Leonardo da Vinci was born in the town of Vinci (or near it), located west of Florence, on April 15, 1452. He was the illegitimate son of a Florentine notary and a peasant girl, was brought up in his father's house and, being the son educated person received a thorough primary education.
1467 - at the age of 15, Leonardo went as an apprentice to one of the leading masters Early Renaissance in Florence, Andrea del Verocchio; 1472 - joined the guild of artists, studied the basics of drawing and other necessary disciplines; 1476 - so he worked in the workshop of Verrocchio, apparently in collaboration with the master himself.
By 1480, Leonardo already had large orders, but after 2 years he moved to Milan. In a letter to the ruler of Milan, Lodovico Sforza, he presented himself as an engineer, military expert and artist. The years he spent in Milan were filled with various pursuits. Leonardo da Vinci painted several paintings and the famous fresco "The Last Supper" and began to diligently and seriously keep his notes. The Leonardo whom we recognize from his notes is an architect-designer (the creator of innovative plans that were never carried out), an anatomist, a hydraulician, an inventor of mechanisms, a designer of scenery for court performances, a writer of riddles, rebuses and fables for the entertainment of the court, musician and art theorist.
1499 - after the expulsion of Lodovico Sforza from Milan by the French, Leonardo leaves for Venice, visits Mantua along the way, where he participates in the construction of defensive structures, then returns to Florence. In those days, he was so fascinated by mathematics that he did not want to think about picking up a brush. For 12 years, Leonardo constantly moved from city to city, working for the famous in Romagna, designing defensive structures (never built) for Piombino.
In Florence he enters into a rivalry with Michelangelo; this rivalry culminated in the enormous battle compositions that the two artists painted for the Palazzo della Signoria (also Palazzo Vecchio). Then Leonardo conceived a second equestrian monument, which, like the first, was never created. Throughout all these years, he continues to fill out his notebooks. They reflect his ideas related to the most various subjects. This is the theory and practice of painting, anatomy, mathematics and even the flight of birds. 1513 - as in 1499, his patrons are expelled from Milan ...
Leonardo leaves for Rome, where he spends 3 years under the auspices of the Medici. Depressed and distressed by the lack of material for anatomical research, he engages in experiments that lead nowhere.
The kings of France, first Louis XII, then Francis I, admired the works Italian Renaissance especially Leonardo's The Last Supper. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that in 1516 Francis I, well aware of the versatile talents of Leonardo, invites him to the court, which was then located in the Amboise castle in the Loire Valley. As the sculptor Benvenuto Cellini wrote, despite the fact that the Florentine worked on hydraulic projects and plans for a new royal palace, his main occupation was the honorary position of court sage and adviser.
Fascinated by the idea of creating an aircraft, the Florentine initially developed the simplest apparatus (Dedalus and Icarus) based on wings. His new idea is an airplane with full control. But it was not possible to bring the idea to life due to the lack of a motor. Also, the famous idea of the scientist is a device with vertical takeoff and landing.
Studying the laws of fluids and hydraulics in general, Leonardo made a great contribution to the theory of locks, sewer ports, testing ideas in practice.
Famous paintings by Leonardo - "Gioconda", "Last Supper", "Madonna with an Ermine", and many others. Leonardo was demanding and precise in everything he did. Even before painting, he insisted on a complete study of the object before starting.
Leonardo's manuscripts are priceless. They were fully published only in the XIX-XX centuries. In his notes, Leonardo da Vinci noted not just reflections, but supplemented them with drawings, drawings, and descriptions.
Leonardo da Vinci was talented in many areas, he made a significant contribution to the history of architecture, art, and physics.
Leonardo da Vinci died in Amboise on May 2, 1519; his paintings by this time were usually dispersed in private collections, and the notes lay in various collections, almost in complete oblivion, for several more centuries.
Secrets of Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci encrypted a lot so that his ideas would be revealed gradually, as humanity could “ripen” to them. He wrote with his left hand and in very small letters, from right to left, so that the text looked as if in a mirror image. He spoke in riddles, made metaphorical prophecies, and liked to compose puzzles. Leonardo da Vinci did not sign his works, but they have identification marks. For example, if you take a closer look at the paintings, you can find a symbolic bird taking off. Apparently, there are a lot of such signs, therefore one or another of his hidden “brainchildren” is unexpectedly found on famous canvases, after centuries. So, for example, it was with Madonna Benois”, which for a long time, as a home icon, itinerant actors carried with them.
Leonard discovered the scattering principle (or sfumato). The objects on his canvases have no clear boundaries: everything, as in life, is blurry, penetrates one into another, which means it breathes, lives, awakens fantasy. To master this principle, he advised to practice: look at the stains on the walls that appear from dampness, ashes, clouds or dirt. He deliberately smoked the room where he worked in order to look for images in clubs.
Thanks to the sfumato effect, a flickering smile of the Gioconda appeared: depending on the focus of the gaze, it seems to the viewer that the Gioconda smiles either gently, or, as it were, ominously. The second miracle of the "Mona Lisa" is that she is "alive". Over the centuries, her smile changes, the corners of her lips rise higher. In the same way, the Master mixed the knowledge of various sciences, because his inventions find more and more applications over time. From the treatise on light and shadow come the beginnings of the sciences of penetrating power, oscillatory motion, and the propagation of waves. All of his 120 books have been distributed around the world and are gradually being revealed to mankind.
Leonardo da Vinci preferred the method of analogy to all others. Approximation of analogy is an advantage over the accuracy of a syllogism, when a third inevitably follows from two conclusions. But the more bizarre the analogy, the further the conclusions from it extend. Take, for example, the famous illustration of da Vinci, which proves the proportionality of the human body. A human figure with outstretched arms and spread legs fits into a circle, and with closed legs and raised arms - into a square. This "mill" gave impetus to various conclusions. Leonardo was the only one who created designs for churches in which the altar is placed in the middle (symbolizing the human navel), and the worshipers are evenly around. This church plan in the form of an octahedron served as another invention of genius - a ball bearing.
