Leonardo da Vinci

Subject: Leonardo da Vinci Fri Sep 01, 2006 6:56 pm

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci

April 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519)
Da Vinci was a talented Italian Renaissance Roman Catholic polymath: architect, anatomist, sculptor, engineer, inventor, geometer, scientist, mathematician, musician and painter. He has been described as the archetype of the "Renaissance man", a man infinitely curious and equally inventive. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time.

· He had a keen eye and quick mind that led him to make important scientific discoveries, yet he never published his ideas.
· He was a gentle vegetarian who loved animals and despised war, yet he worked as a military engineer to invent advanced and deadly weapons.
· He was one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance, yet he left only a handful of completed paintings.

Subject: Re: Leonardo da Vinci Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:57 am

Leonardo Da Vinci

Why is the Mona Lisa Smiling?

Leonardo Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa on a piece of pine wood in the year 1506.
Never in the history of Art has one painting been so admired. This is due largely to the enigmatic smile, which has caused much speculation. He recorded in his notebooks the records of model sittings; but nowhere can be found any records of the Mona Lisa model sitting. Why is that? Who posed for him? Dr. Lillian Schwartz of Bell Labs suggests that Leonardo painted himself, and was able to support her theory by analyzing the facial features of Leonardo's face and that of the famous painting, She digitized both the self-portrait of the artist and the Mona Lisa. She flipped the self portrait and merged the two images together using a computer. She noticed the features of the face aligned perfectly! You may draw your own conclusion.

Subject: Re: Leonardo da Vinci Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:59 am

Leonardo Da Vinci

Portrait of Cecilia Gallarani (Lady with an Ermine), 1485.
Czartoryski Museum at Cracow.

Subject: Re: Leonardo da Vinci Wed Sep 13, 2006 7:02 am

Leonardo Da Vinci

Da Vinci has been described as the archetype of the "Renaissance man", a man infinitely curious and equally inventive. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and a universal genius.
Leonardo is famous for his realistic paintings, such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, as well as for influential drawings such as the Vitruvian Man. He conceived of ideas vastly ahead of his own time, notably conceptually inventing the helicopter, a tank, the use of concentrated solar power, the calculator, a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics, the double hull, and many others. Relatively few of his designs were constructed or were feasible during his lifetime; modern scientific approaches to metallurgy and engineering were only in their infancy during the Renaissance. In addition, he greatly advanced the state of knowledge in the fields of anatomy, astronomy, civil engineering, optics, and the study of water (hydrodynamics). Of his works, only a few paintings survive, together with his notebooks (scattered among various collections) containing drawings, scientific diagrams and notes.

Subject: Re: Leonardo da Vinci Wed Sep 13, 2006 7:06 am

Leonardo Da Vinci

Why Leonardo did not publish or otherwise distribute the contents of his notebooks remains a mystery to those who believe that Leonardo wanted to make his observations public knowledge. Technological historian Lewis Mumford suggests that Leonardo kept notebooks as a private journal, intentionally censoring his work from those who might irresponsibly use it (the tank, for instance). They remained obscure until the 19th century, and were not directly of value to the development of science and technology. In January 2005, researchers discovered the hidden laboratory used by Leonardo da Vinci for studies of flight and other pioneering scientific work in previously sealed rooms at a monastery next to the Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata, in the heart of Florence.

Subject: Re: Leonardo da Vinci Wed Sep 13, 2006 7:07 pm

Leonardo Da Vinci

The Virgin and Child with St. Anne
Paris, Musee du Louvre
Leonardo was commissioned to do this work for the church at St. Annunziata in Florence. In 1501 the design which served as a basis for this painting was displayed to the public, with an enthusiastic response.

Subject: Re: Leonardo da Vinci Wed Sep 13, 2006 7:28 pm

Leonardo Da Vinci

Detail from the Annunciation
Florence, Uffizi
Painted for the convent of San Bartolomeo di Moneoliveto between 1475 and 1478.

Subject: Re: Leonardo da Vinci Wed Sep 13, 2006 7:33 pm

Leonardo Da Vinci

Angels and Landscape of the Baptism of Christ
Florence, Uffizi
When Leonardo worked under Verrocchio he participated in many works including this painting of two angels. Leonardo painted the angel on the left, which differs stylistically from its companion on the right.

Subject: Re: Leonardo da Vinci Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:10 pm

Leonardo Da Vinci

Portrait of Ginerva de' Benci, 1474,National Gallery at Washington

Subject: Re: Leonardo da Vinci Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:24 pm

Leonardo Da Vinci

Drawing of a Woman's Head, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

"Leonardo da Vinci was like a man who awoke too early in the darkness, while the others were all still asleep"
Sigmund Freud

Subject: Re: Leonardo da Vinci Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:51 pm

Leonardo Da Vinci

John the Baptist

It has been the subject of much speculation whether da Vinci was an orthodox Christian or whether he was a heretic. Many conspiracy theorists believe that he was "infected" with the Johannite heresy, that is he regarded not Jesus Christ but John the Baptist as the real Christ. This subject has also been the source for many best-selling books in recent times.

Subject: Re: Leonardo da Vinci Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:56 pm

Leonardo Da Vinci

Plato

Leonardo kept his private life particularly secret. He claimed to have a distaste of physical relations: his comment that "the act of procreation and anything that has any relation to it is so disgusting that human beings would soon die out if there were no pretty faces and sensuous dispositions", was later interpreted by Sigmund Freud, in an analysis of the artist, as indicative of his "frigidity"