invisible and incorporeal cause in the sense that it cannot change either in form or in tension. If a body is moved by force at a given time and passes through a given space, then the same force can move it into half the space. Every body offers resistance in the direction of its movement. (Here Newtons almost guessed the law of action equal to reaction). A freely falling body at each moment of its movement receives a certain velocity increment. The impact of bodies is a force acting for a very short time. " Based on these conclusions, Leonardo became convinced that the Aristotelian assumption that a body moved by twice the force will travel twice the distance, or that a body weighing half that, moved by the same force, will also travel twice the distance, in practice impracticable. Leonardo emphatically denies the possibility of a mechanism that is eternally moving without external force. It is based on theoretical and experimental data. According to his theory, any reflected movement is weaker than the one that produced it. Experience showed him that a ball thrown on the ground never (due to air resistance and imperfect elasticity) rises to the height from which it is thrown. This simple experience convinced Leonardo of the impossibility of creating strength out of nothing and spending work without any loss of friction. On the impossibility of perpetual motion, he writes: "The initial impulse must sooner or later be used up, and therefore in the end the movement of the mechanism will stop."
Leonardo knew and used in his works the method of decomposition of forces. For the movement of bodies on an inclined plane, he introduced the concept of the friction force, connecting it with the force of pressure of the body on the plane and correctly indicating the direction of these forces.
Leonardo also worked on specific engineering projects for his patrons - both as a consultant and as the creator of simple, utilitarian objects like pliers, locks or jacks, made in his workshop. Lifting mechanisms were essential when lifting heavy loads such as stone blocks from the ground - especially when loading onto vehicles. Leonardo was the first to formulate the idea that in these simplest machines, the gain in power occurs at the expense of time.
3 Hydraulics
Hydraulics occupied a large place in the writings of Leonardo da Vinci. He began to study hydraulics during his student years and returned to it throughout his life. As in other areas of his activity, Leonardo combined the development of theoretical principles in hydraulics with the solution of specific applied problems. The theory of communicating vessels and hydraulic pumps, the relationship between the flow rate of water and the cross-sectional area - all these questions were mainly born from the applied engineering problems, which he was engaged in so much (building locks, canals, land reclamation). Leonardo designed and partially completed the construction of a number of canals (Pisa-Florence canal, irrigation canals on the Po and Arno rivers). He almost came close to the formulation of Pascal's law, and in the theory of communicating vessels he practically anticipated the ideas of the 17th century.
Leonardo was also interested in the theory of the maelstrom. Having a fairly clear understanding of centrifugal force, he noticed that “water moving in a whirlpool moves in such a way that those of the particles that are closer to the center have a high rotational speed. This is an amazing phenomenon, because, for example, the particles of a wheel rotating around an axis have the lower speed the closer they are to the center: in the whirlpool we see just the opposite. Leonardo tried to classify and describe the complex configurations of water in turbulent motion.
Leonardo, who was called "the master of water", advised the rulers of Venice and Florence; combining theory and practice, he sought to show why tornadoes swallow up the coast, to prove that to achieve the desired results one should use the inexhaustible force of moving water, and resist it.
Even more distinct and remarkable are Leonardo's views on wave-like motion. "A wave," he says, "is a consequence of a blow reflected by the water." “Waves often move faster than the wind. This is because the impulse was received when the wind was stronger than at the given time. The speed of a wave cannot change instantly. " To explain the movement of water particles, Leonardo begins with the classical experience of the latest physicists, i.e. throws a stone, making circles on the surface of the water. He gives a drawing of such concentric circles, then throws two stones, receives two systems of circles and asks the question: "Will the waves be reflected under equal circles?" then he says: “The movement of sound waves can be explained in the same way. The waves of air move away in a circular fashion from their place of origin, one circle meets another and passes on, but the center constantly remains in the same place. "
These extracts are enough to be convinced of the genius of the person who, at the end of the 15th century, laid the foundation for the wave-like theory of motion, which received full recognition only in the 19th century.
