Leonardo da Vinci as a thinker. Leonardo da Vinci as a philosopher

First in Italy, and then literally all over the world, a new era began - the Renaissance or Renaissance. At that distant time, it touched almost all spheres of people’s lives. The philosophy of the Renaissance was and is very different from that of the Middle Ages. The main changes concerned man, his place and role in the world, as well as knowledge and in-depth study of nature. Renaissance figures revived the scientific theories and artistic principles of their predecessors in Ancient Rome and Greece.

The philosophy of the Renaissance slightly pushed religion away from the foreground in all areas. The new era gave the world a huge number of outstanding people - philosophers, artists, sculptors, talented scientists and engineers. Perhaps the most famous of them is Leonardo da Vinci.

Artist from the province

Leonardo was born in the small village of Vinci, located not very far from Florence. From early childhood he was interested in nature and painting. He never left the house without a roll of paper and always made sketches - birds, animals, trees, people. He made a huge number of sketches, most of which were crumpled and thrown away by him. He was always fascinated by small details, and he constantly wanted to get to the very essence - the structure of a tree leaf, the muscles of a horse, the eyes of a dragonfly. Leonardo da Vinci was incredibly happy when his father sent him to study in Florence with one of the best artists and sculptors in Italy at that time.

Philosophy of the Renaissance artist

While learning with pleasure the skills of drawing, graphics and sculpture, Leonardo da Vinci never ceased to be interested in science and did not miss the opportunity to talk with famous Florentine geographers, engineers, and doctors. He absorbed everything they said with incredible interest. In parallel with this, many images appeared in the genius’s head - and he immediately made new sketches. Leonardo da Vinci was primarily interested in people. He looked at them in the market, on the street, in small courtyards. He incredibly accurately remembered and sketched eye expressions, forehead wrinkles, hand positions and folds in clothing. Leonardo da Vinci later used these images in his paintings. When painting the “Madonna and Child,” he depicted not divine (“inanimate,” as he said) images, but real people - a young, caring woman and a small child. The same can be said about all his paintings. Be it images of famous personalities, biblical figures - there are living people with their earthly emotions and traits.

This was the philosophy of the Renaissance of the brilliant artist, which later became universal at that great time.

Artist, sculptor, engineer and designer

The philosophy of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance also differed in that in the first case, noble feudal lords did not want to burden themselves with “unnecessary” expenses for the construction of various machines that would significantly simplify the work and life of people. Leonardo da Vinci, being a master of painting and sculpture, was also an incredibly talented technician. Having studied the basics of engineering, he created (unfortunately, mostly only on paper) a large number of irrigation structures, aircraft and weapons. If the philosophy of the Renaissance of Leonardo da Vinci and his technical solutions had “reached” people a little earlier, then, rest assured, humanity in its development at that time and at the present time was several levels higher.

According to Wikipedia, Leonardo da Vinci was: an artist, sculptor, architect, anatomist, natural scientist, inventor, writer, musician, in short, a “universal man”, and simply put, a genius. This May marked exactly 500 years since the death of this great man. That's how many amazing things he developed based on his observations of the nature of things and processes.

Engineering

Leonardo da Vinci's fame as a genius came during his lifetime. And not only thanks to his paintings and works in the field of sculpture, but also to numerous diverse inventions. In the master’s surviving documents you can find diagrams of helicopters and gliders, gearboxes and cranes. Da Vinci also came up with prototypes of a modern diving suit and parachute. But he placed greater emphasis on military equipment, while being a pacifist himself. This is due to the desire to please their patrons - the kings of Italy and France.

Among Da Vinci's sketches is a sketch of a vehicle that is armored and capable of firing in any direction (the design of a modern tank is based on the same principle). This idea was never brought to life, and many centuries later it turned out that da Vinci’s “tank” was not very practical. If he had been built the way the master intended, he would not have been able to ride. In the master’s diagram, the front wheels of the device should have rotated in the opposite direction from the rear wheels. Perhaps Leonardo made such a mistake deliberately, not wanting the destructive machine to be built.

Da Vinci also dreamed of flying and often drew fancy flying machines. Thanks to them, a person could fly like a bird. According to da Vinci's idea, flying machines - ornithopters - would be driven by a person himself, who would control the wings using a special mechanism. The flight principle of ornithopters is very similar to modern hang gliders. Leonardo also had the idea of ​​a “propeller,” which anticipated the advent of helicopters. But alas, helicopters and ornithopters remained only on paper, like most other projects. However, many of them trace the ideas that modern inventors used in their devices.

