Leonardo da Vinci - The most versatile genius of all time. The genius of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings was explained by strabismus The genius of Leonardo da Vinci

In his book Leonardo's Brain, Leonard Schlein, MD, attempts to understand the phenomenon of Leonardo da Vinci's exceptionalism and how he was able to achieve intellectual and creative development of such magnitude.

We publish a chapter in which the scientist compares the art of da Vinci with the works of impressionists, abstract artists and modern artists.

The first to resurrect Leonardo's ideas after a period of almost 500 years during which artists were subject to strict rules of perspective, composition and the choice of subject and subject matter was Edouard Manet. Manet found himself at the forefront of a new generation of artists who learned their skills outside the influential French Academy of Fine Arts.

In 1859, the 27-year-old artist stood in front of his paintings and destroyed everything he had created up to that point. He told his stunned friends: “From now on I will belong to my time and work only with what I see.” However, his new works were very poorly received. Most critics, with a few exceptions, were harsh on them, calling them ugly and clumsy.

In France at that time, the success of an artist depended heavily on whether he was able to obtain from the hands of the venerable gray-bearded elders of the Academy, who were on the jury of the annual Paris Salon, the coveted opportunity to present his work at this long-awaited public event.

Change was already in the air, and many young artists openly criticized the selection process, suspecting that the jury was heavily biased against them. In 1863, outraged by the constant refusals, a group of young artists demonstratively organized their own exhibition, called the Salon of the Rejected.

Edouard Manet, "Luncheon on the Grass"

Manet presented several large works there, but the central place was occupied by his painting “Lunch on the Grass”. It was an extremely shocking painting. Manet depicted his favorite model, Victorine Meran, blithely sitting on a picnic blanket, completely naked, and unabashedly staring at the viewer. Near her, two men in business suits are talking about something.

Moreover, they not only do not notice the naked woman nearby, but do not even look at each other. Critics tore the picture to smithereens. People came and laughed at her. Despite this, "Breakfast on the Grass" attracted the most viewers and received a lot of reviews in the press. Critics reproached the picture for not being picturesque and not conveying any moral, mythological, historical or religious idea.

Among Manet’s other artistic sins, they noted his failure to follow the rules of constructing perspective. Taking into account the perspective, it turned out that the height of the bathing woman should have been about three meters. In addition, Manet was too free with the direction of the light source and the position of the shadows. Critics attributed this to the lack of classical education at the Academy of Fine Arts or to a lack of talent.

However, in fact, Manet was a skilled draftsman and knew very well all the subtleties of depicting perspective. He deliberately did not use them to attract interest in the painting. Manet's attitude towards distortion of perspective is similar to Leonardo. Both artists were well aware that optical tricks could add drama to a painting. In this sense, both artists, each in their own time, marked the beginning and end of the era of perspective in Western art.

Art history books have repeatedly described the hype surrounding Luncheon on the Grass, but few people know that on the adjacent wall Manet placed an equally outrageous work: Mademoiselle V. in the Costume of a Matador (1862). Visitors to the exhibition walked from one wall to another, and the juxtaposition of the same model, naked and dressed in a man's suit, the most machismo imaginable, intensified their impression. (As we will see later, the technique of sexual ambiguity was also exploited by Leonardo.)

This was not enough for Mana: he increased the confusion of the audience, depriving his matador of support under his feet. Judging by the background, she is in the bullring, but from the picture it is impossible to understand where exactly Mademoiselle is standing. It looks like she's almost floating in the air! In many of Manet's paintings, Manet depicted a solitary figure, also with minimal or contradictory hints of perspective (The Flute Player, Woman with a Parrot, and Dead Bullfighter). Just as in the case of the portrait of a female matador, looking at these canvases, the viewer cannot accurately determine what the relative position of the figures in the foreground and background is.

Leonardo's last painting, “John the Baptist” (it will be discussed in detail in one of the following chapters), completely devoid of a background, does not allow us to determine at all where the saint is standing. After Leonardo before Manet, there were no artists who depicted figures without a background.

Edouard Manet, “Mademoiselle V. in the Costume of Espada”; Leonardo da Vinci, "John the Baptist"

In the early 1870s, the ability to carry paints with you and the invention of the folding easel led the French artist Claude Monet to the idea of ​​abandoning the studio and going outdoors to paint his objects and landscapes en plein air - “in the open air.” ). This change in work environment was truly revolutionary.

READ ALSO

Dangerous radiation: how Wi-fi radiation affects the body

Instead of planning, studying, working on preparatory sketches and building a composition inside an often dimly lit studio, Monet chose to work outdoors, trying to capture the scenes and landscapes he saw in natural conditions. Monet tried to convey on canvas a brief moment of first impression (French impression), so critics called this direction impressionism.

In the previous few centuries there were no artists who experimented with such a technique. But couldn't Leonardo da Vinci's outdoor drawing of a Tuscan countryside in 1473 be considered the first impressionist work in Western art? Leonardo anticipated this important trend in painting at the end of the 19th century by as many as four centuries.

Another giant among the painters of the fin de siècle era was Paul Cézanne. In the late 1880s, he began a series of still lifes that were markedly different from what Western artists had previously done. Spectators and critics stood in front of his paintings, not understanding how to “read” them.

The problem was that they tried to view Cézanne's work within the limited framework that had been the norm for hundreds of years. Cezanne seemed to show each subject of the composition from a different angle. In essence, Cezanne provided the viewer with the opportunity to look at a still life from different points of view simultaneously. This fanciful understanding of the rules of perspective set the stage for more radical changes.

Paul Cézanne, “Still Life with Eggplants”, “Still Life with Plaster Cupid”

In 1904, 22-year-old Spanish artist Pablo Picasso moved to Paris, where he teamed up with another young artist, Georges Braque. Together they shook the art world to its very core, coming up with a new way of looking at painting, abandoning absolutely everything that had come before.

Picasso decisively declared: “We must destroy modern art.” The art critic Louis Vauxcelles condemned the new style of Picasso and Braque and sarcastically called their paintings a pile of “small cubes.” This is how the name “Cubism” appeared. Although the style was initially lukewarm by most critics, Cubism created a sensation in the art world.

Critics alternated between being irritated and pouring out the oil, finding signs of cubism even in the early Cezanne, although nothing like this could have been in the works of any previous artists. Once on a train, a fellow passenger asked Pablo Picasso why he didn’t paint people “as they look in reality.” Picasso asked what he meant by this. In response, the man showed a photograph and said: “This is my wife.” Picasso replied: “Is it really so small and flat?”