The Florentine liked to use contraposto, which creates the illusion of movement. Everyone who saw his sculpture of a giant horse in Corte Vecchio involuntarily changed their gait to a more relaxed one.
Leonardo was never in a hurry to finish a work, because unfinishedness is an essential quality of life. Finish means kill! The slowness of the Florentine was the talk of the town, he could make two or three strokes and retire for many days from the city, for example, to improve the valleys of Lombardy or was engaged in the creation of an apparatus for walking on water. Almost every one of his significant works is "work in progress". The master had a special composition, with the help of which he finished painting as if on purpose he made “windows of incompleteness”. Apparently, in this way he left a place where life itself could intervene and correct something ...
He masterfully played the lyre. When the case of Leonardo was heard in the court of Milan, he appeared there precisely as a musician, and not as an artist or inventor.
There is a version that Leonardo da Vinci was a homosexual. When the artist was studying in Verrocchio's workshop, he was accused of harassing a boy who posed for him. The court acquitted him.
According to one version, Gioconda smiles from the realization of her secret for all pregnancy.
According to another, Mona Lisa is entertained by musicians and clowns while she posed for the artist.
There is another assumption, according to which, "Mona Lisa" is a self-portrait of Leonardo.
Leonardo da Vinci, apparently, did not leave a single self-portrait that could be unambiguously attributed to him. Experts doubt that Leonardo's famous sanguine self-portrait (traditionally dated 1512-1515), showing him in his old age, is such. It is believed that this is probably only a study of the head of the apostle for the "Last Supper". Doubts that this is a self-portrait of the artist began to be expressed with 19th century, they were recently expressed by one of the largest experts on Leonardo da Vinci, Professor Pietro Marani.
Scientists at the University of Amsterdam and American researchers, having studied enigmatic smile Mona Lisa, using a new computer program, unraveled its composition: according to them, it contains 83 percent happiness, 9 percent neglect, 6 percent fear and 2 percent anger.
Leonardo loved water: he developed instructions for scuba diving, he invented and described a device for scuba diving, a breathing apparatus for scuba diving. All the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci formed the basis of modern underwater equipment.
Leonardo was the first painter to dissect corpses in order to understand the location and structure of muscles.
Observations of the Moon in the phase of the growing crescent led the researcher to one of the important scientific discoveries Leonardo da Vinci established that sunlight reflects off our planet and returns to the moon as secondary illumination.
The Florentine was ambidexterous - he was equally good with his right and left hands. He suffered from dyslexia (impaired reading ability) - this ailment, called "word blindness", is associated with reduced brain activity in a certain area of \u200b\u200bthe left hemisphere. Known fact, Leonardo wrote in a mirror way.
Relatively recently, the Louvre spent 5.5 million dollars to outweigh the most famous masterpiece of the artist "La Gioconda" from the general room to a specially equipped room for it. Two-thirds were allotted for the Gioconda State Hall occupying a total area of 840 sq. m. The huge room was rebuilt as a gallery, on the far wall of which now hangs the famous creation of the great Leonardo. The reconstruction, which was carried out according to the project of the Peruvian architect Lorenzo Piqueras, lasted about 4 years. The decision to move the Mona Lisa to a separate room was made by the administration of the Louvre due to the fact that in the same place, surrounded by other paintings Italian masters, this masterpiece was lost, and the public was forced to queue to see the famous painting.
2003, August - the canvas of the great Leonardo worth $ 50 million "Madonna with a spindle" was stolen from Drumlanrig Castle in Scotland. The masterpiece was stolen from the home of one of Scotland's wealthiest landowners, the Duke of Buccleuch.
It is believed that Leonardo was a vegetarian (Andrea Corsali, in a letter to Giuliano di Lorenzo Medici, compares him with a Hindu who did not eat meat). The phrase often attributed to Leonardo “If a person strives for freedom, why does he keep birds and animals in cages? .. man is truly the king of animals, because he cruelly exterminates them. We live by killing others. We are walking graveyards! Also in early age I refused meat" is taken from the English translation of Dmitry Merezhkovsky's novel "The Resurrected Gods. Leonardo da Vinci".
Leonardo da Vinci created designs for a submarine, a propeller, a tank, loom, ball bearing and flying machines.
Building canals, Leonardo made an observation that later entered geology under his name as a theoretical principle for recognizing the time of formation of the earth's layers. He came to the conclusion that our planet is much older than indicated in the Bible.
Among da Vinci's hobbies were even cooking and serving art. In Milan for thirteen years he was the manager of court feasts. He invented several culinary devices that facilitate the work of cooks. The original dish "from Leonardo" - thinly sliced stew, with vegetables laid on top - was very popular at court feasts.
In the books of Terry Pratchett there is a character whose name is Leonard, the prototype of which was Leonardo da Vinci. Pratchett's Leonard writes from right to left, invents various machines, engages in alchemy, paints pictures (the most famous is the portrait of Mona Ogg)
A considerable number of Leonardo's manuscripts were first published by the curator of the Ambrosian Library, Carlo Amoretti.
Italian scientists have made a statement about the sensational discovery. According to them, an early self-portrait of Leonardo was discovered. The discovery belongs to the journalist Piero Angela.
Leonardo da Vinci - italian artist(painter, sculptor, architect) and scientist (anatomist, naturalist), inventor, writer and musician, one of major representatives art of the High Renaissance.
So in front of you biography of Leonardo da Vinci.
Biography of Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in small town Vinci, near Florence. He came into existence due to love affair the notary Pierrot and the peasant woman Katerina.
The official union of these two people was impossible due to the fact that the girl came from the lower class.
Features of Leonardo da Vinci Childhood and youth
Soon, da Vinci's father married a wealthy woman, as a result of which the first years of his life, Leonardo lived with his own mother.
