Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519: Italy)
Painter, sculptor, architect, and engineer: Leonardo, born in Vinci outside Florence, (hence Leonardo “da [from] Vinci”) bears all these titles, and is regarded as the genius who most epitomizes the spirit of the Renaissance.
Considering his fame and reputation, it’s surprising to discover that Leonardo’s productions as a painter and sculptor are so few in number. Only 17 paintings definitely attributed to him have survived. The sculptures on which he devoted years of his life—the monumental statue of the founder of his patron’s dynasty (12 years) and the monument for Marshal Trivulzio (6 years)—were never completed. The mural for Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio, the Battle of Anghiari, remains unfinished. His sketches for a canal to connect Florence to the sea were created for a project that was never carried out (although the modern highway from Florence to the sea is built on the route Leonardo indicated).
What then has produced Leonardo’s enduring reputation? In part, he is known for the expressiveness of the paintings, his ability to convey an underlying sense of human feelings, to create a physical and spiritual motion to his figures. Then too, the drawings for his sculptures reveal his understanding of human anatomy (he apparently participated in examining cadavers) and a beautiful, compelling rendering of the body’s proportions.
It is perhaps his notebooks and sketches, however, that most reveal Leonardo as a Renaissance man. They reflect a boundless curiosity, and the desire to observe everything—to use his eyes to study and learn about his environment. His sketches disclose his mastery of technical architectural problems and his understanding of the principles of engineering; the comprehensiveness of his drawings indicates the very full range of his mechanical interests. His notebooks also present his theory that painting is a science as well as an art, committed to comprehending the workings of the natural world through sensual exploration. Leonardo’s wide-ranging observations and creative imaginings reflect perfectly the Renaissance faith in the life of the active, questioning mind, as opposed to medieval faith in a patient acceptance of what God determines.
Leonardo was the illegitimate child of a Florentine landlord and young peasant woman. Raised in his father’s household, he had little formal education. After an art apprenticeship and a few years working independently, he left Florence to work in the service of the Duke of Milan and spent 17 years in that city-state. When Milan was conquered by France, Leonardo returned to Florence, leaving it several times for service to different patrons. When he was 60, he went to Rome, but was given very few commissions there; finally, in 1516 he left Italy for France and the service of King Francis I. He spent his last three years in Cloux, near the king’s summer palace at Amboise. Leonardo died there, but the church where he was buried was destroyed in the French Revolution. His grave cannot be identified today.
Sketch of Flying Machines, Leonardo da Vinci
From an 18th-century engraving by Carlo Giuseppi Gerli, after Leonardo's sketches
IRC. (2005). Retrieved May 18, 2006, from unitedstreaming
In the history of flight, Leonardo must be classed as a thinker rather than an experimenter. To him as to others, it seemed as if imitation of the flight of birds was the way humankind might learn to fly. Hence, he studied and sketched the flight of birds. He also designed a flapping-wing apparatus (pictured here), called an “ornithopter,” but found that it did not work.
Sketch of Movement of Birds, Leonardo da Vinci
From Leonardo’s notebooks
IRC. (2005). Retrieved May 18, 2006, from unitedstreaming
Leonardo, who had a marvelous skill in drawing, made detailed observations of subjects in geology, geography, astronomy, botany, and other areas in voluminous notebooks. He believed that artists must observe nature.
The Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci
© Musée du Louvre, Paris
Photo of portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo
Painted between 1503 and 1506
The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci
Photo: © 2006, Nicolas Pioch, WebMuseum
Created during 1498, a fresco, 460 x 880 cm (15 x 29 ft) in the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie (the Refectory), Milan
Vitruvian Man, Leonardo da Vinci
Photo© 2006, Nicolas Pioch, WebMuseum
Excerpt from “The Mystic Smile,” Rochelle Gurstein
The New Republic (7/22/02)
Reprinted by permission of The New Republic, © 2002, The New Republic, LLC
“Does 'The Da Vinci Code' Crack Leonardo?” Bruce Boucher
The New York Times, issue 08/03/03
Copyright © 2003 by The New York Times Co. Reprinted with permission.
Leonardo Da Vinci
Video: 22 minutes
Arts4All (2004). Retrieved May 18, 2006, from unitedstreaming
Leonardo da Vinci was one of the leading artists of the Renaissance, or “rebirth”—an intellectual and artistic movement that originated in Italy in the 14th century—and produced some of the world's most masterful creations. Leonardo excelled in creating designs for such diverse proposed inventions as tanks, submarines, and flying machines.