Probably not expecting to discover that there was a certain artist who anticipated Cubism back in the Renaissance, critics did not look far into the past. Meanwhile, Leonardo, like Cezanne, Picasso and Braque, felt the limitations of a monocular view, inevitable when using the rules of perspective.

He was looking for ways to show a view of the same object from many sides at the same time. He needed to be able to best show the relationships between the parts that make up the whole. The need to resort to such an optical technique was caused by the anatomical dissections carried out by Leonardo.

He was the first artist to comprehensively illustrate the internal organs of the human body. Although these drawings are only of a technical nature, they can by all standards be considered masterpieces of art, and many art critics do not hesitate to call them that way.

Pablo Picasso, "Girl with a Mandolin"; Leonardo da Vinci, anatomical drawings.

Leonardo invented the method of component-by-component image of an object, thereby solving the problem of simultaneous reflection of various aspects of anatomical features and the relative position of neighboring structures. He painted the same object on the page from slightly different angles, so that the viewer could imagine several sides of it at the same time.

There are inexplicable similarities between Leonardo's drawings and the Cubist paintings of Picasso and Braque. These works are based on the principle of describing the true essence of an object...

This direction of Leonardo's art more reflected his scientific interests, in contrast to the Cubists, who strived for artistic deformation of familiar objects. Leonardo's anatomical drawings, Cezanne's still lifes, Braque's and Picasso's cubist paintings - all these were attempts to depict the visible world in a new way, freed from the shackles of powerful perspective.

All of their discoveries were magnificent and revolutionary, and they all relied on the same principle. For many centuries after Leonardo, until the beginning of the 20th century, no one dealt with this problem. Another similarity between the innovations of Cézanne and Leonardo concerns Cézanne's desire to capture the essence of the Sainte-Victoire mountain range in Provence.

READ ALSO

Fractional diet: how to lose from 3 to 5 kg per month

He understood that by depicting a mountain from only one angle, it was impossible to convey its beauty. From 1890 until his death in 1906, Cézanne created a series of views of the mountain from different points. The effect of combining all these paintings was to allow the viewer to get a holistic view of the mountain.

None of the Western artists had previously tried to show different sides of the same object in this way. No one except one. Four centuries earlier, Leonardo came up with a way to do this. In his anatomical drawing, he placed successive images of the same shoulder from different angles.

Paul Cézanne, "Mount Sainte-Victoire"

The artist Wassily Kandinsky, born in Russia and lived in Europe, proposed a new approach that became leading in the art of the 20th century. His discovery, as often happens in both art and science, was due to a happy accident, but the breakthrough that followed was prepared by the fact that people were already ready to look at the world in a new way.

In 1910, working alone in his studio, Kandinsky desperately tried to bring the image on canvas closer to the image in his head. Finally, frustrated, he decided to take a break and go for a walk. For no particular reason, he put the painting down on its side before leaving.

Wassily Kandinsky, "Transverse Line"

Returning later, Kandinsky, deep in thought on some unrelated topic, lingered at the studio door and, looking up, suddenly saw his unfinished work. He stood there for a moment, puzzled, not recognizing the picture. Then I remembered that before leaving I myself had turned it 90°.

On reflection, Kandinsky realized that he was fascinated by the state when he could not understand what was depicted in the painting. He experimented with the canvas, sometimes placing it correctly, sometimes turning it side down. Finally, Kandinsky concluded that a painting becomes more interesting when it does not contain a familiar image. This is how abstractionism appeared.

Leonardo was also interested in the features of abstract drawing. In his treatise on painting, which was not published until 1651, he wrote about the method of "stimulating the mind of the painter to new inventions." He advised artists: this happens if you look at walls stained with different stains, or stones from different mixtures. If you need to invent any locality, you will be able to see there the likeness of various landscapes, decorated with mountains, rivers, rocks, trees, vast plains, valleys and hills in the most varied ways; in addition, you can see there various battles, fast movements of strange figures, facial expressions, clothing and an infinite number of such things that you can reduce to a solid and good form; With such walls and mixtures the same thing happens as with the ringing of a bell - in its strikes you will find any name or word that you imagine.

After World War II, a new type of abstract artist emerged in the United States. Jackson Pollock, an ideologist and one of the leading authors of abstract expressionism, set himself a monumental task: to capture on canvas the essence of the process of creating a painting. The process of painting involves the artist holding a brush or something similar in his hand and methodically applying stroke after stroke to a surface. How to reflect the essence of movement on a canvas that ultimately remains static? Pollock's solution was truly brilliant: he abandoned the use of brushes and stretched the canvas on the floor. The artist made the usually careful movement of his brush and fingers sweeping: he splashed, poured and threw paint on the canvas. The result was a colored pattern that, despite all its chaos, possessed some strange integrity and beauty.

Critics praised the revolutionary achievements of abstractionists, noting that no Western artist had ventured into this area before. But are they missing something important? Towards the end of his life, Leonardo began to experiment with art devoid of familiar images.

Being depressed due to numerous failures, health problems and other troubles, Leonardo began to think about what would happen when the end of the world came. He began a series of apocalyptic ink paintings in which he depicted a great flood that would wash away all the evil that, according to Leonardo, was inextricably intertwined with humanity.

In these fantastic drawings, Leonardo blurs the line between objects and relief. The walls of falling water that flood the world in these drawings turn out to be remarkably similar to Pollock’s “Autumn Rhythm (number 30).” Moreover, Leonardo advised other artists to throw a sponge dipped in paint at the wall, anticipating Pollock's method.

Jackson Pollock, "Autumn Rhythm (number 30)"; Leonardo da Vinci, "The Flood"

Leonardo left behind a huge number of unfinished works. Art historians have many plausible hypotheses about this strange habit. One of these guesses could not have come to mind before the advent of the era of modern art. If the work on the canvas is unfinished, the viewer can complete it with the help of his imagination.