Attempts to make machines according to da Vinci's drawings have been made in our time. Many of them are over failure, but there were also successful tests. For example, a self-propelled car driven by springs drove several meters. Perhaps, if Leonardo had 21st century materials in the 15th century, he would have successfully brought his engineering ideas to life.

Mathematics

Although we all think of Leonardo da Vinci primarily as an artist, he considered himself more of a scientist. He especially liked the rigor of mathematics and geometry. In his paintings, da Vinci used the mathematical principles of linear perspective to create the illusion of depth on a flat surface. This can be seen in his painting “The Annunciation” and in “The Last Supper”.

At one time, Leonardo tried to find a way to construct, using a compass and a ruler, a square that would be equal in area to a given circle (by the way, this problem has not yet been solved). To find a solution, the master used the mathematical method of the golden section, drawing the “Vitruvian Man”. Da Vinci also used the golden ratio in his most famous painting, “Mona Lisa,” creating a harmonious canvas.

Hydrology and water engineering

Leonardo da Vinci devoted a lot of time to studying the dynamics of water. In the Codex Leicester, written in 1510, Leonardo made 730 (!) conclusions about the movement of water, many of which turned out to be true. He described the hydrological cycle and the effect of flow velocity on pressure, and also expressed ideas about engineered canals and reservoirs that could irrigate the land and control floods. He also drew a special device, similar to boots, that would allow a person to walk on water.

It can be said that Leonardo was the first hydrologist to formulate truthful hypotheses about the movement of water, tested by modern scientists, based only on empirical data. His contributions to water science and technology are highly valued by modern hydrologists and engineers.

Optical illusions and physiognomy

In his Codex Urbinas, Leonardo da Vinci introduced the concept of “moti mentali” - “impulses and movements of the soul” associated with bodily movements. Moreover, he wrote an entire book where he presented a scientific analysis of the structure and proportions of the face. Da Vinci believed that the goal of portrait painters should be to represent the inner thoughts of their subjects, not just their appearance.

To convey an ambiguous facial expression, the master improved the “sfumato” technique, invented by another artist. In it, transitions from dark to light or from one color to another are barely noticeable, which softens sharp lines and creates optical illusions. The use of this technique is especially noticeable in the Mona Lisa. The optical illusion created by da Vinci around a woman's mouth makes some people see her as happy and cheerful, while others see her as melancholic and pensive. By creating such illusions, Leonardo played with the emerging differences between the eyes and the brain. And this happened long before scientists understood what mechanisms in the brain are responsible for interpreting such illusions.

Other scientists believe that the issue lies in the peculiarities of the author’s artistic style. Allegedly, Leonardo applied paints in such a special way that the face of Mona Lisa is constantly changing.

Many insist that the artist depicted himself in a female form on the canvas, which is why such a strange effect was obtained. One scientist even discovered symptoms of idiocy in Mona Lisa, citing disproportionate fingers and lack of flexibility in her hand. But, according to the British doctor Kenneth Keel, the portrait conveys the peaceful state of a pregnant woman.

There is also a version that the artist, who was allegedly bisexual, painted his student and assistant Gian Giacomo Caprotti, who was next to him for 26 years. This version is supported by the fact that Leonardo da Vinci left this painting as an inheritance when he died in 1519.

They say... ...that the great artist owes his death to the model of Mona Lisa. That many hours of grueling sessions with her exhausted the great master, since the model herself turned out to be a bio-vampire. They still talk about this today. As soon as the picture was painted, the great artist was gone.

6) When creating the fresco “The Last Supper,” Leonardo da Vinci searched for ideal models for a very long time. Jesus must embody Good, and Judas, who decided to betray him at this meal, is Evil.

Leonardo da Vinci interrupted his work many times, going in search of sitters. One day, while listening to a church choir, he saw a perfect image of Christ in one of the young singers and, inviting him to his workshop, made several sketches and studies from him.

Three years have passed. The Last Supper was almost completed, but Leonardo never found a suitable model for Judas. The cardinal, who was in charge of painting the cathedral, hurried the artist, demanding that the fresco be completed as soon as possible.