In the field of practical physics, Leonardo also displayed remarkable ingenuity. So, long before Saussure, he built a very ingenious hygrometer. On the vertical dial there is a kind of hands or scales with two balls of equal weight, one of which is wax, the other is cotton. In wet weather, cotton wool attracts water, becomes heavier and pulls wax, as a result of which the lever moves, and by the number of divisions it passes, one can judge the degree of air humidity. In addition, Leonardo invented various pumps, glasses to amplify the light of lamps, and diving helmets.
Venturi also claimed that Leonardo had invented the camera - the obscura before Cardano and Porta. Now this has been fully proven thanks to the research of Grotte, who found the corresponding drawings and descriptions in da Vinci.
In the field of applied physics, the steam cannon invented by Leonardo is very interesting. Its action consisted in the fact that warm water was introduced into a highly heated chamber, which instantly turned into vapors, which displaced the core with their pressure. In addition, he invented a spit that rotated by means of currents of warm air.
5 Military
It is impossible to pass over in silence the various military inventions of Leonardo. A remarkable example of how he treated military gear is his giant crossbow project. Disgusted with the war, which he called "disgusting madness", Leonardo at the same time was fascinated by the creation of the most destructive weapon at that time, which he took up not only at the request of his patrons, but also, being himself captured by the possibility of creating systems capable of a thousandfold to increase the power of a person. In addition, he thought about creating explosive projectiles, so that a throwing weapon would have even greater penetrating power.
The excavating machines invented by Leonardo are ingenious, consisting of a complex system of levers that simultaneously move dozens of shovels. As a curiosity, one can also point to the chariots invented by him with rotating sickles, which, crashing into the enemy infantry, were supposed to mow down the soldiers.
Much more important are da Vinci's drawings and explanations related to the drilling of cannon vents and to the casting of various parts of the gun. He was especially interested in various bronze alloys. Leonardo studied in great detail the circumstances of the flight of shells, being interested in this subject not only as an artilleryman, but also as a physicist. He examined such questions as, for example, what shape and size should the powder grains have for faster combustion or for a stronger effect? What shape should the buckshot be for a faster flight? The researcher answers many of these questions quite satisfactorily.
The great dream of Leonardo - the engineer was a flight - he attached great importance to the creation of Uccello ("big bird"). Anyone who could conquer the sky really had the right to claim that he created a "second nature."
As with all Leonardo's other studies, the foundations were laid in nature. Birds and bats told him how to achieve this. But Leonardo was not going to follow the example of the legendary hero Daedalus, tying feather-covered bird wings to his hands to fly up, flapping them. He saw from the beginning that the problem was the balance of strength and weight. Leonardo knew enough anatomy to realize that the human hand was not designed to swing with the force equivalent to that of a bird's wing. It should be noted that he began to study the flight of birds, as he needed to understand the principles on which he could rely in order to achieve positive results using only human strength. Until 1490, he invented the frame structure of the wings, the model for which was the structure of the wings of flying creatures, but he also took into account the structure of human muscles, especially the muscles of the legs. Perhaps the pedals could supplement the muscles in the arms and chest enough to achieve the desired result. The wings use wood "bones", rope "sinews" and leather "ligaments" to reproduce the intricate movements of a bird's wing. It was conceived perfectly, but he came to the conclusion that none of the structures dear to his heart was capable of acting as it was required.
When, after returning to Florence, Leonardo turned to this problem a second time, he took a different path. The small Turin Codex on the flight of birds, dated 1505, indicates that he again returned to the study of the flight of birds that soared in the updrafts of warm air over the Tuscan hills - especially the huge birds of prey that glanced without flapping their wings, looking for prey below ... He made sketches of air vortices under the concave part of the bird's wing, figured out what changes in the center of gravity in the bird lead to and what imperceptible movements of the tail can do. He adhered to an active planning strategy, in which any movement of the wings and tail was aimed not at a controlled lift-off from the ground, but at controlling height, flight path and turns. The wing design was still based on natural observations, but these were general principles and trends, not simple imitation. The aviator, who was likely to control the flight and maintain balance with the tail, had to hang under the wings, adjusting the center of gravity for the most precise flight control.
Although Leonardo knew nothing about the aerodynamic surface, and he only intuitively assumed the existence of pressure produced by compressed or rarefied air, the study of nature helped him find a fairly correct path.