Quotes: 1. Happiness comes to those who work hard. 2. Simplicity is what is most difficult in the world; this is the extreme limit of experience and the last effort of genius. 3. There are three kinds of people: those who see; those who see when they are shown; and those who do not see. 4. If you are patient and diligent, then the sown seeds of knowledge will certainly bear fruit. The root of learning is bitter, but the fruit is sweet. 5. Where the spirit does not guide the artist’s hand, there is no art. Where the thought does not work together with the hand, there is no artist. 6. When criticizing, criticize the opinion, not its author. 7. Iron rusts without finding a use, stagnant water rots or freezes in the cold, and a person’s mind, without finding a use, withers away. 8. Painting is poetry that is seen, and poetry is painting that is felt. 9. He who can go to the fountain must not go to the pitcher. 10. The eye makes fewer mistakes than the mind.

Achievements:

Professional, social position: Leonardo was a great Italian Renaissance artist, sculptor, architect, engineer and scientist, inventor, anatomist, botanist, musician, writer, philosopher and polymath.
Main contributions (known for): Leonardo is the most multi-talented man who has ever lived and is universally recognized as the most versatile genius of all time. His wide range of interests and abilities make him the archetype of the Renaissance man. He was the founder of the High Renaissance style and had a huge influence on both his contemporaries and modern artists. Author of the Mona Lisa (La Gioconda) and the Last Supper.
Deposits:
Artist and sculptor. Leonardo was, and is currently, known primarily as an artist. At the same time, he is unanimously recognized as one of the greatest artists of all time.
One of Leonardo's early works was a portrait of Ginevra de' Benci (1474-1478), which was painted in a Florentine studio during his apprenticeship with Andrea Verrocchio. In 1478 Leonardo became an independent master. His first work was an altarpiece for the chapel of the Palazzo Vecchio, in the Florentine town hall, which was never completed. Among his early works were the Annunciation (1475-80), the so-called Benois Madonna (1478). His first large painting, The Adoration of the Magi, which he began in 1481, also remained unfinished because he moved to Milan the following year.
Working in Milan during the period (1482-1499), Leonardo created some of his most famous works. He was commissioned to paint the Madonna of the Grotto for the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception. There are two different paintings with almost the same subject, one of which is now in the Louvre, was painted in 1483-1486, and the other in the National Gallery in London (1495-1508). In 1485, Leonardo created the Vitruvian Man, which is seen today as a cultural icon. In 1488-1490, Leonardo da Vinci painted his most famous paintings - the Lady with an Ermine and the Madonna Litta. Leonardo's famous fresco of the Last Supper for the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan was begun in 1495 and completed in 1498.
When Leonardo returned to Florence in 1500, he created some of his most important masterpieces. In his works of these years, he focused on the depiction of human vitality, such as in the painting Leda and the Swan (1502). His great work is the Mona Lisa (c. 1503 - 1506), representing a portrait of the wife of a Florentine merchant. Mona Lisa's mysterious and ambiguous half-smile is one of the distinctive features of the painting.
This work, along with The Last Supper, is considered the most famous and outstanding masterpiece of all time.
Among the paintings he created during this period were Madonna and Child with Saint Anne (1508-1509) and Bacchus (1513-1515). These works are an example of Leonardo's new style of foggy-sfumato, representing subtle transitions of tones. In 1513 he created a mysterious painting of the young St. John the Baptist, as well as one of his most famous drawings, Self-Portrait (c. 1510-13).
Although only about fifteen of his completed paintings survive, they are all considered world masterpieces. These few surviving works, together with his diaries, which contained drawings, scientific diagrams and thoughts on the nature of painting, influenced subsequent generations of artists. His works on art established the ideals of image and expression in painting, laid down the standards of three-dimensional art, the rules for creating a drawing and working with space, depicting landscapes, as well as light and shadow.
Unfortunately, not a single one of his sculptural projects was completed and actually came to fruition in the form in which it was intended.
His paintings brought him worldwide fame. Last Supper" and especially "Mona Lisa" (La Gioconda).
Leonardo loved this work very much and took it with him on all his travels. The Mona Lisa, like many of his paintings, included landscape and the use of aerial perspective. Leonardo was one of the first artists to introduce the issue of aerial perspective into art.
There is a story about the writing of The Last Supper. Leonardo was the first to draw Jesus. A few years later, Leonardo found a degraded criminal as a model for Judas, not realizing that it was the same man. But there is no evidence that Leonardo actually used the same sitter.
Architect. Leonardo created the “Ideal City” project (1484), two-level bridges across the river, an arched bridge, and a project for a church with a central dome.
Inventor. Leonardo is known for his unique talent as an inventor. He created a large number of ingenious inventions, including: a submarine, a tank, a bicycle, a robot, a searchlight, a magnifying glass, devices for concentrating solar energy, a calculator, a mechanical grill, mobile homes, a space suit and fins.
Some of his sketches presaged such modern inventions as the helicopter, glider, hang glider, airplane and parachute. His aircraft embodied the rational principles of aerodynamics, which he developed after careful study of bird flight.
In the field of mechanics, he created projects for rolling machines, metallurgical furnaces, printing presses, cranes, woodworking equipment, and weaving machines.
Only a few of his projects were possible to carry out during his lifetime, but some of his small inventions, such as an automated coil winder and a machine for testing the tensile strength of wire, were created.
Scientist. Leonardo carried out scientific research throughout his life and, as a result, significantly enriched the state of knowledge in the fields of anatomy, geology, botany, architecture, mechanics, optics, mathematics and hydrodynamics.
In anatomy he studied the circulation of blood and the action of the eye. He made detailed drawings of the human body that are still highly valued today. Leonardo described many properties of vision, such as "irradiation", which is the way light objects appear larger than dark ones.
He made discoveries in the fields of meteorology and geology, described the influence of the Moon on the ebb and flow of tides, outlined basic plate tectonic theory, laid the foundations for the modern understanding of the formation of continents, and revealed the nature of fossil shells.
He was one of the founders of the science of hydraulics and probably developed the hydrometer; his innovative designs for canals and irrigation systems are still in practice. His numerous experiments in the field of hydraulic engineering allowed him to accurately describe the equilibrium of fluid in communicating vessels. In botany, he proposed a description of the laws of phyllotaxy, heliotropism and geotropism, a description of the method of determining the age of plants by the structure of stems, and trees by annual rings.
Philosopher. Leonardo was also a brilliant and original philosopher and mystic. Leonardo's paintings are full of philosophical and spiritual reflections, and some of his paintings and writings contain mysterious riddles. So, to sharpen the perception of the world and develop the imagination, Leonardo created riddles and predictions: “People will talk to each other from the most distant countries and answer each other” (Internet, telephone). Invisible money will flow to many who will spend it on the celebration. (Electronic money transfers). Leonardo also proposed an original method for activating the imagination: “In order to excite the mind, contemplate walls covered with shapeless spots. Try to find mountain landscapes, trees, battles and faces in them." His scientific theories, like his artistic innovations, were based on careful scientific observations. He believed that the power of perception and the ability to sketch received observations are the universal key to the secrets of nature.
Main works: Portrait of Ginevra de Benci (1474-1478), Annunciation (1475-1480), Benois Madonna (Madonna of the Carnation) (1478-1480), Adoration of the Magi (1481), Madonna of the Grotto (Louvre) (1483-1486), Vitruvian Man (1485), Lady with an Ermine (1488-1490), Madonna Litta (1490), Last Supper (1498), Leda and the Swan (1502), Mona Lisa (1503-07), Madonna of the Rocks (1505-08), Madonna and Child with St. Anne (1508-1509), Bacchus (1513-1515), St. John the Baptist (1513-16), Self-Portrait (1514 - 1516).