And then, after a long search, the artist saw a man lying in a gutter - young, but prematurely decrepit, dirty, drunk and ragged. There was no longer time for sketches, and Leonardo ordered his assistants to take him straight to the cathedral. With great difficulty they dragged him there and put him on his feet. The man did not really understand what was happening and where he was, but Leonardo da Vinci captured on canvas the face of a man mired in sins. When he finished his work, the beggar, who by this time had already come to his senses a little, approached the canvas and shouted:

– I’ve already seen this picture before!

- When? - Leonardo was surprised. – Three years ago, before I lost everything. At that time, when I sang in the choir, and my life was full of dreams, some artist painted Christ from me...

7) Leonardo had the gift of foresight. In 1494, he made a series of notes that paint pictures of the world to come, many of them have already come true, and others are coming true now.

“People will talk to each other from the most distant countries and answer each other” - we are undoubtedly talking about the telephone here.

“People will walk and not move, they will talk to someone who is not there, they will hear someone who does not speak” - television, tape recording, sound reproduction.

“You will see yourself falling from great heights without any harm to you” - obviously skydiving.

8) But Leonardo da Vinci also has mysteries that baffle researchers. Maybe you can solve them?

“People will throw away from their own homes the supplies that were meant to keep them alive.”

"The majority of the male race will not be allowed to reproduce, since their testicles will be taken away."

Do you want to learn even more about Da Vinci and bring his ideas to life?

Leonardo's unique talent allowed him to create not only impeccably accurate images from the point of view of technology and anatomy, but also to convey the subtlest shades of emotions.

British art historian Kenneth Clarke called Leonardo "the most mysterious person in human history." Indeed, Leonardo’s range of interests is striking in its breadth, but the artist had to pay for this breadth. An irrepressible, inquisitive mind continually forced him to abandon the work he had begun in order to completely surrender to another idea that had just captured him. This feature of Leonardo was noticed by his contemporaries, and his 16th-century biographer Giorgio Vasari wrote that Leonardo “could have achieved much more if not for his inconstancy. Without having time to take on one task, he left it to immediately take on a new one.”

Customers have repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Leonardo does not complete the work he has started. Once the artist even had to be a defendant in a scandalous and lengthy trial over his failure to fulfill the terms of the contract. Leonardo himself suffered from his own scattered nature. While putting his papers in order in his declining years, he could not resist and wrote on a sheet of paper where several sketches and drawings on a variety of topics were simultaneously made: “Oh, reader, do not curse me for the fact that it is impossible to retain so many objects in my memory at once.” .

ARTIST-THINKER

Leonardo's completed paintings can be counted on one hand. And at the same time he was a very famous artist. Contemporaries were impressed not only by the stylistic perfection of Leonardo's works, but also by his ability to think creatively. Before Leonardo, artists were very much craftsmen. His works were unsurpassed not only in “mechanical” skill, but, first of all, in the ability to solve compositional problems and express emotions through movement.

Leonardo himself wrote: “A depicted figure has value only if its movement conveys the state of the soul.”

This side of Leonardo's work is illustrated by an amazing story told by Vasari. The abbot of the monastery of Santa Maria Delle Grazie was indignant at the way Leonardo was working on the “Last Supper” commissioned from him. The artist could spend almost the whole day standing in thought in front of a barely begun fresco, while the abbot demanded that he work “like a worker digging up a garden.”

In the end, the abbot complained to Sforza, who demanded an explanation from Leonardo. Leonardo willingly gave them. He said that he could not find a face from which to paint the face of Christ. The same problem concerned Judas, but it can be considered solved - the head of the abbot of the monastery is quite suitable for this. The Duke laughed cheerfully, and the incident was over.

HUMAN BODY

Leonardo admired the human body and, practically studying anatomy, knew it better than any artist of his time.

At the same time, the artist gravitated to extremes, creating either beautiful or ugly images.

One of Leonardo’s drawings illustrates the idea of ​​the Roman architect Vetruvius that the figure of a man with outstretched arms can be inscribed with absolute accuracy both in a circle and in a square.

PAINTING ON A BOARD

All of Leonardo’s paintings (with the exception of those executed on the wall) were painted on wooden boards, which were a common “base” at that time (canvas in this capacity was still very rare back then). It was on the board that Leonardo commissioned two of his most enchanting portraits - “Portrait of a Musician,” 1490-1492, left, and “Portrait of Ginevra de Benci,” c. 1474-1476, right.