However, when Piero and his wife did not have children for a long time, the father decided to adopt his first child, taking him from Katerina.
Leonardo's childhood attachment to his mother, which he lost in such early years forever imprinted in his memory.
Subsequently, in many of his paintings, he tried to convey the maternal image that he carefully kept in his heart.
The house where Leonardo da Vinci lived as a child After 10 years, the first wife of the notary Piero died, after which he remarried.
In total, Leonardo da Vinci had 4 stepmothers, as well as 12 paternal sisters and brothers.
The work of Leonardo da Vinci
When Leonardo da Vinci grew up a little, his father sent him to study with the master Andrea Verrocchio, who taught him various crafts.
It became the first milestone biographies of Leonardo da Vinci. Already in childhood, he showed abilities in various fields of activity.
Supposed self-portrait by Leonardo da Vinci He quickly learned to paint, create sculptures, dress leather, process metals and learn about various things. In the future, all this knowledge was useful to da Vinci.
When the young man was 20 years old, he continued to work with his teacher. Verrocchio, of course, saw how gifted his student was.
He often trusted Leonardo to finish any fragments on his canvases, for example, minor characters, or.
Interestingly, Leonardo da Vinci will have his own workshop in 4 years.
In 1482, Lorenzo de' Medici sent Leonardo da Vinci to Milan to Duke Lodovico Sforzo, who was in dire need of talented engineers.
He urgently needed high-quality defensive devices, as well as devices to amuse his yard.
Leonardo da Vinci did not let the duke down, having managed to build the necessary devices, which turned out to be much better than those offered by other inventors.
It is not surprising that Sforzo greatly valued the extraordinary talented artist and scientists. As a result, Leonardo da Vinci stayed at the court of Lodovico Sforzo for about 17 years.
During this period of his biography, he managed to create many ingenious paintings and sculptures, and perform a lot of anatomical sketches. In addition, the great Leonardo drew many drawings of various devices.
He wanted to design machines that could not only drive on land, but also swim under water and fly in the sky.
In 1499, Leonardo da Vinci returned to Florence, where he began working at the court of Cesare Borgia. The Duke was primarily interested in the creation military equipment, with which it was possible to wage an effective war with the enemy.
In the service of the Borgia, Leonardo da Vinci stayed for 7 years, after which he decided to return to Milan. By this point in his biography, he had already managed to write the famous La Gioconda, which is now in the French Louvre.
After arriving in Milan, he stayed in this city for 6 years, and then moved to Rome. During this period of his biography, he still continued to paint and invent various devices.
In 1516, 3 years before his death, Leonardo da Vinci went to France, where he stayed until the end of his life. On this trip he was accompanied by one of his students and chief follower of his artistic style— Francesco Melzi.
Personal life
Not much is known about Leonardo da Vinci's personal life. Even though he led Personal diary He encrypted all his records.
However, even after they were able to decipher, the researchers received very little information about the true biography of the great scientist.
Some biographers have suggested that the reason for Leonardo da Vinci's secrecy could be his unconventional orientation.
Moreover, there are versions that the artist's lover could be his student Salai, who has an effeminate appearance. However, there is no evidence for such claims.
By the way, Salai posed for several paintings by Leonardo da Vinci. For example, he was the model for famous painting"John the Baptist". There is a version that the Mona Lisa was also painted with Salai, since many art historians see the obvious similarity of the characters depicted on both canvases.
However, as mentioned earlier, there are simply no facts about relationships with men or even women in the biography of Leonardo da Vinci.
A number of researchers reasonably argue that Leonardo never knew carnal intimacy at all, having lived a virgin all his life.
Death and grave
The great Leonardo da Vinci died on May 2, 1519 at the age of 67, in the castle of Clos Luce. He bequeathed to bury his body in the church of Saint-Florentin.
Researchers speculate that a stroke may have been the likely cause of his death. To this day, the memoirs of his contemporaries have survived who claimed that Leonardo da Vinci was partially paralyzed. For example, 2 years before his death, he could not move right hand because of their stroke.
In the last years of his life, he continued to create with the help of his student Francesco Melzi. However, every day his health deteriorated, as a result of which he could no longer move without assistance.
The life path of the Florentine genius ended after a second stroke in 1519.
At the same time, it is worth emphasizing that all assumptions about how the last years of the biography of Leonardo da Vinci passed were not confirmed by reliable facts, but are only guesses.
Monument to Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, Italy At the height of the Huguenot wars, the tomb of Leonardo da Vinci was devastated. Only after three hundred years, scientists have made attempts to identify his remains.
Today, on the site of the ruined church in which he was buried, a granite monument with a bust of the great Leonardo has been erected.
Secrets of Leonardo da Vinci
The works of Leonardo da Vinci are seriously studied by scientists, art historians, and even religious figures. Many assume that when writing his paintings, the artist allegedly used some kind of graphic code.
For example, with the help of several mirrors, scientists were able to unravel the mystery of the views of the Gioconda and John the Baptist.
As it turned out, both characters fix their eyes on mysterious creature in a mask. The secret code in da Vinci's diaries was also revealed through mirrors.
Drawings and sketches of some of the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci Simultaneously American writer Dan Brown has written more than one book related to the artist's work. In 2006, based on Brown's work, the film The Da Vinci Code was filmed, which gained immense popularity around the world.
Many religious leaders and believers have criticized the film, calling it blasphemous. An interesting fact is that both Christians and Muslims adhered to this opinion.
Despite this, the film was watched by a record number of viewers. This, in turn, led to the fact that a lot of people began to take a keen interest in the personality and biography of Leonardo da Vinci, as well as his brilliant works.
History of Leonardo da Vinci
An interesting fact is that today anyone can visit the museum in Rome, named after Leonardo, and see with his own eyes the devices built according to his drawings.