Life:

Origin: Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452, in the Tuscan town of Vinci, located in the lower Arno River valley, about 25 miles west of Florence. He was the illegitimate son of Messer Piero di Fruosino Antonio da Vinci, a Florentine notary, and Caterina, a beautiful peasant girl. Leonardo did not have a surname in the modern sense of the word, "da Vinci" simply means from "Vinci": His full name at birth was "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci". He spent his first five years in the village of Anciano, then lived in the house of his father, grandparents and uncle Francesco, in the small town of Vinci. His father married a sixteen-year-old girl named Albiera, who loved little Leonardo but died young. When Leonardo was sixteen years old, his father remarried twenty-year-old Francesca Lanfredini.
Education: Leonardo received an informal education, during which he studied Latin geometry and mathematics. In 1466, his father sent the famous artist Andrea Verrocchio (1435-1488) to study art.
Influenced: Andrea Verrocchio
Main stages of professional activity:
1. Florentine period (1466-1482). In 1466, at the age of fourteen, Leonardo apprenticed to the artist Andrea di Cione, known as Verrocchio, whose studio was considered one of the best in Florence. There he learned the art of painting, sculpture and various crafts.
By 1472, at the age of twenty, Leonardo qualified as a master of the Guild of St. Luke, a community of artists and physicians (1466-1478).
In January 1478 he received his first independent commission to create an altarpiece for the Chapel of St. Bernard in the Palazzo Vecchio. That same year he left Verrocchio's studio and never again lived in his father's house. In 1480 he moved to the Medici Palace and worked in the garden near St. Mark's Square in Florence.
2. Milanese period (1482-1499). In 1482 he entered the service of the Duke of Milan, Louis Sforza, as an artist and engineer. In Milan, his artistic and creative genius developed to its fullest extent. Also in 1490, he began his project of writing treatises on the "science of painting", on architecture, mechanics and anatomy.
Living in Milan between 1493 and 1495, Leonardo listed a woman named Caterina among his dependents on his tax documents. She died in 1495 and the list of funeral expenses given suggests that this woman was his mother.
3. The period of wanderings (1499-1519). When the French invaded Milan in 1499, Leonardo left the city and began a nomadic life, which he devoted mainly to his scientific research. In 1499, in search of work, Leonardo moved to Mantua and then to Venice.
Second Florentine period (1500 -1508). Upon his return to Florence in 1500, he lived with the monks in the monastery of Santissima Annunziata.
In 1502, Leonardo entered the service of Cesare Borgia, Duke of Romagna and son of Pope Alexander VI, as a military engineer and architect. In order to win the favor of the Duke, Leonardo created a map of the fortress of Cesare Borgia, and a plan of the city of Imola. In this way he laid the foundations of modern cartography. Acting as a military engineer, he supervised the construction of fortresses in the Papal States in central Italy and traveled extensively throughout Italy with his patron.
However, he did not stay in Milan and in 1503 returned to Florence. There, on October 18, 1503, Leonardo returned to the Guild of St. Luke and served there on the commission of artists.
Florence was at war with Pisa and Leonardo served the city-state as a military engineer while continuing his scientific research.
In 1504 his father died, and Leonardo had to settle inheritance problems with his brothers.
Leonardo began work on a large fresco of the Battle of Anghiari for the Signoria, dedicated to the memory of the Battle of Anghiari, in which Florence was victorious over Pisa. He spent two years designing the painting and produced a full size sketch in 1505, but never completed it as a wall painting.
Second Milanese period (1508-1513). After five years of painting and scientific research in Florence, in 1508 he returned to Milan. There he lived and carried out fruitful scientific research in his own house in Porta Orientale in the district of Santa Babila.
Roman period (1513-1516). From September 1513 to 1516, Leonardo spent most of his time at the Belvedere in the Vatican in Rome, where Raphael and Michelangelo lived at the same time. Later he worked briefly in Bologna and Venice.
French period (1516-1519). In 1516, he entered the service of the King of France, Francis I, and never returned to Italy.
In France, he lived next to the king's residence in the royal castle of Amboise, in his own house, donated by Francis I.
It was here that he spent the last three years of his life, in the company of his friend and student, Count Francesco Melzi, receiving a payment of 10,000 ecus from the king.
Universal genius. Leonardo, more than anyone else, deserves the title Homo Universalis, the universal man. He was a perfect creator in all forms of art, a pioneer in most branches of science, and an outstanding inventor in the field of technology. He was almost equally talented and successful in architecture, sculpture, mechanical engineering, geology, hydraulics and military technology.
Main stages of personal life: Two childhood events influenced the rest of his life. Little Leonardo saw a kite fall from the sky, hover over his cradle and open his mouth with its tail.
He later regarded this event as an omen. In addition, while walking in the mountains, he discovered a cave and became scared when he imagined that a large monster was hiding there, and at the same time he felt an irresistible desire to find out what was inside there. In 1490, da Vinci established guardianship over ten-year-old boy Gian Giacomo Caprotti. Later the boy received the nickname Salai or Salaino ("little devil"). He was described by Giorgio Vasari as "a graceful and handsome youth with curly hair, who greatly delighted Leonardo." However, a year later, Leonardo made a list of the boy's misdeeds, calling him "a thief, a liar, stubborn and a glutton." Salaino remained his companion, servant and assistant for the next thirty years.
Leonardo met Niccolo Machiavelli, with whom the relationship later developed into a close friendship. Also among his friends was Isabella d'Este, who was his closest female friend.
Leonardo died at Clos Luce, May 2, 1519. Francis I became a close friend and, according to Vasari, Leonardo died in the king's arms. Leonardo was buried in the Chapel of St. Hubert at Château Amboise, France).
His main heir was Melzi, who also received money, Leonardo's paintings, his instruments, a library and personal belongings. Salaino was also not forgotten, and received half of Leonardo's vineyards and the Mona Lisa.