For their paintings, artists took boards made from local wood species - in Italy it was most often poplar. Before applying the paint, the artist primed each board with a mixture of chalk and special glue. As a rule, Leonardo painted in oils, although in some early works he used a mixture of oil and egg tempera.

BATTLE OF ANGIARI

In 1503, Leonardo was asked to paint a large fresco for the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence - on the subject of the Battle of Anghiari, which took place in 1440, during which Florence defeated Milan.

In 1504, Michelangelo received a similar order for the fresco “Battle of Cascina”, dedicated to the victory of the Florentines over the Pisans in 1364. The competition that began between the two titans of the Renaissance ultimately did not take place. Leonardo again decided to use an experimental technique, but his paints did not adhere to the ground, and in 1506 he abandoned this work. Michelangelo, invited to Rome by Pope Julius II in 1505, also stopped his work. Fortunately, copies of both Leonardo's and Michelangelo's drawings have survived.

FAILED EXPERIMENTS

Leonardo painted slowly and therefore preferred to work in oils. Oil paints take longer to dry, allowing for more subtle and varied effects than tempera, which was primarily used in the past. The usual type of wall painting was fresco, in which paint is applied to wet plaster. When the plaster dries, it fixes the paint applied to it. But there was one inconvenience - the artist had to work very quickly, laying while the plaster was not dry. But Leonardo didn’t know how to work like that and didn’t want to. Related to this are his attempts to develop new methods of wall painting. All of them ended in failure - the frescoes turned out to be short-lived.

With the exception of the Battle of Anghiari and the mythological painting Leda (now lost), almost all of Leonardo's works were portraits or paintings interpreting religious subjects. But, almost without going beyond the boundaries of these absolutely traditional genres, Leonardo managed to develop completely original methods for solving artistic problems within them. In portraits he was able to achieve a natural pose and expressiveness that had not been seen in all portraiture before him, and in religious paintings he showed an extraordinary ability to form a composition in such a way that the figures looked majestic, but at the same time quite realistic.

The artist solved the problems of light and shadow in a particularly original way. He used shadows more boldly than his predecessors, and Leonardo's skill in mixing colors and conveying shades is considered unsurpassed. Vasari wrote that it was thanks to Leonardo that Italian painting changed “the hard, dry style characteristic of the 15th century to what we call the modern style of painting.” This refers to the High Renaissance style, the great representatives of which were such artists as Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian. “Leonardo,” noted Vasari, “literally made his figures move and breathe.”

SINGING THE MADONNA

During Leonardo's time, the most popular subject of art was the Madonna. Leonardo was truly fascinated by this image, returning to it again and again. These returns were due to the fact that the artist’s view of how Mary should be depicted was changing.

In early works such as The Adoration of the Magi, 1481-1482 and Madonna of the Carnation, c. 1473 - the mother of Jesus was painted as a young woman, full of freshness and innocence. Later, maturity and static were added to her image, and she began to resemble more the Queen of Heaven than an earthly mother.

POINTING FINGER

In some of Leonardo's works (an example is Bacchus, c. 1510-1516, left, authorship is disputed) there is a figure with a finger pointing at something. Most often, the pointing finger is turned to heaven - as in the painting “St. John the Baptist", ca. 1514-1516, right.

Leonardo was not the first to use this gesture; it was found on ancient Roman statues, and then was seemingly forgotten. Leonardo simply “remembered” him - and so successfully that after him this gesture was “remembered” by many other artists, very quickly turning it into a real cliché.

TECHNICAL DRAWINGS

Leonardo's ingenuity knew no bounds, and therefore his drawings often depicted mechanisms that were completely unthinkable for that time - for example, something like an excavator. The artist dreamed of building an aircraft, but his dream was impossible due to the lack of sufficiently powerful engines.

Some of Leonardo's designs are quite funny. So, he came up with an alarm clock with a very original operating principle. Its essence is that water gradually collects in a vessel, and when it turns out to be overfilled, it begins to pour out onto the feet of the sleeper. And the sleeper, according to Leonardo himself, “will immediately wake up to get down to business.”

He managed to put only very few inventions into practice. These mainly include designs for devices for various holidays, but these devices were so short-lived that, of course, not a trace remained of them.