7 Anatomy
Leonardo spoke of Leonardo as an artist performing autopsies and exploring, as legend has it, the forbidden secrets of decaying bodies, despite the fact that he himself recognized the repulsive aspects of doing "anatomy." It was probably a forbidden and sacrilegious activity that placed him outside the laws of the church. The fully proven dissection of a whole human corpse - perhaps the only one he ever performed - was the autopsy of a "centenarian" old man, whose "silent death" Leonardo witnessed in the winter of 1507-08 at the Santa Maria Nuova hospital. More often than not, he worked with animals, which, it was believed, did not differ too much from humans, except perhaps in body configuration and size.
Despite the fact that Leonardo was engaged in dissections and did not tire of repeating the advantage of "experience" over book knowledge, it may seem surprising that his anatomical research was based on traditional knowledge. For example, he adhered to the doctrine of a two-chambered heart for a long time. Moreover, for Leonardo, anatomy was not "descriptive" in the modern sense, but "functional"; in other words, he always viewed form in terms of function. Leonardo did not introduce any radical changes in the physiology that existed before him, but created an integral picture of the dynamics of a living body in three dimensions, his drawing serves both as a way of depicting and a form of research.
6.8 Praise the Eye
Despite the fact that Leonardo's views on the internal structure of the eye changed, Leonardo worked on the principle that it was an instrument built with geometric precision in accordance with the laws of optics. His initial understanding of the structure of the eye was that the spherical transparent and vitreous body of the eye (which is a lens) is surrounded by moisture and eye membranes. The pupil adjusts the angle of view, thus creating a "visual pyramid" - that is, a beam of rays from an object or surface - with apex in the eye. The eye extracts a pyramid from a chaotic mass of rays that spread from an object in all directions. The further one and the same object is from the eye, the narrower the angle, and the smaller it seems. If we imagine that light emanates from an object in the form of a series of concentric waves, the pyramid will gradually narrow with each subsequent wave moving away from the object. Dimensions, as taught by the theory of perspective used by artists, are proportional to the distance from the subject to the eye. He explained that the strength of radiation from an object, which he called "images" in accordance with the traditions of medieval optics, decreases in proportion to the distance from the object. This optical theory explains not only the gradual decrease in things according to the rules of linear perspective, but also the decrease in the clarity and brightness of color at great distances. This loss of clarity and intensity of color, along with the specific properties of the moist air that envelops objects like a veil, explains the magical effects of the "aerial perspective" of his landscapes - both in drawing and painting.
This view of the eye, which Leonardo held in the 1490s, he moved around 1508 to a more complex interpretation of the shape and function of the eye. It is also important that he made sure that the pyramid cannot end at one point of the eye, since the point is not measurable - this would mean the inseparability of "images" in the optical field. Leonardo believed that the eye and its pupil act like a camera obscura. He knew that the image taken with the camera was inverted, and theoretically developed a number of ways to turn the image, return it to its normal position.
As he became acquainted with the works of the largest medieval scientists devoted to optics, Leonardo began to understand more and more the phenomenon of "optical illusion". This branch of optics studied such phenomena as our inability to see very fast moving objects and clearly distinguish anything too bright or, on the contrary, dark, the "inertia of vision" observed when we look at something that is moving rapidly.
As volatile and complex as his later theories of perception were, what remained unchanged was that the eye worked according to the laws of geometry.
8 Perspective theory
Leonardo systematically studied the effects of illumination of one or many objects from one or several sources of different sizes, shapes and distances. It was on this basis that he reformed light and color in painting, developing a "tonal" system in which light and shadow had an advantage over color in conveying relief. He observed how the intensity of the shadows decreased as the distance from the opaque object casting them decreased, in accordance with the laws of proportional reduction, which apply everywhere to light and other dynamic systems. He calculated the relative intensity of light on surfaces as a function of the angle of incidence and plotted patterns for the secondary reflection of light from illuminated surfaces in shaded areas. He used the latter phenomenon to explain the gray color of the moon's shadow side, which he proved to be the result of light reflecting off the earth's surface. His studies of light falling on a face from a single point and emphasizing the contours show us that he tried to model forms according to a certain system, reminiscent of the one followed by a ray in computer graphics. The more straight angle of the "percussion", the greater the intensity of the illumination, although in fact, as we now know, the cosine law established by Lambert, established in the 18th century by Lambert, and not Leonardo's simple rule of proportions, is in effect here. For da Vinci, the result is always proportional to the angle of incidence of the beam. Thus, the glancing light will not illuminate the surface as much as the one that falls on it perpendicularly.