Personality. Leonardo was an artist endowed with extraordinary physical beauty, superhuman abilities and mysterious strength. He had a gigantic curiosity about the physical world and an unlimited desire for knowledge, and the scope and depth of his interests were unprecedented.
In addition, he was a handsome, tall, cheerful and friendly man, a pleasant conversationalist and a talented speaker, a good athlete, an excellent musician and improviser.
Giorgio Vasari, in his book “The Lives of Artists” wrote about him: “the only man amazingly endowed by heaven with beauty, grace and talent in such abundance that he had no equal in the history of mankind.”
Leonardo was left-handed from birth and wrote his diaries in mirror writing, from right to left. This special technique, which requires a mirror to read, helped him keep many of his notes secret.
Highlight: A surge of public interest in his life took place in 2003, in connection with the publication of the best-selling thriller by Dan Brown, “The Da Vinci Code.” There are hidden messages in his paintings, which can be called “Paintings within Paintings”. He was the first person in history to conduct sufficiently accurate studies of human anatomy and make accurate drawings of the human body. He did this partly through the process of secretly dissecting and studying corpses. Leonardo worked for the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, for almost eighteen years (1482-99). Leonardo was a strict vegetarian. Sigmund Freud in his essay written in 1910 he tried to solve the mystery of Leonardo da Vinci. He analyzed Leonardo's complex childhood, his subconscious and driving motives. So he concluded that the image of the Virgin Mary and St. Anne (1508) represents a defensive reaction to having two mothers. According to Freud, the partial completion of the Madonna and the presence of many other unfinished works by Leonardo are symbolic and an unconscious expression of the experience of being deprived of his mother. Experts say that androgyny and eroticism are evident in a number of Leonardo's works, such as the Mona Lisa and St. John the Baptist. Some Italian anthropologists and experts have determined that Leonardo's mother's fingerprints indicate that she was of "Oriental descent" and likely Arab. Sigmund Freud said of him: “Leonardo da Vinci was a man who woke up early in the dark while others were still sleeping.”

One of the most outstanding figures, far ahead of his time. This is a great artist, sculptor, architect, a wonderful scientist and writer, a magnificent inventor, a mysterious and attractive person.

The author of the famous Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, the inventor of a parachute, a machine gun, a hang glider, a helicopter, a bicycle, a car, a tank, a catapult, a crossbow, a searchlight and even a robot, the author of many scientific treatises and works of art, an architect of London... Leonardo da Vinci is a prime example incredible person! He was a mystery to the people of his time and to his descendants; little is known about his life. For Leonardo's contemporaries, his inventions were completely uninteresting. People thought that he was just wasting his time having fun, when he could paint wonderful pictures. Leonardo was a vegetarian, did not like to sleep for long periods of time, was superbly built, had physical strength, was an excellent horseman and dancer, and was excellent with both hands. There is not a single image of Leonardo himself. Scientists have proven that the famous portrait of sanguine, which supposedly depicts Leonardo in old age, is not such. This is just a study of the head of one of the apostles of the Last Supper.

In this article I want to write only his biography. And in the next issues I will tell you in more detail about each of his achievements.

Childhood and youth

Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452 in the family of a notary Piero and a peasant woman Katerina. Leonardo was an illegitimate son. He lived the first years of his life with his mother. The father married a rich bride, but she turned out to be childless and Piero took Leonardo for himself. When Leonardo was 13 years old, his father's wife died, he soon married another woman, but she did not live long. Leonardo didn't have a last name. Da Vinci means from Vinci, the place where Leonardo was born. His full name is Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, that is, Leonardo, son of Piero from Vinci.

His father wanted Leonardo to continue working in the family business, but Leonardo was more interested in drawing. At the age of 14, he was sent to the private school of the best artist and sculptor of that time - Andrea del Verrocchio. When Leonardo was 20 years old, Verrocchio received an order to paint a painting of the Baptism of Christ. Non-main figures were usually drawn by students. The colors at that time were very dull. Leonardo decided to paint his character with new oil paints. When Verrocchio saw Leonardo's work, he said that the student had surpassed him and from now on he wanted all the faces in his paintings to be painted only by Leonardo. During his studies, Leonardo mastered all drawing techniques, and at the age of 21 he was accepted into the Guild of Painters of St. Luke. And at the age of 24 he already opened his own workshop. Soon he was accused of being a sadist and arrested. But still, the court acquitted him.

Milan

At the age of 30, Leonardo left Florence for Milan at the invitation of ruler Ludovico Sforza. Initially, Leonardo designed costumes and masks for court celebrations. But gradually he becomes interested in the public with his mechanical wonders. Leonardo's salary is much less than that of a court dwarf, although he has a lot of responsibilities. Leonardo was a military engineer, a hydraulic engineer, a court artist, and an architect. But this situation suits him, because no one bothers him to work for himself. He spends a lot of time inventing science and technology for which he was not paid. Nobody even paid attention to them. Even when 50 thousand residents of Milan died from the plague, and Leonardo realized that the reason was the overpopulation of the city and the dirt on the narrow streets, he proposed building new areas with sewers and wide streets, the Duke rejected Leonardo’s idea. Although later this ingenious plan was recognized by the State Council of London and the city was completely rebuilt according to its drawings.

Leonardo opened an art academy in Milan. For this academy he wrote treatises on painting, light, shadows, movement, theory, and practice. Perspective, proportions of the human body and so on. No one had tried to do this before. All this was published only in the 19th and 20th centuries.

In Milan, no one bothers Leonardo to study the flying mechanism of birds for his inventions. And finally, Leonardo comes up with the famous airplane.

Leonardo keeps detailed diaries. But, unfortunately, only 7,000 pages have survived to this day. The manuscripts disappeared after the death of Leonardo's student. And we only managed to collect separate fragments around the world. Their characteristic feature was that all the notes were made in mirror image, because he wrote with his left hand from right to left. And since his inventions were not of interest to his contemporaries, their owners did not attach much importance to them. And only by the 19th century it was possible to bring together all the surviving priceless diaries of Leonardo da Vinci.