There are also copies of da Vinci's brilliant paintings and photographs of his original manuscripts. In other words, by visiting this museum you will be able to realistically imagine the life story of the great Florentine.
Inventions of Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci gave great attention engineering and architectural art. He is the author of many inventions that were ahead of their time by several centuries.
A brief biography of Leonardo da Vinci does not allow a detailed description of all the inventions of this great genius. Here are just a few of them: the world's first tank, aircraft and catapult, machine gun and scissors, bicycle, etc., etc.
Just think, all these inventions were designed by Leonardo da Vinci in the 15th century, more than 500 years ago!
Moreover, the world's first parachute was also invented by the genius da Vinci. An interesting fact is that recently modern scientists were able to create an exact copy of such a parachute according to da Vinci's drawings. Tests have shown that he does his job quite well.
Monument to Leonardo da Vinci in Amboise It is important to note that today many drawings and sketches of Leonardo da Vinci are still incomprehensible to scientists.
Perhaps in the future we will be able to penetrate the mystery of the biography of Leonardo da Vinci, and solve all the mysteries that he left us.
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Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most talented and mysterious people of the Renaissance. The Creator left behind a lot of inventions, paintings and secrets, many of which remain undiscovered to this day. Da Vinci is called a polymath, or "universal man." After all, he reached heights in almost all areas of science and art. In this article, you will learn the most interesting things from the life of this man.
Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the settlement of Anchiano in the Utuscan town of Vinci. The parents of the future genius were the lawyer Piero, 25 years old, and the peasant orphan Katerina, 15 years old. However, Leonardo, like his father, did not have a last name: da Vinci means "from Vinci."
Until the age of 3, the boy lived with his mother. The father soon married a noble but barren lady. As a result, 3-year-old Leonardo was brought up in new family separated forever from his mother.
Pierre da Vinci gave his son a comprehensive education and more than once tried to introduce him to the notarial business, but the boy did not show any interest in the profession. It is worth noting that during the Renaissance, illegitimate children were considered equal to legitimate ones. Therefore, even after the death of his father, Leonardo was helped by many noble people Florence and the town of Vinci itself.
Workshop of Verrocchio
At the age of 14, Leonardo became an apprentice in the studio of the painter Andrea del Verrocchio. There, the teenager drew, sculpted, learned the basics of the humanities and technical sciences. 6 years later, Leonardo qualified as a master and was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke, where he continued to study the basics of drawing and other significant disciplines.
The case of Leonardo's victory over a teacher has gone down in history. While working on the canvas "The Baptism of Christ", Verrocchio asked Leonardo to draw an angel. The student created an image that was many times more beautiful than the whole picture. As a result, the amazed Verrochio left painting for the rest of his life.
1472–1516
1472–1513 years are considered the most fruitful in the life of the artist. After all, it was then that polymath created his most famous creations.
In 1476–1481 Leonardo da Vinci had a private workshop in Florence. In 1480, the artist became famous and began to receive fabulously expensive orders.
1482–1499 da Vinci spent years in Milan. The genius arrived in the city as a messenger of peace. The head of Milan - the Duke of Moreau - often ordered da Vinci various inventions for wars and for the fun of the court. In addition, in Milan, Leonardo da Vinci began to keep a diary. Thanks to personal notes, the world learned about many discoveries and inventions of the creator, about his passion for music.
Due to the French invasion of Milan, in 1499 year the artist returned to Florence. In the city, the scientist served the Duke of Cesare Borgia. On his instructions, da Vinci often visited Romagna, Tuscany and Umbria. There, the master was engaged in reconnaissance and prepared the battlefields. After all, Cesare Borgia wanted to capture the Papal States. Whole christianity considered the duke a fiend, and da Vinci respected him for his perseverance and talent.
In 1506 Leonardo da Vinci returned to Milan, where he studied anatomy and the study of the structure of organs with the support of the Medici family. In 1512, the scientist moved to Rome, where he worked under the patronage of Pope Leo X until the latter's death.
In 1516 Leonardo da Vinci became a court adviser to the King of France, Francis I. The ruler allocated Clos Luce Castle to the artist and gave him complete freedom of action. In addition to an annual fee of 1000 ECUs, the scientist received an estate with vineyards. Da Vinci noted that the French years gave him a comfortable old age and were the most calm and happy in life.
Death and grave
Leonardo da Vinci's life ended on May 2, 1519, presumably from a stroke. However, the signs of the disease appeared long before that. The artist could not move his right hand due to partial paralysis since 1517, and shortly before his death, he completely lost the ability to walk. The maestro bequeathed all his property to his students.
Da Vinci's first tomb was destroyed during the Huguenot wars. Remains various people mixed and buried in the garden. Later, the archaeologist Arsene Usse identified the artist's skeleton from the description and transferred it to a restored grave on the territory of the Amboise castle.
In 2010, a group of scientists intended to exhume the body and conduct a DNA examination. For comparison, it was planned to take the material of the buried relatives of the artist. However, the owners of the castle Watermelon did not allow the exhumation of da Vinci.
Secrets of personal life
Personal life kept them in the strictest confidence. The artist described all love events in his diary using a special cipher. Scientists put forward 3 opposite versions regarding the personal life of a genius:
Secrets in the life of da Vinci
In 1950, the list of Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion, a Jerusalem order of monks founded in the 11th century, was made public. According to the list, Leonardo da Vinci was a member of a secret organization.
A number of researchers believe that the artist was its leader at all. The main task of the group was to restore the Merovingian dynasty, the direct descendants of Christ, on the throne of France. Another of the group's missions was to keep the marriage of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene a secret.
Historians dispute the existence of the Priory and consider Leonardo's participation in it a hoax. Scientists emphasize that the Priory of Sion was created in 1950 with the participation of Pierre Plantard. According to them, the documents were forged at the same time.
