Leonardo daVinci:(1252-1519)

The Renaissance Man

By Supreet Sahu12112061

Humble Beginnings

• Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the outskirts of the town Vinci in the Republic of Florence (now known as Italy)

• Born as an illegitimate son of a wealthy Florentine notary, Messer Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci, and a peasant woman, Caterina, he began his life facing hardship and obscurity.

Humble Beginnings

• As a child, Leonardo received a crude

informal education in Latin, geometry and

mathematics but no formal education.

• With no privilege of a formal education, Da

Vinci launched a self-education program.

• He grew up in nature, and began to use his

keen skill of observation to learn about the

world around him and made detailed

sketches and journals of his observations.

Accomplishments

• Painter

• Sculptor

• Anatomist

• Engineer

• Scientist

• Inventor

• War Machines

• Cartography

• Flight

• Mathematician

• Architect

• Botanist

• Musician

• Writer

• Bridge-Building

• Philosophy

Leonardo as a painter

• He was also exposed to Vinci's longstanding

painting tradition, and when he was about 15

his father apprenticed him to the renowned

workshop of Andrea del Verrochio in Florence.

• Even as an apprentice, Leonardo

demonstrated his colossal talent.

• Leonardo is the creator of some of the world’s

greatest artworks.

The Baptism of Christ :Artists:Andrea del Verrocchio & Leonardo da VinciYear: 1472-1475Type: Oil on wood Dimensions:177 cm × 151 cm (70 in × 59 in)Location:Uffizi, Florence

Mona LisaArtist: Leonardo da VinciYear: 1503–1506,perhaps continuing until c. 1517

Type : Oil on poplarDimensions: 77 cm × 53 cm (30 in × 21 in)Location:Museé du Louvre, Paris

• Widely acclaimed as "the best known,the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, and the mostparodied work of art in the world.“

• Not only do the eyes “follow” you, but also the elusive smile on her facelends an air of mystery.

The Last Supper

Artist: Leonardo da VinciYear: 1494–1498Type: tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic

Dimensions: 460 cm × 880 cm (181 in × 346 in)Location: Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan

Man in Red Chalk

Artist: Leonardo da VinciYear: 1512Type: Red chalk on PaperDimensions: 33.3 cm × 21.6 cm (13.1 in × 8.5 in)Location: Biblioteca Reale, Turin

•Leonardo was about 60 years old in this portrait.•Though the authenticity of this portrait is still under debate, The Man in Red Chalk is still the most iconic of his self-portraits.

Leonardo as an anatomist

• Leonardo was an expert anatomist and was allowed to dissect cadavers under the supervision of Verocchio. Verocchio stressed that an artist must learn human anatomy exhaustively to make perfect body shapes.

• The detail with which Leonardo da Vinci observed, recorded, drew, documented his medical findings set an example for researchers and medical practitioners for centuries to come.

Leonardo as an anatomist

• Leonardo's anatomical drawings include many studies of the human skeleton and its parts, and studies muscles and sinews.

• He studied the mechanical functions of the skeleton and the muscular forces that are applied to it in a manner that prefigured the modern science of biomechanics.

• He drew the heart and vascular system, the sex organs and other internal organs, making one of the first scientific drawings of a fetus in uterus.

• The drawings and notation are far ahead of their time, and if published, would undoubtedly have made a major contribution to medical science.

VitruviuN Man

Artist: Leonardo da VinciYear: 1490Type: Pen and ink with wash overmetal point on paper

Dimensions: 34.4 cm × 25.5 cm (13.5 in × 10.0 in)

•This image demonstrates the blend of artand science during the Renaissanceand provides the perfect example of Leonardo's deep understanding of proportion.• In addition, this picture represents a cornerstone of Leonardo's attempts to relate manto nature.