LEGACY OF LEONARDO

The full depth and power of Leonardo’s genius was only appreciated when his previously unknown works were discovered. The artist’s archive contains a lot of purely scientific notes. Many of them are illustrated with drawings - these are anatomical sketches, drawings of military vehicles, boats, bridges, cars and aircraft. After Leonardo's death, his entire archive was bequeathed to the artist's student, Francesco Melzi, who kept these papers as a shrine. Melzi died around 1570. Leonardo's records turned out to be scattered, and no one really studied them until the 19th century.

Leonardo’s individual thoughts, however, were brought together back in the 16th century, forming a “Treatise on Painting.” At the same time, several handwritten copies were made from it. In 1651, the book (with illustrations by Nicolas Poussin) was first published in Paris in French and Italian. Since then, this treatise has been reprinted several times. It does not represent Leonardo’s entire system of views on art, but it is valuable because it contains references and excerpts from old manuscripts that have long been considered irretrievably lost.

May 2, 2019 marked the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, a man whose name is known to everyone without exception. The greatest representative of the Italian Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci died in 1519. He lived only 67 years - not much by today's standards, but then it was an old age.

Leonardo da Vinci was a real genius, equally talented in almost all areas of science and art in which he was involved. And he did a lot of things. Artist and writer, musician and sculptor, anatomist and architect, inventor and philosopher - all this is Leonardo da Vinci. Today such a range of interests seems surprising. Indeed, such geniuses as Leonardo are born more than once every century.

Son of a notary and apprentice artist

Ten years later, Leonardo's stepmother died. The father, remaining a widower, remarried. He lived to be 77 years old, had 12 children, and was married four times. As for young Leonardo, Piero first tried to introduce his son to the profession of lawyer, but the boy was completely indifferent to it. And the father, ultimately, reconciled and sent 14-year-old Leonardo to Verrocchio’s workshop as an apprentice to the artist.

The workshop was located in Florence - the then center of sciences and arts, the cultural capital of Italy. It was here that Leonardo da Vinci learned not only the basics of fine art, but also the humanities and technical sciences. The young man was interested in drawing, sculpture, drawing, metallurgy, chemistry, and studied literature and philosophy. In addition to Leonardo, Agnolo di Polo, Lorenzo di Credi, and Botticelli often visited Verrocchio's workshop. After completing a course of study, in 1473, 20-year-old Leonardo da Vinci was accepted as a master into the Guild of St. Luke.

Thus, Leonardo’s main profession can still be considered fine art. He was engaged in it all his life and it was drawing that was the main source of his livelihood.

Life in Milan: the making of a genius

Leonardo da Vinci Museum in Milan

It was in Milan that the next 17 years of the great artist’s life passed, here he transformed from a youth into a mature husband and became widely famous. It is interesting that here da Vinci realized himself both as an inventor and an engineer. So, on behalf of the Duke of Milan Lodovico Moro, he began laying water supply and sewerage systems. Da Vinci then began working at the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie on the Last Supper fresco. This was one of his most successful works.

An interesting work was also a sculpture depicting a horseman - Duke Francesco Moro, Lodovico's father. This statue, unfortunately, has not survived to this day. But there is a drawing by da Vinci from which you can imagine what she looked like. In 1513, da Vinci came to Rome, participated in the painting of the Belvedere Palace, and then moved to Florence. Here he painted the Palazzo Vecchio.

Da Vinci's inventions

Another brilliant invention of Leonardo is a self-propelled carriage. Even then, more than five hundred years ago, da Vinci was thinking about how to create a vehicle that would move independently, without the help of horses, mules or donkeys. And he developed the design of a wooden “proto-car” that moved due to the interaction of springs with wheels. Already in our time, using Leonardo’s drawings, engineers recreated an exact copy of the cart and saw that it was really capable of driving on its own.

It was Leonardo who first came up with the idea to develop a prototype of a modern helicopter. Of course, the structure could hardly fly into the air, but this does not detract from the courage of the author’s scientific research. A team of four people had to operate such a machine. Equally impressive are the developments of paragliders with flapping wings. For da Vinci, human flight above the earth was a real dream and he hoped that someone would make it come true. Centuries passed and what seemed incredible in the 16th century came true. Man flew not only into the sky, but also into space; not only paragliders, airplanes and helicopters appeared, but also spaceships.