Leonardo never married and had no children. He is not credited with a single affair with any woman. He hid this part of his life from everyone in every possible way. The only permanent relationship in his life was with a young man named Giacomo Caprotti, on whose estate he lived since 1490, to whom Leonardo forgave everything. After Leonardo's death, Caprotti inherited almost all of his paintings. Giacomo was Leonardo's model. It was from him that Leonardo painted John the Baptist. There is also a version that it was Giacomo who modeled the famous Gioconda. According to Leonardo's will, this painting belonged to Giacomo.

Throughout his life, Leonardo lived in Venice, Florence, Mantua, and Milan. But he spent the last years of his life in Paris. Leonardo da Vinci died on May 2, 1519 at the Castle of Cloux in France in the arms of King Francis I.

More articles on this topic:

“Just as a well-spent day gives a peaceful sleep, so a well-lived life gives a peaceful death.” Leonardo da Vinci What is the genius of Leonardo da Vinci? Comment on the words of Leonardo da Vinci: “Painting in one moment must put all its content into the viewer’s consciousness.” Chronology of life 1452 In Tuscany, on April 15, the illegitimate son of a notary and a local peasant woman, Katerina, was born. 1467 At the age of 15, he becomes an apprentice to the famous Florentine painter and sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio. 1472 Receives the title of master of painting and paints his first painting, “The Annunciation.” 1481 Leonardo's first large commission was the altarpiece "Adoration of the Magi" for a monastery located in the vicinity of Florence. 1482 Moves from Florence to Milan. 1495 Duke Lodovico Sforza, ruler of Milan, commissions Leonardo to paint the Last Supper fresco for the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. 1499 The French invade Milan and overthrow Sforza, and Leonardo returns to Florence. 1503 Begins work on a portrait ("Mona Lisa"), which will become one of the most famous paintings in the history of painting. 1506 Moves to Milan again. 1513 The situation in Milan worsens, and Leonardo heads to Rome, hoping to get a job at the papal court. 1516 Having not received orders from the pope, he accepts the offer of King Francis I of France and moves to France, where he spends the last years of his life. 1519 Dies on May 2, at the age of 67, at the Cloux estate, near the royal castle of Amboise in the Loire Valley. Madonna became the embodiment of the Renaissance ideal of perfection, beauty, and spirituality. What do these two works have in common? “Madonna Benois” 1478 “Madonna Litta” 1490 An unsurpassed master of painting “Lady with an Ermine” 1483 “La Gioconda” 1504 “Ginevra de Benci” 1474 “Portrait of a Musician” 1485 ... and graphics “Self-Portrait” 1512 “Head in Profile” (sketch) “ View of the Arno Valley" Battle of Anghiari In 1508, 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 commission 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 in 1505, also stopped working. Last Supper. What biblical story was taken as a basis? Leonardo da Vinci chose to depict the moment after the fateful words of Jesus: “One of you will betray me.” Instead of a religious sacrament, the artist conveyed the drama of human feelings, the psychological state of each apostle, struck by the words of the Teacher to the very heart. 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. Discoveries in medicine Cross section of the skull Fetus in the womb Description of the valve of the right ventricle of the heart Glass models of organs Atherosclerosis Glasses Discoveries in botany Laws of phyllotaxy (the arrangement of leaves on the stem) Laws of heliotropism and geotropism (the effect of the sun and gravity on plants) Determination of the age of plants (by the structure of the stem) ) Age of trees (by tree rings) and geology Map of Northern Italy Explanation of marine sediments found in the mountains of Italy Discoveries in physics Tool for measuring light intensity Law of inertia (later Newton's 1st law) Also: Mechanical saw; mechanical chariot; machine for punching holes in blanks and minting coins; design of canals, locks, dams; dredger; jack; crane; pump with centrifuge; Grinder; oil lamp; chain transmission; spinning machine; flying machine; parachute; Lifebuoy; alarm; waterways... What is the genius of Leonardo da Vinci? Comment on the words of Leonardo da Vinci: “Painting in one moment must put all its content into the viewer’s consciousness.” Homework 1. Analyze the painting “La Gioconda” (Mona Lisa) 2. Write a story on the topic: “What do I know about the painting “La Gioconda” 3. Read biographical information about Raphael Santi Albanian Saimir Strati created the largest mosaic in the world - a portrait of Leonardo da Vinci - made of nails of several colors, driven to different heights into a wooden base. The record of the champion in mosaic made from nails is officially included in the Guinness Book of Records. Official website of Saimir Strati: http://www.mosaicart-sast.com Although he did a lot more in words than in deeds, all these branches of his activity, in which he showed himself so divinely, will never allow his name to fade away, no glory.

He seemed to know the evolutionary keys to the secrets of the human psyche. Thus, one of Leonardo da Vinci’s secrets was a special sleep formula: he slept for 15 minutes every 4 hours, thus reducing his daily sleep from 8 to 1.5 hours. Thanks to this, the genius immediately saved 75 percent of his sleep time, which actually extended his lifespan from 70 to 100 years!

“The painter’s painting will not be perfect if he takes the paintings of others as an inspiration; but if he learns from objects of nature, then he will produce good fruit...”

Painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, scientist - all this is Leonardo da Vinci. Wherever such a person turns, his every action is so divine that, leaving behind himself all other people, he reveals himself to be something given to us by God, and not acquired by human art. Leonardo da Vinci. Great, mysterious, attractive. So distant and so modern. Like a rainbow, the master’s fate is bright, mosaic, and colorful. His life is full of wanderings, meetings with amazing people and events. How much has been written about him, how much has been published, but it will never be enough. The mystery of Leonardo begins with his birth, in 1452 on April 15 in a town west of Florence. He was the illegitimate son of a woman about whom almost nothing is known. We don’t know her last name, age, appearance, we don’t know whether she was smart or stupid, whether she studied anything or not. Biographers call her a young peasant woman. Let it be so. Much more is known about Leonardo's father, Piero da Vinci, but not enough. He was a notary and came from a family that had settled in Vinci at least in the 13th century. Leonardo was brought up in his father's house. His education was obviously the same as that of any boy from a good family living in a small town: reading, writing, beginnings of mathematics, Latin. His handwriting is amazing, He writes from right to left, the letters are reversed so that the text is easier to read with the help of a mirror. In later years, he was interested in botany, geology, observing the flight of birds, the play of sunlight and shadow, and the movement of water. All this testifies to his curiosity and also to the fact that in his youth he spent a lot of time in the fresh air, walking around the outskirts of the town. These surroundings, which have changed little over the past five hundred years, are now almost the most picturesque in Italy. The father noticed and, taking into account the high flight of his son’s talent in art, one fine day selected several of his drawings, took them to Andrea Verrocchio, who was his great friend, and urgently asked him to say whether Leonardo, having taken up drawing, would achieve any success . Struck by the enormous potential that he saw in the drawings of the novice Leonardo, Andrea supported Ser Piero in his decision to devote him to this work and immediately agreed with him that Leonardo would enter his workshop, which Leonardo did more than willingly and began to practice not in just one area, but in all those areas where the drawing is included.

