Friday, September 10, 2010

The Amazing Leonardo Da Vinci

    (1452-1519), Florentine artist, one of the great masters of the High Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci who's profound love of knowledge and research was the keynote of both his artistic and scientific endeavors. His innovations in the field of painting influenced the course of Italian art for more than a century after his death, and his scientific studies particularly in the fields of anatomy, optics, and hydraulics anticipated many of the developments of modern science. 
      He was an astronomer, sculptor, geologist, mathematician, botanist, animal behaviourist, inventor, engineer, architect and even a musician. He was all of these things and more.  Leonardo da Vinci remains one of the most fascinating people history has ever known. He once said that "things of the mind left untested by the senses are useless." Leonardo left little untested. Leonardo Da Vinci's numerous skills have earned him the title of renaissance master.


Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 - 1519)

 Da Vinci's Paintings


            The Last Supper
Leonardo da Vinci was already a well known artist when he created his masterpiece The Last Supper. He painted it on the back wall of the dining hall at the Dominican convent of Sta Maria delle Grazie in Italy. The reason the painting is laid out the way it is is that Leonardo was trying to "extend the room", to make it look like Jesus and his apostles were sitting at the end of the dining hall. This painting became an instant famous work, for many reasons. 


 Mona Lisa
     
    One of the most famous paintings in the world, the portrait of the Mona Lisa is referred to as simply the Mona Lisa, La Joconde, or La Gioconda. It is an oil on board painting that is 77cm high and 53cm wide. It is thought that the portrait is the wife of the wealthy socialite Francesco del Giocondo, Lisa Gherardini.
  People wonder why it is that her facial expression seems to change depending on the direction from which you look at her.
Given the fact that Da Vinci manages to capture so many different emotions and character-traits in one painting, it seems natural that every time one looks at the Mona Lisa, one sees something different, irrespective from which direction the painting is looked at.
   The mouth often tells the truth about a person, and Mona Lisa's suggests balance, in mood and in personality. This is a woman that is young, but displays a calm and sobriety normally associated with an elderly person.the Mona Lisa "may have been painted to mark one of two events.. either when Francesco del Giocondo and his wife bought their own house in 1503, or when their second son, Andrea, was born in December 1502 after the death of a daughter in 1499. The delicate dark veil that covers Mona Lisa's hair is sometimes considered a mourning veil. In fact, such veils were commonly worn as a mark of virtue. Her clothing is unremarkable. Neither the yellow sleeves of her gown, nor her pleated gown, nor the scarf delicately draped round her shoulders are signs of aristocratic status."

His Inventions

    Parachute

  Leonardo's parachute design consists of sealed linen cloth held open by a pyramid of wooden poles, about seven metres long. The original design was scribbled by Da Vinci in a notebook in 1483. An accompanying note read: "If a man is provided with a length of gummed linen cloth with a length of 12 yards on each side and 12 yards high, he can jump from any great height whatsoever without injury."

 Flight


Leonardo Quotes

The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.
There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see
Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art
Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation ... even so does inaction sap the vigour of the mind.

2 comments:

  1. Excellent post, leonardo da Vinci is indeed one of the most fascinating and influential people in history

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the positive comment Juliet!Like your organic blog by the way.

    ReplyDelete