However, few surviving facts can only speak of the caution of the monks of the order and their desire to hide their activities. Da Vinci's style of writing also speaks in favor of the theory. The author wrote from left to right, as if imitating Hebrew writing.
The secret of the Priory formed the basis of Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code. Based on the work in 2006, a film of the same name was shot. The plot talks about the cryptex allegedly invented by da Vinci - a device for encryption. When you try to hack the device, everything written is dissolved by vinegar.
Leonardo da Vinci's predictions
Some historians consider Leonardo da Vinci a seer, others consider him a time traveler who fell into the Middle Ages from the future. So, scientists are wondering how the inventor could create a gas mixture for scuba without knowledge of biochemistry. However, questions are raised not only by da Vinci's inventions, but also by his predictions. Many prophecies have already come true.
So, Leonardo da Vinci described Hitler and Stalin in detail, and also predicted the appearance of:
- missiles;
- phone;
- skype;
- players;
- electronic money;
- loans;
- paid medicine;
- globalization, etc.
In addition, da Vinci painted the end of the world by depicting an atomic mushroom. Among the future cataclysms, scientists describe the failures of the earth's surface, the activation of volcanoes, the flood and the coming of the Antichrist.
inventions
Left the world a lot useful inventions, which became prototypes:
- parachute;
- airplane, hang-glider and helicopter;
- bicycle and car;
- robot;
- eyeglasses;
- telescope;
- spotlights;
- scuba gear and spacesuit;
- life buoy;
- military devices: a tank, a catapult, a machine gun, mobile bridges and a wheel lock.
Among the great inventions of da Vinci, his "Perfect City". After the plague pandemic, the scientist developed a Milan project with a competent layout and sewerage. It was supposed to divide the city into levels for the upper classes and trade, to ensure constant access of water to the houses.
In addition, the master rejected the narrow streets that were a breeding ground for infections, and emphasized the importance of wide squares and roads. However, the Duke of Milan, Lodovico Sforza, did not accept the bold scheme. Centuries later by brilliant project built up new town– London.
Leonardo da Vinci also left a mark on anatomy. The scientist was the first to describe the heart as a muscle and tried to create a prosthetic aortic valve. In addition, da Vinci accurately described and depicted the spine, thyroid gland, tooth structure, muscle structure, and the location of internal organs. Thus, the principles of anatomical drawing were created.
The genius also contributed to the development of art by developing blurry drawing technique and chiaroscuro.
Great paintings and their mysteries
He left behind many paintings, frescoes and drawings. However, 6 works were lost, the authorship of another 5 is disputed. The world's most famous 7 creations of Leonardo da Vinci:
1. Da Vinci's first work. The drawing is realistic, accurate and made with light pencil strokes. When looking at the landscape, it seems that you are looking at it from a high point.
2. "Turin self-portrait". The painter created a masterpiece 7 years before his death. The painting is valuable in that it gives the world an idea of what Leonardo da Vinci looked like. However, some art historians believe that this is just a sketch for the Mona Lisa, made from another person.
3. . The drawing was created as an illustration for the book. Da Vinci captured a naked man in 2 positions superimposed on each other. The work is considered both an achievement of art and science. After all, the artist embodied the canonical proportions of the body and golden ratio. Thus, the drawing emphasizes the natural ideality and mathematical proportionality of a person.
4. . The picture has a religious plot: it is dedicated to the Mother of God (Madonna) and the Christ Child. Despite its small size, the picture is striking in its purity, depth and beauty. But "Madonna Litta" is also shrouded in mystery and raises a lot of questions. Why does a baby have a chick in her arms? Why is the Mother of God's dress ripped open in the chest area? Why is the painting done in dark colors?
5. . The painting was commissioned by the monks, but due to moving to Milan, the artist never completed the work. The canvas depicts Mary with the newborn Jesus and the Magi. According to one version, the 29-year-old Leonardo himself is depicted among the men.
6th masterpiece –
The Last Supper is a fresco depicting the last supper of Christ. The work is no less mysterious and mysterious than the Mona Lisa.
The history of the creation of the canvas is shrouded in mysticism. The artist quickly painted portraits of all the characters in the picture.
However, it was impossible to find prototypes for Jesus Christ and Judas. Once da Vinci noticed a bright and spiritual young man in a church choir. The young man became the prototype of Christ. The search for a model for the drawing of Judas dragged on for years.
Later, da Vinci found the most heinous person in his opinion. The prototype of Judas was a drunkard found in a gutter. Having already completed the picture, Da Vinci learned that Judas and Christ were painted by him from the same person.
Among the mysteries of the Last Supper is Mary Magdalene. Da Vinci depicted her at the right hand of Christ, as a lawful wife. The marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene is also indicated by the fact that the contours of their bodies form the letter M - "Matrimonio" (marriage).
7th masterpiece - "Mona Lisa", or "La Gioconda"
"Mona Lisa", or "La Gioconda" - the most famous and mysterious picture Leonardo da Vinci. To this day, art critics argue who is depicted on the canvas. Among the popular versions: Lisa del Giocondo, Constanza d'Avalos, Pacifica Brandano, Isabella of Aragon, an ordinary Italian, da Vinci himself and even his student Salai in a woman's dress.
In 2005, it was proved that the painting depicts Lisa Gerandini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo. This was indicated by the notes of da Vinci's friend Agostino Vespucci. So, both names become explainable: Mona is an abbreviation for italian madonna, my mistress and Gioconda - by the name of Lisa Gerandini's husband.
Among the secrets of the picture is the demonic and at the same time divine smile of the Mona Lisa, which can enchant anyone. When focusing on the lips, it seems that they begin to smile more. It is said that people who look at this detail for a long time go crazy.
Computer research has shown that Mona Lisa's smile simultaneously expresses happiness, anger, fear and disgust. Some scientists are convinced that the effect is caused by the absence of front teeth, eyebrows, or the heroine's pregnancy. Others say that the smile seems to slip away because it is in the low-frequency light range.