Painting Madonna in the Grotto. 1483-86

In nature, everything is wisely thought out and arranged, everyone should mind their own business, and in this wisdom lies the highest justice of life. Leonardo da Vinci

Painting Mona Lisa (La Gioconda). 1503-04

By 1514 - 1515 refers to the creation of a masterpiece by the great master - the painting La Gioconda. Until recently, they thought that this portrait was painted much earlier, in Florence, around 1503. They believed the story of Vasari, who wrote: “Leonardo undertook to make for Francesco del Gioconda a portrait of Monna Lisa, his wife, and, having worked on it for four years, left it unfinished. This work is now in the possession of the French king in Fontainebleau. By the way, Leonardo resorted to the following technique: since Madonna Lisa was very beautiful, while painting the portrait he held people who were playing the lyre or singing, and there constantly there were jesters who kept her cheerful and removed the melancholy that painting usually imparts to the portraits it makes.”

Where the spirit does not guide the artist's hand, there is no art.

Painting Madonna with a Flower (Benois Madonna). 1478

Thinking I was learning to live, I learned to die.

Painting of Madonna Litta. 1490

Painting "Madonna with Pomegranate". 1469

Painting Madonna. 1510

Painting Lady with an ermine. 1483-90

Painting Portrait of Ginevra de Benci. 1474-76

Painting of the Annunciation. 1472-75

Last Supper. 1498

Painting of John the Baptist. 1513-16

Head of a woman. 1500?

"Vitruvian Man". 1487

Virgin Mary with child and St. Anne

Portrait of a musician

The greatest scientist of his time, Leonardo da Vinci enriched almost all areas of knowledge with insightful observations and guesses. But how surprised the genius would have been if he had learned that many of his inventions are in use even 555 years after his birth. Oddly enough, only one invention of da Vinci received recognition during his lifetime - a wheel lock for a pistol that was wound with a key. At first, this mechanism was not widespread, but by the middle of the 16th century it had gained popularity among nobles, especially in the cavalry, which was even reflected in the design of the armor: Maximilian armor began to be made with gloves instead of mittens for the sake of firing pistols. The wheel lock for a pistol, invented by Leonardo da Vinci, was so perfect that it continued to be found in the 19th century. But, as often happens, recognition of geniuses comes centuries later: many of his inventions were expanded and modernized, and are now used in everyday life. For example, Leonardo da Vinci created a device that could compress air and force it through pipes. This invention has a very wide range of applications: from lighting stoves to ... ventilating rooms. He was educated at home, played the lyre masterfully, was the first to explain why the sky is blue and the moon is so bright, he was ambidextrous and suffered from dyslexia. He masters several drawing techniques: Italian pencil, silver pencil, sanguine, pen. In 1472 Leonardo was accepted into the guild of painters - the Guild of St. Luke, but remained to live in Verrocchio's house. He opened his own workshop in Florence between 1476 and 1478. On April 8, 1476, following a denunciation, Leonardo da Vinci was accused of being a gardener and arrested along with three friends. At that time in Florence, sadomea was a crime, and the capital punishment was burning at the stake. Judging by the records of that time, many doubted Leonardo’s guilt; neither an accuser nor witnesses were ever found. It was probably helped to avoid a harsh sentence by the fact that among those arrested was the son of one of the nobles of Florence: there was a trial, but the offenders were released after a short flogging. In 1482, having received an invitation to the court of the ruler of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, Leonardo da Vinci unexpectedly left Florence. Lodovico Sforza was considered the most hated tyrant in Italy, but Leonardo decided that Sforza would be a better patron for him than the Medici, who ruled in Florence and disliked Leonardo. Initially, the Duke took him on as the organizer of court holidays, for which Leonardo came up with not only masks and costumes, but also mechanical “miracles.” Magnificent holidays worked to increase the glory of Duke Lodovico. For a salary less than that of a court dwarf, in the Duke's castle Leonardo served as a military engineer, hydraulic engineer, court artist, and later as an architect and engineer. At the same time, Leonardo “worked for himself,” working in several areas of science and technology at the same time, but he was not paid for most of the work, since Sforza did not pay any attention to his inventions. In 1484-1485, about 50 thousand residents of Milan died from the plague. Leonardo da Vinci, who believed that the reason for this was the overpopulation of the city and the dirt that reigned in the narrow streets, suggested that the Duke build a new city. According to Leonardo's plan, the city was to consist of 10 districts of 30 thousand inhabitants each, each district was to have its own sewer system, the width of the narrowest streets was to be equal to the average height of a horse (a few centuries later, the Council of State of London recognized the proportions proposed by Leonardo as ideal and gave the order to follow them when laying out new streets). The design of the city, like many other technical ideas of Leonardo, was rejected by the Duke. Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to found an art academy in Milan. For teaching, he compiled treatises on painting, light, shadows, movement, theory and practice, perspective, movements of the human body, proportions of the human body. The Lombard school, consisting of Leonardo's students, appeared in Milan. In 1495, at the request of Lodovico Sforza, Leonardo began painting his Last Supper on the wall of the refectory of the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. On July 22, 1490, Leonardo settled young Giacomo Caprotti in his house (later he began to call the boy Salai - “Demon”). No matter what the young man did, Leonardo forgave him everything. The relationship with Salai was the most constant in the life of Leonardo da Vinci, who had no family (he did not want a wife or children), and after his death Salai inherited many of Leonardo’s paintings.
After the fall of Lodovic Sforza, Leonardo da Vinci left Milan. Over the years he lived in Venice (1499, 1500), Florence (1500-1502, 1503-1506, 1507), Mantua (1500), Milan (1506, 1507-1513), Rome (1513-1516). In 1516 (1517) he accepted the invitation of Francis I and left for Paris. Leonardo da Vinci did not like to sleep for long periods of time and was a vegetarian. According to some evidence, Leonardo da Vinci was beautifully built, had enormous physical strength, and had good knowledge of chivalry, horse riding, dancing, and fencing. In mathematics he was attracted only by what can be seen, so for him it primarily consisted of geometry and the laws of proportion. Leonardo da Vinci tried to determine the coefficients of sliding friction, studied the resistance of materials, studied hydraulics, and modeling. The areas that were interesting to Leonardo da Vinci included acoustics, anatomy, astronomy, aeronautics, botany, geology, hydraulics, cartography, mathematics, mechanics, optics, weapons design, civil and military engineering, and city planning. Leonardo da Vinci died on May 2, 1519 at the Castle of Cloux near Amboise (Touraine, France).