According to Leonardo, proportions found expression for the perfection of God's plan in relation to all forms and forces of nature. The beauty of proportions was a major challenge for Florentine architects, sculptors and painters. Leonardo was the first to write the artist's idea of \u200b\u200bthe beauty of proportions into the overall picture of the proportional structure of nature. The most authoritative work on architectural proportions was the treatise on architecture by the ancient Roman author Vitruvius. As the ideal of beauty in architecture, Vitruvius chose the human body, with legs and arms outstretched to the sides, inscribed in a circle and a square - the two most perfect geometric shapes. Within this diagram, body parts can be defined in accordance with a system of relative sizes, in which each part, for example a face, is in a simple proportional relation to another part. The Vitruvian scheme of the human body, reproduced by Leonardo, received its complete visual embodiment and widespread as a symbol of the "cosmic" design of the human structure. As Leonardo said, the proportional structure of the human body is an analogue of musical harmonies, which were based on the cosmic relationships built by the Greek mathematician Pythagoras. It was the mathematical basis of music that allowed it, with more reason than other arts, to compete with painting, although he tried in every possible way to emphasize that musical consonances must be listened to sequentially, while a picture can be captured with one glance.
Conclusion
Life does not stand still, society is growing, there is a class struggle in it, and each new turn entails the need to revise the canon, sometimes violently breaking it.
Leonardo is the most prominent exponent of this turn. In his hobbies, different things must be distinguished: interest in practical issues, in technology, for which there was not enough space in life and in the economy, and interest in theoretical issues, the solution of which he wanted to fertilize his artistic creativity and his technical plans.
Who else has youth so irresistibly attractive, maturity is so full and courageous, old age is so full of dignity and wisdom of life experience? Who could, like Leonardo, convey maternal happiness and the exultant joy of a child? Who, like him, could express the shyness, tenderness and grace of girlhood; soulful penetration and irresistible fascination of a woman in her prime? Look at his many sketches for the Madonnas, the beautiful La Gioconda and tell me, will you find anything equal to them? Leonardo is the only artist about whom we can say: literally everything, whatever his hand touched, became eternally beautiful, be it a drawing of a cross-section of a skull, a weed stem or a sketch of a human muscle - everything with his inherent sense of line and chiaroscuro. transformed into deeply vital, intransient values.
Painting played such an insignificant role for Leonardo among his other works that we should consider it only as one of the forms of expression of his all-encompassing genius nature.
But when he turned to painting, he created with such depth and power of feeling, vision and embodiment that it is impossible to reproach him for having written so little (as various publications often do). He had too much to do and left us with some of the greatest works of art ever made by human hands.
Leonardo was the direct predecessor of that philosophical trend - the most mature in the Renaissance - that built philosophy on the basis of science.
Leonardo enriched the Renaissance worldview with the idea of \u200b\u200bthe value of science: mathematics and natural science. Alongside aesthetic interests - and above them - he placed scientific ones. His role in this respect was quite similar to the role of Machiavelli, who warned against idealistic hobbies and domination - aesthetic criteria, also pulled to the ground, to practical issues, and forcibly pushed sociology and politics into the circle of interests of society.
At the center of his scientific designs is mathematics. There is a whole encyclopedia in his head.
He was the first to formulate the main provisions in the field of plant anatomy and physiology. He knew the phenomena of heliotropism and geotropism of branches and leaves. He knew how air, sun, water, dew, and soil salts affect the life of a plant. Finally, he was the first to discover the connection that living beings have between themselves and with the rest of nature, that is, the fundamental law of biology.