The Smith-Kettlewell researcher claims that the smile-changing effect is due to random noises in the human visual system.
The view of the Mona Lisa is also written in a special way. From whatever angle you look at the girl, it seems that she is looking at you.
The technique of writing "Gioconda" is also impressive. The portrait, including the eyes and smile, is a series of golden sections. Face and hands form isosceles triangle, and some details fit perfectly into the golden rectangle.
Secrets of Da Vinci Paintings: Hidden Messages and Meanings
The paintings of Leonardo da Vinci are shrouded in mysteries, over which hundreds of scientists from all over the world are struggling. In particular, Hugo Conti decided to apply the mirror method. This idea was inspired by da Vinci's prose. The fact is that the author wrote from left to right, and his manuscripts can only be read with the help of a mirror. Conti applied the same approach to reading pictures.
It turned out that the characters in da Vinci's paintings point with their eyes and fingers to the places where a mirror should be placed.
A simple technique reveals hidden images and figures:
1. In the painting "The Virgin and Child, Saint Anna and John the Baptist" discovered a number of demons. According to one version, this is the Devil, according to another, the Old Testament god Yahweh in the papal tiara. It was believed that this god "protects the soul from the vices of the body."
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2. In the painting "John the Baptist"- tree of life Indian deity. A number of researchers believe that in this way the artist hid mysterious picture"Adam and Eve in Paradise". The canvas was often mentioned by da Vinci's contemporaries. For a long time it was believed that "Adam and Eve" is a separate picture.
3. On the "Mona Lisa" and "John the Baptist"- the head of a demon, the Devil or the god Yahweh in a helmet, somewhat similar to the hidden image on the canvas "Our Lady". With this, Conti explains the mystery of the looks in the paintings.
4. On the "Madonna in the Rocks"(“Madonna in the Grotto”) depicts the Virgin Mary, Jesus, John the Baptist and an Angel. But if you bring a mirror to the picture, you can see God and a number of biblical characters.
5. In the painting "The Last Supper" a hidden vessel is revealed in the hands of Jesus Christ. Researchers believe that this is the Holy Grail. In addition, thanks to the mirror, the two apostles become knights.
6. In the painting "Annunciation" angelic, and according to some versions, alien, images are hidden.
Hugo Conti believes that you can find a hidden mystical drawing in every picture. The main thing is to use a mirror for this.
In addition to mirror codes, Mona Lisa also stores secret messages under layers of paint. Graphic designers noticed that when the canvas is turned on its side, images of a buffalo, a lion, a monkey and a bird become visible. Da Vinci, thus, told the world about the four Essences of man.
Among interesting facts About da Vinci, the following can be noted:
- The genius was left-handed. Many scholars explain the master's special style of writing by this. Da Vinci always wrote in a mirror image - from left to right, although he knew how to write with his right hand.
- The creator was not constant: he quit one job and jumped to another, never returning to the previous one. Moreover, da Vinci moved to completely unrelated areas. For example, from art to anatomy, from literature to engineering.
- Da Vinci was talented musician and played the lyre beautifully.
- The artist was a zealous vegetarian. He not only did not eat animal food, but also did not wear leather and silk things. Da Vinci called people who eat meat "walking graveyards". But this did not prevent the scientist from being a manager at court feasts and creating new profession- "assistant" cook.
- Da Vinci's passion for drawing knew no bounds. So, the master spent hours sketching in detail the bodies of the hanged.
- According to one version, the scientist developed colorless and odorless poisons, as well as glass listening devices for Cesare Borgia.
They say that geniuses are born only when the world is ready to accept them. However, Leonardo da Vinci was way ahead of his time. The bulk of his discoveries and creations were appreciated only centuries later. Da Vinci proved by his own example that the human mind knows no boundaries.
Books were written about the titan of the Renaissance, films were made, monuments were erected in his honor. Minerals, craters on the Moon and asteroids were named after the great scientist. And in 1994 they found for real beautiful way perpetuate the memory of a genius.
Breeders have bred a new variety of historical rose, called Rosa Leonardo da Vinci. The plant blooms continuously, does not burn out and does not freeze in the cold, like the memory of the "universal man".
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Leonardo da Vinci is a scientist, engineer and thinker. But he is known to many as an artist, the author of such paintings as "Mona Lisa", "John the Baptist" and "The Last Supper". Thirteen works of the artist have been preserved, eight more are attributed to his authorship, several works have been lost. Of course, his contribution to art is significant: he was the first to blur the contours of the drawing, showed what could be scattered light and haze. The art of the Italian Renaissance received an impetus in its development and a galaxy brilliant artists including Michelangelo and Raphael.
Leonardo lived long life at court and had influential patrons. However, he called himself a scientist. Although throughout his life he was represented in different ways, even as a musician. After his death, he left paintings and manuscripts to two of his students.
He never had a family, and only minor records of his novels have been preserved in history. And scandalous: with their students and sometimes with models. In general, there have always been many secrets and rumors around his name. And even five hundred years later, humanity continues to unravel secret signs, which the seer hid not only in his paintings, but also in manuscripts devoted to scientific and research works.
firstborn
He was born on Great love and illegal communication in 1452 near Florence. His father Piero was from a noble family, and his mother Katerina was a peasant. At that time, such a misalliance could not exist. The father soon found his equal. The couple had no children, so at the age of three, Leonardo was taken by his father, deciding that he could give the child a good upbringing and education.
Ten years later, the stepmother died, and a year later, 14-year-old Leonardo left Father's house to study science and work as an apprentice with Andrea del Verrocchio. He had a famous workshop in Florence, where he completed commissions for sculpture and, rarely, for painting, for the house of the ruling Medici clan.