Proportions of VitruviuN Man1. The length of the outspread arms is equal to the height of a man2. From the hairline to the bottom of the chin is one-tenth of the height of a man3. From below the chin to the top of the head is one-eighth of the height of a man4. From above the chest to the top of the head is one-sixth of the height of a man5. From above the chest to the hairline is one-seventh of the height of a man.6. The maximum width of the shoulders is a quarter of the height of a man.7. From the breasts to the top of the head is a quarter of the height of a man.8. The distance from the elbow to the tip of the hand is a quarter of the height of a

man.9. The distance from the elbow to the armpit is one-eighth of the height of a man.10. The length of the hand is one-tenth of the height of a man.11. The root of the penis is at half the height of a man.12. The foot is one-seventh of the height of a man.13. From below the foot to below the knee is a quarter of the height of a man.14. From below the knee to the root of the penis is a quarter of the height of a

man.

Anatomical Studies of the Arm

showing the Movements made

by the Biceps

Year: 1510

Anatomical

studies of a

human skeleton

Major internal organs in the trunk

The Heart

First ever drawings of a fetus

Leonardo as an Inventor/Engineer

• During his lifetime Leonardo was valued as an engineer.

• Leonardo's journals include a vast number of inventions,

both practical and impractical.

• They include musical instruments, a mechanical knight,

hydraulic pumps, reversible crank mechanisms, finned

mortar shells, and a steam cannon.

• Doing DaVinci was a popular science television program

originally aired on the Discovery Channel in which the

hosts attempted to create many of Leonardo da

Vinci's inventions. The show aired for 2 seasons (5 episodes

each) with the first episode broadcast on April 13, 2009.

Leonardo as an Inventor/Engineer

• Adapted drawing skills to the more lucrative fields of architecture, military engineering, canal building and weapons design

• Based on gear mechanism, he came up with lots of different ideas, including the bicycle, a helicopter, an “auto-mobile”, and many military weapons.

• Leonardo was an exceptional military and war engineer.

Leonardo’s first concept of a catapult

33 barrel Machine Gun

•This machine consisted of

three sets of machine guns, set

on a rotating drum.

•When the first set is fired, the

force of the explosion would

pivot the guns down, bringing

the next set of guns to the top,

ready to be fired.

•The Gatling guns are made on

the same principle of high

firepower from different

barrels.

Leonardo’s flight machines

• For much of his life, Leonardo was obsessed by the phenomenon of flight, producing many studies of the flight of birds.

• He planned for several flying machines, including a flapping ornithopter and a air screw helicopter.

• The British television station Channel Four commissioned a documentary Leonardo's Dream Machines, for broadcast in 2003. Leonardo's designs for machines such as a parachute were interpreted, constructed and tested.

World’s Smallest Ornithopter

• Though most of Leonardo’s flight machines

were impractical using the gear technology

available back then, the human kite and

pyramid parachute have been proved to work

fine.

• And using modern technology on small scale

models, engineers have made an impressive

working ornithopter.

Idiosyncrasies

• We all respect a scientist, but we love a mad scientist! Leonardo was pretty much a mad scientist owing to these habits of his.

• Leonardo was a strict vegetarian his entire life.

• Leonardo’s favorite way of spending money was buying a lot of caged animals and freeing them.

• He hardly ever completed any task he started. In his lifetime, he started 17 major paintings but completed only 6 of them. And out of all the machines he devised, he only completed the ones required for defense purposes.

• Leonardo wrote in Italian using a special kind of short hand that he invented himself.

• He usually used “mirror writing,” starting at the right side of the page and moving to the left

• Only when he was writing something intended for other people did he write in the normal direction

• The reason may have been more a practical expediency than for reasons of secrecy as is often suggested.

• Since Leonardo wrote with his left hand, it is probable that it was easier for him to write from right to left.

Leonardo’s signature in his books

Why he’s the smartest man to have lived?

• A genius, according to wikipedia.org, is a person with great intelligence, who shows an exceptional natural capacity of intellect, especially as shown in creative and original work.

• Geniuses always show strong individuality and imagination, and are not only intelligent, but unique and innovative.

• Leonardo gained his intimate knowledge of the world despite lacking a formal education and despite facing seemingly insurmountable odds. His work is not only creative and original, but revolutionary.

Legacy• Doing Da Vinci

• Da Vinci’s Demons

• The Da Vinci Code

Thank You!!!

References:

•en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci

•www.italian-renaissance-art.com

•www.dailymail.co.uk

•www.art.com