It is not possible to list all those inventions that find application in the field of various scientific disciplines and in the field of technology, which Leonardo did along the way: all machines, instruments, apparatus of large and small sizes, from siege and anti-siege weapons to the smallest measuring instruments.
Leonardo tested all his discoveries by experience. He came to everything that he studied, impelled directly or indirectly by the demands of the technique of art. All his conclusions were confirmed by mathematics. Such was the circle. There was a strict unity of thought and creativity.
Sources
1. Bragina L.M. Italian humanism. Ethical teachings of the XIV-XV centuries (electronic version)
2. Batkin L.M. Leonardo da Vinci and features of the Renaissance creative thinking. - M .: Art, 1990.
Vasari J. Biographies of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects. Per from ital. Editorial and introductory article by A. Dzhivelegov, A. Efros. - Rostov-on-Don, publishing house "Phoenix", 2008. - P.207-241
Gastev A. Leonardo da Vinci. - M .: "Young Guard", 1982.
5. Gukovsky M.A. Leonardo da Vinci. - M., 2007.
Jivelegov A. Leonardo da Vinci. Ed. 3rd. - M .: "Art", 2009.
Diaghilev F.M. From the history of physics and the life of its creators.
Camp M. Leonardo. - M.; AST Astrel, 2008.
Leonardo da Vinci. Fables (electronic version)
Merezhkovsky D.S. The Risen Gods, or Leonardo da Vinci. - M .; 2010
Sonina T.V. Leonardo da Vinci. The idea of \u200b\u200bperfection and its reflection in painting (electronic version of the article)
Filippov M.M. Leonardo da Vinci as an artist, scientist and philosopher. (Leonardo da Vinci. Michelangelo. Raphael. Rembrandt. Alexander Ivanov: Biogr. Narration / Comp., General editorship of N.F. Boldyrev. After. Andrey Seversky. - 2nd ed. - Chelyabinsk: "Ural LTD", 1998.)
Giuseppe d, Agatha. The Da Vinci Riddle, or In the beginning there was a body (electronic version of the book)
Tutorials
History of Europe. T. 3. From the Middle Ages to modern times (late 15th - first half of the 17th century). - M .: Nauka, 1993.
History of the Middle Ages in two volumes under the general editorship of S. D. Skazkin Volume 2 - 2nd edition, revised - M .: “ graduate School", 1977.
3. History of the Middle Ages: In 2 volumes. T 2: Early modern time: Textbook / Edited by S.P. Karpov. - 5th ed. - M.: publishing house Mosk. University: Science, 2009.
Dmitrieva N.A. Brief Encyclopedia of Arts. Issue 1: From ancient times to the 16th century. Essays. - 4th ed., Stereotype. - M .: Art, 2005.
Tutoring
Need help exploring a topic?
Our experts will advise or provide tutoring services on topics of interest to you.
Send a request with the indication of the topic right now to find out about the possibility of obtaining a consultation.
Leonardo da Vinci died in 1519. He was only sixty-seven years old. By this time, his fame as a famous artist had already spread throughout Europe. However, there is one side of his life that was not known to the public at that time. Few people knew how much Leonardo da Vinci was interested in anatomy. His scientific research in this direction was practically unknown to anyone.
Even in the immediate environment of Leonardo da Vinci, anatomy at that time did not meet the proper interest and understanding. This situation continued until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was at this time that the discoveries of Leonardo da Vinci in anatomy were thoroughly studied. Only after scientists conducted a thorough analysis of his scientific works, looked through thousands and thousands of pages of records of the great artist of the Renaissance, it became clear that his scientific activity is no less important than art.
Unknown pages of the life of Leonardo da Vinci
Anatomy, optics, geology, botany, hydrodynamics, etc. - all these sciences occupied a lot of space in his life, second only to painting. This talented creator had a reputation as an archetypal Renaissance man - an artist who occasionally pursued science.
However, for Leonardo da Vinci himself, anatomy, like the rest of his scientific activity, was no less important than painting. For the past ten years, he did not start painting new pictures at all. From 1508 to 1513, the artist mainly devoted himself to science, only from time to time returning to the canvases begun in previous years.