Historians do not exclude that for bronze sculpture David was posed for him by his student Leonardo: curls, head held high and the look of a winner. Anatomy, modeling human body Leonardo was interested from that time until the end of his life. Later, he will devote more than one of his works to this direction, creating the most famous drawing “Vitruvian Man” to illustrate the book of the scientist-encyclopedist Vitruvius. Ideal Proportions- that's what Leonardo was looking for, infected with the idea of his brilliant teacher. His sculptures still make up the "golden fund" of the Renaissance.
IN independent life students were released after six years. While he was studying, his father found a new stepmother for his first child. In total, Piero had four marriages and a dozen children, of which only his illegitimate son became one of the greatest minds. Piero died at the age of 77, when his son had already crossed the half-century mark, and he had already created the Mona Lisa.
He did not know anything about the fate of his mother for forty long years, but many researchers of the life of Leonardo da Vinci are inclined to assert that he tried to embody her image more than once on his canvases. The fact that she was a beauty, abandoned by her beloved and given in marriage to an unloved one - there is information about this. There is also evidence that she tried to see her son, came and watched him walk for a long time. Leonardo found out that Katerina was his mother as an adult.
At the age of 20, he qualified as a master. By this time, he managed to work on the "Annunciation" with other students and fulfill the teacher's assignment to write an angel for a large-scale canvas "The Baptism of Christ", which became a step in great art. Such assistance was common practice. A talented student completed the order, but the teacher was shocked to such an extent that he recognized the superiority of Leonardo and threw the brush into the far corner for the rest of his days.
Universal Man
Leonardo could write for hours without stopping for food, rest or other business. This is how his disciple remembered the master, who will accompany him to the end. Francesco Melzi will also become his heir. They will meet when he is 15 and Leonardo is 26 years old. At this time, he opened his own workshop and soon received a large order from the monks. The painting "The Adoration of the Magi" remained unfinished, but in it the author allegedly portrayed himself. To the right, in the corner, with his head turned, stands a curly-haired young man. He does not look at the center, where Mary is sitting with the baby, and where the eyes of all the depicted people are turned, as if the only one sees something in the distance. He began to write it in 1481, but soon left for Milan and never returned to it.
In the Vatican, another work of this year - also unfinished: "Saint Jerome", which suffered a sad fate. After the death of the painter, it was cut in half, and the lower part was used as a tabletop. One of the cardinals discovered it in a shop quite by accident after 150 years, and the Pope bought it for 2.5 million francs.
Leonardo was distracted from these works by another order: Lorenzo Medici himself, the head of the Florentine Republic, an art connoisseur and philanthropist, asked him to go to Milan, allegedly on a peacekeeping mission. In those days, the regions of Italy were in conflict, the troubled Venice was to blame.
Knowing the love of Duke Lodovik Moreau for music, Leonardo made him a lyre as a gift, the lower deck of which was decorated with a silver shield in the shape of a horse's head. He himself performed a cantata on it, it was Leonardo's favorite instrument, on which he played virtuoso. The artistic addition was not only decoration, it also enhanced the sound. The cantata, performed by the Florentine, extolled the duke and the Sforza dynasty, and most of all the regent Moro. It also marked the beginning of friendship between the nobility and Leonardo. It is known that he painted portraits of both favorites of the duke: Cecilia is depicted in the painting “Lady with an Ermine” (this animal is on the coat of arms of Sforza), and Lucrezia posed for him for the portrait of “Beautiful Ferroniera”. By the way, the first portrait is kept in Poland - the only one of the four portraits of women written by da Vinci.
At the same time, work began on the order of the duke to create a monument to Sforza on horseback. The original clay version was damaged when the French captured Milan and the rulers had to abandon it. So that's how it came to the bronze performance.
The Milan period for the 30-year-old Leonardo was fruitful. He was very good-looking, witty, interesting, so it is not surprising that historians attribute to him an affair with one of the duke's mistresses. Whether he was Platonic or quite real - this is another secret of the great da Vinci, about whose personal life there is practically no documentary data. Some considered him a homosexual, but many considered him a virgin.
On that first trip to Milan, Leonardo brought with him not only the lyre, but also a letter offering military services. He writes that he owns several unique recipes against enemies. For example, he knows how to sink a ship and build spinguards - tools for destroying walls. Engineering talent was to his liking and Moreau enlisted him in the staff of ducal engineers. Leonardo zealously set to work: he began to strengthen and decorate the facade of the castle, design passages and a door that closes with a counterweight.
Drawings have been preserved, where the architectural and engineering thought of Leonard speaks of his excellent knowledge of fortification, his advanced ideas in the field of defense.
In addition to these concerns, he was involved in the construction of the Milan Cathedral, around which there were confrontations between German and Italian masters. Sketches from that time show how tenaciously da Vinci worked to solve the problem of placing domes. He even managed to get a fee for the project, but another Florentine architect continued the centuries-old construction of the Gothic Duomo.
Nevertheless, among the drawings left by Leonardo, there are several dedicated to the architecture of churches and cathedrals, sketches for strengthening foundations and the stability of decorative elements. And at the request of the duke, he began to write a "Treatise on Painting" in order to draw a line under their dispute - which is more important of all the arts.
But this work has become much wider, although like his other projects. In total, he wrote thirteen works about art. He treated him with exact scientific approach: the same observations, studies, experiments. He read and studied a lot in order to bring something new to the technique of painting.
He paints "Madonna in the Grotto" and "Portrait of a Musician", starts work on the fresco "The Last Supper". This large-scale work will be with him for almost three years. He will finish it by the age of 46. In total, he will spend seventeen years at the court of the Duke of Milan, occasionally leaving him on business to other cities.
In parallel, he conducts engineering activities. Studies, drawings and drawings dedicated to aviation appear in his manuscripts. He invented a mechanism resembling a helicopter and a prototype of the future modern parachute.
He was not in Florence for a long time. He returned home following his fame. But everything changed here, Lorenzo Medici left, the new rulers were far from art, he did not receive large orders.