Leonardo da Vinci also showed great interest in construction and urban architecture. In particular, he developed the concept of a two-level city, which was supposed to be more convenient for life and cleaner than the Italian cities of the artist’s time. By the way, when da Vinci lived in Milan, Europe was struck by a plague epidemic. The terrible disease was caused, among other things, by the colossal unsanitary conditions in the then European cities, which is why da Vinci thought about the project of a more perfect city. He decided to create two levels of the city. The upper one would be intended for surface and pedestrian roads, and the lower one would be for freight transport, which would unload goods into the basements of houses and shops.

By the way, now the idea of ​​a two-level city is more relevant than ever. One can imagine how convenient and safe such cities with underground tunnels would be for traffic and pedestrians. So da Vinci anticipated the ideas of many modern urbanists.

Tank, submarine, machine gun

The diving suit project is also famous. Leonardo da Vinci lived during the Age of Discovery. Many famous travelers of that time were his fellow countrymen - immigrants from Italy, and the Italian cities of Venice and Genoa “held” the Mediterranean maritime trade. Da Vinci developed an underwater suit made of leather, which was connected to a reed breathing tube and a bell that was placed on the surface of the water. It is noteworthy that the spacesuit model even included such a piquant detail as a bag for collecting urine - the inventor took care of the maximum comfort of the diver and provided for even the most subtle nuances of diving under water.

We all use a corkscrew in life. But this harmless piece of kitchen utensil was developed for completely different purposes. Leonardo da Vinci came up with a prototype of a torpedo that was supposed to be screwed into the hull of a ship and pierce it. Da Vinci intended to use this specific invention for underwater battles.

In 1502, Leonardo da Vinci created a drawing, which, according to many modern historians, depicts a certain prototype of a submarine. But this drawing was not detailed and the inventor, by his own admission, avoided details quite deliberately. Leonardo, a former humanist, wrote next to the drawing that he would not publish a method for creating a device with which people would be able to stay under water for a long time, so that some evil people would not engage in “treacherous murders at the bottom of the seas, destroying ships and sinking them.” together with the team." As we can see, da Vinci foresaw the emergence of a submarine fleet and its use for attacks on surface ships and vessels.

Leonardo also had a drawing of some kind of modern tank. Of course, this is not a tank, but a specific combat vehicle. The cart, round and closed on all sides, was driven by seven crew members. At first, da Vinci believed that horses could move the cart, but then he realized that people, unlike animals, would not be afraid of a confined space. The main task of such a combat wagon was to attack the enemy with the goal of crushing and shooting him from muskets located around the entire circumference of the wagon. True, as in the case of the submarine, this project of Leonardo da Vinci also remained only on paper.

One cannot help but remember espringal - “jumper”. This is a device that resembles a catapult, working on the principle of a twisted rubber band. First, the lever is pulled with a rope, a stone is placed in a special bag, and then the tension breaks and the stone flies to the enemy. But, unlike the traditional onager, espringal did not become seriously widespread in the armies of the late Middle Ages. For all the genius of da Vinci, this invention of his was seriously inferior to the ancient Roman catapult.

Another da Vinci project in the field of weapons is the famous machine gun. It was developed by Leonardo because shooting firearms at that time required constant reloading of the barrels, which was very time-consuming. In order to get rid of this annoying necessity, Leonardo came up with a multi-barreled gun. According to the inventor's idea, it was supposed to shoot and reload almost simultaneously.

The thirty-three-barreled organ consisted of 3 rows of 11 small-caliber guns, connected in the form of a triangular rotating platform, to which large wheels were attached. One row of cannons was loaded, fired, then the platform was turned over and the next row was placed. While one row was firing, the second was cooling, and the third was reloading, allowing for almost continuous fire.

Friend of the French King

Thus, at the end of his life, the artist achieved an official title and recognition, albeit in another country. Finally, he received the opportunity to calmly think and act, taking advantage of the financial support of the French crown. And King Leonardo da Vinci paid by taking care of the royal festivities, planning a new royal palace with a change in the river bed. He designed the canal between the Loire and the Seine, and the spiral staircase at the Chateau de Chambord.

Apparently, Leonardo da Vinci suffered a stroke in 1517, which left his right hand numb. The artist could hardly move. He spent the last year of his life in bed. On May 2, 1519, Leonardo da Vinci died, surrounded by his students. The great Leonardo was buried in the castle of Amboise, and the inscription was engraved on the tombstone:

Within the walls of this monastery lie the ashes of Leonardo da Vinci, the greatest artist, engineer and architect of the French kingdom.