More other sciences
Of all scientific research at this time, Leonardo da Vinci was especially interested in anatomy. For several years, he actively worked with corpses, carefully opening them for a more accurate understanding of the human physical structure.
With an outstanding artistic talent and expressive writing style, Leonardo da Vinci in the field of anatomy was able to create one of the most perfect studies of his time. He had even already prepared the work for publication, but did not manage to realize his intention. If his book were published, then the study of the physical structure of man could step forward, so great was the contribution to the development of Leonardo da Vinci's anatomy. Unfortunately, after his death, all the notes and sketches created by this great man, which remained among his personal documents, were hidden from the world for four hundred years.
Versatility
Until now, many of the talents of this person, endlessly gifted, remain a mystery to us. In his youth, while living in Florence, he worked as an apprentice to one of the most famous Italian artists - Leonardo was patronized by the Medici family. Near the place of his work there was another art workshop - maestro Antonio del Pollaiolo, author of the engraving "Battle of the Nudes". Pollaiolo became one of the first painters of the Renaissance who, while studying in the anatomical theater, closely studied the human muscular system. The chroniclers believe that it was his canvases that became the first lessons for the young Leonardo da Vinci.
A new approach to the physical structure of a person
Anatomy was perceived by Renaissance artists as an aid in order to have a correct understanding of the body. That is why they paid great attention only to the muscular system. However, they studied, unlike Leonardo da Vinci, anatomy briefly, since they were practically not interested in the structure of human internal organs. It is known that Pollaiolo personally produced.However, he was also more involved in muscle anatomy, and therefore the chest, skull and abdominal cavity were not affected by him.
Initial interest
If at the very beginning of his scientific career, Leonardo da Vinci did the same as Pollaiolo, then in subsequent years he gradually began to consider the physical structure of a person not only as an application to his favorite painting or sculpture.
In general, the whole life of this great artist is covered by the general anatomy. Historians attribute his first manuscript to 1484, and the last to 1515. Probably still in Florence, Leonardo, who first visited the anatomical theater, began to do autopsies. He performed the first at the Santa Maria Nova Hospital. Here, many other Florentine artists, for example, Michelangelo, were also engaged in the study of the muscular structure of a person.
For them, the main practical guide was the scientific work of Mondino de Lucci, who lived long before Leonardo da Vinci - "Anatomy". A person was dissected by his method for many generations, not only by pathologists, but also by artists, and in the hot climate of Italy, this process was carried out for several days.
It was believed that on the first day it was necessary to open the abdomen, then - the chest, on the third - the heart, and on the fourth - the limbs. The study of the head began with a dissection of the scalp, then the opening of the skull was made, after which the brain was examined, and then the base of the skull. During this period of his life, Leonardo created his first schematic anatomical sketches of cross-sections of the legs. Realizing the complexity of the autopsy, Leonardo considered his observations as the basis for studying the structure of the human body.
Records of the "mad" genius
Since almost all of Leonardo's works are diaries, the entries in them were kept in a peculiar way. They represent a kind of dialogues that the author conducted with an imaginary interlocutor and where he defends his opinion, while providing sufficiently strong evidence. In addition, his manuscripts contain Leonardo's instructions to himself, as well as reasoning that can be directly connected with philosophy.
He was interested in the heart, musculoskeletal system, skeleton and muscles. Leonardo was the first to draw correctly and surprisingly accurately the shapes and, most importantly, the proportions of all the components of the human skeletal system. All previous images of the skeleton, as a rule, were conditional, schematic, or very primitive.
Based on my own experience
Leonardo attached great importance to experience, since he learned practically everything on his own. He read books and then tested his theory in practice. This ingenious creator believed that everything should be created "on the basis of experience." In all aspects that Leonardo da Vinci considered as a scientist, anatomy is paramount. At the same time, almost everywhere in his notes, the search for the only correct answer can be traced. Leonardo, who believed that the truth can be found guided only by logic or scientific observation, categorically did not recognize "speculative" theories. Therefore, he placed such a fundamental science as mathematics at the basis of all his research, including the knowledge of the structure of man.