The only significant proposal from representatives of the church was the painting "Saint Anna with the Madonna and Child", on which he will work for 10 years. He also proposed to the authorities the project of the Florence-Pisa canal, but the rulers of these cities were at enmity all the time, and Leonardo's engineering talent was out of work.
But in Romagna, a region of Italy, where the new ruler, the young Duke Cesare Borgia, tried to unite small feudal lands in one state, his knowledge of the sciences came in handy. He gladly accepted the Duke's invitation. The task is to connect the town of Cesena with a canal to the Adriatic port. However, life there was very hectic due to military conflicts and assassination attempts on the duke. Leonardo left the project and left for Constantinople to build a bridge.
He wrote to the Turkish authorities, offering his various services, and now he received an invitation. The Turkish story also turned out to be short: he left his calculations and went to Florence, where they nevertheless decided to lay a canal. The hydraulic structure from Florence to Pisa is described in detail in the Codex Atlanticus. He skillfully approaches trifles, calculations, studies the structure of the earth and thinks about strengthening.
But painting does not give up. This time, he reflected the horrors of the war in the canvas “Battle of Anghiari”. The fresco has not survived.
The creation of his most mysterious work belongs to this period: the portrait of Mona Lisa. Until now, it remains unknown who this woman is and what her secret is. With this work, he goes to Florence, and only after a while paints the background of the picture. The artist never parted with her, and there are many versions of such care, in general, not characteristic of Leonardo.
The next seven years, from the summer of 1506, he will spend in Milan at the invitation of the French governor. The city is under his control, the once powerful Sforza clan was partially destroyed, someone survived, fleeing. During this period, his father dies, business calls to go to Florence, where several unpleasant months await him. The funeral is overshadowed by squabbles in the family, due to the lack of a will. The division of property took place behind the scenes between stepbrothers and sisters who do not take Leonardo into account in this case. The eldest son, and even the illegitimate one, was not part of their plans. Soon uncle Francesco also died, leaving both a will and a share of the inheritance for his nephew. The brothers went to extreme lengths to forge the document. So there was no trial. By the way, he won the process, and there was something to fight for: his father owned several land plots, capital and real estate.
But for a long time he did not harbor a grudge against the brothers: before his death, he left them his savings. He did not consider money to be something valuable, unlike paintings and manuscripts - this is unconditional wealth, and the family did not get it.
In 1509, he set about building a lock that would protect Milan from floods. But it was not completed, citing a lack of funding.
Many useful engineering works remained only on paper, however, as well as a dozen sculptures not embodied in marble and bronze. In the form of sketches, the last major sculpture project, which Leonardo worked on at the age of 60, remained in the form of sketches: a statue of Marshal Trivulzio on horseback. This time, circumstances prevented: Milan was captured by the French, who held power in the city for more than a year. The return of the Sforza did not bode well for da Vinci, he fell into disgrace as a man who was in the service of the French. Therefore, he was glad to be invited to Rome, where he came to power new dad from the Medici family, who always favored genius. But even there they put spokes in the wheels. Leonardo left a note about how he was not allowed to conduct anatomical research, which he has been passionate about for the past few years. Denunciations flowed to his address that he was working with corpses, they saw this as not a healthy interest. Meanwhile, he left behind research, having studied in detail the structure of all the muscles of the human body, which was in demand not only by sculptors, but also by physicians.
The Louvre also houses the master's last artistic work, John the Baptist, written by him in Rome. He hoped to get a job painting the Sistine Chapel, but it was given to younger colleagues. Michelangelo, Raphael and many other talented artists were already breathing in the back of the elderly creator.
Last shelter
When the king of France offered tempting conditions for activity and life, Leonardo immediately agreed. At the age of 63, health was fooling around, but no one was waiting at home. With his student, with whom he did not part for almost 30 years, he set off on his last journey.
They accepted him with honors, gave him the title of "the first painter and architect" under the king. They provided a mansion in the castle, an income of seven hundred gold crowns a year. From the bedroom window, he saw the amazing castle of the patron and made a drawing. Tourists can see him among some things, the environment in which the creator died.
His hand was not moving well. Last year he hardly got out of bed. He died at the age of 68 in a calm atmosphere, in the care and attention of his students.
His heir, Francesco Melzi, kept paintings and a mountain of manuscripts for the most different topics of which only a third survived.
One of my favorite books so far is "The Da Vinci Code". The genre of the work - a mystical detective - masterfully creates an aura of mystery around the already mysterious phenomenon of Leonardo. I can’t call him only an artist or a sculptor, since this person was Creator(and only with capital letter) of the Renaissance, multifaceted and talented. So who was Leonardo da Vinci?
How it all started
What a pity that photography and cinema did not appear until several centuries after Leonardo. I really want to see what this person looked like, what clothes he wore, smiled or, on the contrary, frowned his shaggy eyebrows. However, the strict image of the master can still be seen in Piazza della Scala in Milan. Monument, depicting Leonardo and his students, it's hard not to notice, but it's very easy to spend an hour looking at His face.
Da Vinci was originally identified by his father in painters and sculptors and began to study in Florence. An inquisitive mind and a thirst for knowledge did not limit young man only in the realm of art. were soon mastered Humanities sciences, chemistry, modeling and drafting.
After Florence, da Vinci ends up in Milan, where he becomes engineer at the court of the Duke of Sforza. We can say that it was the duke who contributed to the development of new directions in Leonardo's "career": architecture and mechanics.
If we imagine that the Skolkovo Foundation already existed in the Renaissance, then the drawings and projects of the newly-minted engineer would be considered innovative and would immediately single out the grand. The scope of Leonardo's scientific interest had the widest range: from military devices up to peaceful inventions.
Who was Leonardo da Vinci
Throughout his long enough life (he died at the age of 67), the creator was able to achieve amazing success in many areas science and art. For example.