If you happen to fly, then from now on you will walk on the ground, turning your eyes to the sky, for there you have been and there you will always strive.

Leonardo da Vinci.

Leonardo da Vinci is a genius whose inventions belong entirely to both the past, present and future of humanity. He lived ahead of his time, and if even a small part of what he invented had been brought to life, then the history of Europe, and perhaps the world, would have been different: already in the 15th century we would have driven cars and crossed the seas by submarines. Leonardo da Vinci enriched almost all areas of knowledge with insightful observations and guesses. But how surprised a genius would be if he found out that many of his inventions are used even centuries after his birth.

I present to your attention a couple of inventions of Leonard da Vinci: Military equipment, Aircraft, Hydraulics, Various mechanisms.

The most daring dream of Leonardo the inventor, without a doubt, was human flight. One of the very first (and most famous) sketches on this topic is a diagram of a device that in our time is considered to be a prototype of a helicopter. Leonardo proposed making a propeller with a diameter of 5 meters from thin flax soaked in starch. It had to be driven by four people turning levers in a circle. Modern experts argue that the muscular strength of four people would not be enough to lift this device into the air (especially since even if lifted, this structure would begin to rotate around its axis), however, if, for example, a powerful spring were used as an “engine” , such a “helicopter” would be capable of flight - albeit short-term.

After a long and careful study of bird flight, which he began while still in Milan, Leonardo designed, and possibly built, the first model of a flying machine in 1490. This model had wings like a bat, and with its help, using the muscular efforts of the arms and legs, a person had to fly. Now we know that in this formulation the problem is unsolvable, because human muscular energy is not enough for flight.

The drawing of the device, which Leonardo himself described as follows, turned out to be prophetic: “If you have enough linen fabric sewn into a pyramid with a base of 12 yards (about 7 m 20 cm), then you can jump from any height without any harm to your body.” .

The figure shows an underwater breathing apparatus with parts of valves for air intake and release.

Swimming webbed gloves. To speed up swimming, the scientist developed a design of webbed gloves, which over time turned into the well-known flippers.

Diving suit. The project of Leonardo's diving suit was related to the problem of finding a person underwater. The suit was made of waterproof leather. It was supposed to have a large chest pocket, which was filled with air to increase volume, making it easier for the diver to rise to the surface. Leonardo's diver was equipped with a flexible breathing tube.

Lifebuoy. One of the most necessary things for teaching a person to swim is a lifebuoy. This invention of Leonardo remained virtually unchanged.

System for walking on water Leonardo's system for walking on water included swimming boots and poles.

Optics was popular in Leonardo's time and even had a philosophical connotation. Here are several machines for making mirrors and lenses. The second one from the top is intended for creating concave mirrors, the third one is for grinding them, the fourth one is for producing flat mirrors. The first and last machines make it possible to grind mirrors and lenses, making their surface smooth, while simultaneously converting rotational motion into alternating motion. There is also a known project (carried out by Leonardo between 1513 and 1516 during his stay in Rome) of a large parabolic mirror with many sides. It was conceived to heat laundry boilers by concentrating solar energy.

It is better to be deprived of movement than to be tired of being useful.

Leonardo da Vinci.

Milan's Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology is the largest in Europe. Leonardo da Vinci is famous for creating the ideal image of a person and expressing the ideal of female beauty in his painting "Mona Lisa", painted in 1503. Leonardo da Vinci, more often known only as an artist, was a genius who made numerous discoveries, developed innovative projects, and conducted research in the field of exact and natural sciences, including mathematics and mechanics. Leonardo wrote more than 7 thousand sheets of paper by hand in the process of developing his projects. Leonardo da Vinci made discoveries and guesses in almost all areas of knowledge, and his notes and sketches are considered as sheets from a natural philosophical encyclopedia. He became the founder of a new natural science that drew conclusions from experiments. Leonardo's favorite subject was mechanics, which he called “the paradise of mathematical sciences.” Leonardo believed that by unraveling the laws of mechanics, one could learn the secrets of the universe. Having devoted a lot of time to studying the flight of birds, he became the designer and creator of some flying machines and a parachute. Once you enter the Leonardo da Vinci Museum, you will be immersed in a world of interesting discoveries that will make you think about the infinity and ingenuity of the human mind.

Leonardo was not interested in anything! Incredibly, his interests even included cooking and the art of serving. In Milan, for 13 years he was the manager of court feasts. Leonardo invented several culinary devices to make the life of cooks easier. This is a device for chopping nuts, a bread slicer, a corkscrew for left-handed people, as well as a mechanical garlic press “Leonardo”, which is still used by Italian chefs to this day. In addition, he came up with an automatic spit for frying meat; a kind of propeller was attached to the spit, which was supposed to rotate under the influence of heated air flows coming up from the fire. A rotor was attached to a series of drives with a long rope; the forces were transmitted to the spit using belts or metal spokes. The hotter the oven heated up, the faster the spit rotated, which protected the meat from burning. Leonardo's original dish - thinly sliced ​​meat stewed with vegetables placed on top - was very popular at court feasts.
Leonardo da Vinci is a brilliant artist, a wonderful experimenter and an outstanding scientist, who embodied in his work all the most progressive trends of the Renaissance. Everything about him is amazing: his absolutely extraordinary versatility, his power of thought, his scientific inquisitiveness, his practical mindset, his technical ingenuity, his wealth of artistic imagination, and his outstanding skill as a painter, draftsman and sculptor. Reflecting in his work the most progressive aspects of the Renaissance, he became that great, truly folk artist, whose historical significance far outgrew the framework of his era. He looked not to the past, but to the future.