Errors and misconceptions
The famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci, which depicts the human anatomy, according to scientists, is incredibly accurate, however, with one exception regarding the female reproductive system. But this is understandable, since during the Renaissance it was problematic to carry out autopsies on female corpses.
Despite the fact that this Italian artist studied anatomy only in order to further improve his paintings, which depict the bodies of people, he managed to attract more attention to this discipline.
A genius in everything, Leonardo tried to understand how the human mechanism "works". According to scientists, he looked at the people around him exactly as a mechanic sees a car. The fact is that, depicting human nature in his painting or sculpture, the artist wanted to be as believable as possible, because this would allow him to be not only very realistic, but in general - a special, memorable creator.
Anatomy in sketches
This Florentine artist not only sketched human body parts or muscle groups, but also showed them in section in his sketches. Moreover, each drawing was accompanied by notes necessary for understanding. And Leonardo certainly mirrored them, because he knew this method perfectly. It is the latter that adds complexity to the study, hindering the work of scientists, painstakingly studying the scientific heritage of da Vinci. Today, four centuries later, all his notes and sketches have been carefully digitized and presented to the public. Looking at them, we can unequivocally say that the merits of Leonardo da Vinci in anatomy are enormous, since it was he who managed to thoroughly study the human body in his time.
At the same time, the artist and scientist did not devote so many sketches and notes to any organ, with the exception of only the eye, as to the heart. At the same time, he refuted the Galenian idea that veins originate from this organ. In addition, Leonardo da Vinci was opposed to the theory of two ventricles, believing quite correctly that the valves divide the heart into sections. It must be said that the Master did not have the slightest idea about the circulatory system when he conducted his research.
Significance of the contribution
This Florentine genius is considered to be the founder of a science called dynamic anatomy. After Galen, for thirteen centuries, almost not a single new study concerning the structure of the human body was, and therefore his work was considered a dogma. Da Vinci's first anatomical observations are similar in nature to the works of Avicenna, while the latter - Vesalius.
Making preparations with his own hand, the great Master introduced everything new into the study of internal organs. It was he who invented the glass model for studying heart valves. The artist was the first to make cuts of the bones of the skeleton along and across, thereby determining its proportions. Leonardo da Vinci's contribution to anatomy cannot be overestimated. It was he who became the author of the first images of human organs from various angles. He called his drawings dimonstrazioni.
Achievements
Leonardo was the first in the history of the science of anatomy to suggest that the human sacrum consists not of three, but of five vertebrae; he was able to correctly describe its angle of inclination of the sacrum. He was also the first to consider such anatomical features of our body as the tilt or bends of the ribs, which are very important for understanding the mechanism of breathing, as well as the inclination of the pelvis.
It was Leonardo who managed to correctly calculate that there are twenty-five bones in our foot, while he was not afraid to go into confrontation with the works of Avicenna and Galen, who believed that there were twenty-six of them. The artist was the first to be able to correctly draw the articular surfaces. In addition, Leonardo was able to describe a number of anatomical features of the human skeleton associated with our upright posture: for example, the oblique position of the femur in relation to the vertical.
His anatomical manuscripts, which are statements, have been available to scientists for many centuries. And although today science confirms some of them, while others refutes, such as, for example, his awkward theory of blood, nevertheless, despite certain errors in research, it is difficult to overestimate the contribution of Leonardo da Vinci to anatomy as a science.
Harmony of life
Thanks to Leonardo da Vinci, anatomy and medicine have made great strides today. However, he had a completely negative attitude towards doctors. Being an outstanding person, this artist and scientist, like no one else, saw the inability and ignorance of the then doctors.
Today, all of his sketches are the property of the British Royal Collection - the British Royal Collection. Modern anatomy, revolving around new imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging or the microscopic study of the human structure, has certainly gone a long way. Such areas of heights were not available to Leonardo, but the Florentine artist still managed to achieve what scientists came to only after several decades.
For example, his sketches depicting human embryos are almost entirely consistent with what ultrasound shows today, and da Vinci's images of the shoulder look much the same as their modern 3D renderings.
Much of what Leonardo did accurately reflected the essence of things, as proved many decades after it was presented by the great Florentine Renaissance painter.