Leonardo da Vinci as a painter briefly. Leonardo da Vinci's contribution to the development of science and art

One of Leonardo's early works? figure of an angel in Verrocchio’s painting “Baptism” (Florence, Uffizi)? stands out among the frozen characters with its subtle spirituality and testifies to the maturity of its creator.

Among Leonardo’s early works is the “Madonna with a Flower” (the so-called “Madonna with a Flower”) stored in the Hermitage. Madonna Benoit", circa 1478), decidedly different from the numerous Madonnas of the 15th century. Refusing the genre and careful detailing inherent in the works of the early Renaissance masters, Leonardo deepens the characteristics and generalizes the forms. The figures of a young mother and baby, subtly modeled by side light, fill almost the entire space of the picture. The movements of the figures, organically connected with each other, are natural and plastic. They stand out clearly dark background walls. Opening window is clean blue sky connects the figures with nature, with the vast world dominated by man. In the balanced construction of the composition, an internal pattern is felt. But it does not exclude the warmth, naive charm observed in life (Appendix 1).

In 1480, Leonardo already had his own workshop and received orders. However, his passion for science often distracted him from his studies in art. The large altar composition “Adoration of the Magi” (Florence, Uffizi) and “Saint Jerome” (Rome, Vatican Pinacoteca) remained unfinished. In the first, the artist sought to transform the complex monumental composition of the altar image into a pyramid-shaped, easily visible group, to convey the depth of human feelings. In the second? To true portrayal complex angles of the human body, landscape space.

Not finding proper appreciation of his talent at court Lorenzo Medici With his cult of refinement, Leonardo entered the service of the Duke of Milan, Lodovico Moro. The Milan period of Leonardo's work (1482–1499) turned out to be the most fruitful. Here the versatility of his talent as a scientist, inventor and artist was revealed in full force.

Did he begin his career by creating a sculptural monument? equestrian statue father of Duke Ludovico Moro Francesco Sforza. Large model The monument, which received unanimous high praise from contemporaries, was destroyed during the capture of Milan by the French in 1499. Are only the drawings preserved? sketches of various versions of the monument, images of either a rearing horse, full of dynamics, or a solemnly performing horse, reminiscent compositional solutions Donatello and Verrocchio. Apparently, this last option was turned into a model of the statue. It was significantly larger in size than the monuments of Gattamelata and Colleoni, which gave rise to contemporaries and Leonardo himself to call the monument “the great colossus.” This work allows us to consider Leonardo one of the largest sculptors of that time.

Not a single completed architectural project by Leonardo has reached us. And yet his drawings and designs of buildings, plans for creating an ideal city speak of his gift as an outstanding architect.

The Milanese period includes paintings mature style? "Madonna in the Grotto" and " last supper" “Madonna in the Grotto” (1483?1494, Paris, Louvre) ? the first monumental altar composition High Renaissance. Her characters Mary, John, Christ and the angel acquired features of greatness, poetic spirituality and fullness of life expressiveness. United by a mood of thoughtfulness and action? baby Christ blesses John? in a harmonious pyramidal group, as if surrounded by a light haze of chiaroscuro, the characters of the gospel legend seem to be the embodiment ideal images peaceful happiness.

Does the most significant of Leonardo's monumental paintings transport you into a world of real passions and dramatic feelings? “The Last Supper”, performed in 1495–1497 for the monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan. Stepping away from traditional interpretation Gospel episode, Leonardo gives an innovative solution to the theme, a composition that deeply reveals human feelings and experiences. By minimizing the outline of the refectory furnishings, deliberately reducing the size of the table and moving it towards foreground, he focuses attention on the dramatic climax of the event, on the contrasting characteristics of people of different temperaments, the manifestation of a complex range of feelings, expressed in both facial expressions and gestures, with which the apostles respond to the words of Christ: “One of you will betray me.” A decisive contrast to the apostles is provided by the images of an outwardly calm, but sadly pensive Christ, located in the center of the composition, and the traitor Judas, leaning on the edge of the table, whose rough, predatory profile is immersed in shadow. Confusion, emphasized by the gesture of his hand frantically clutching his wallet, and his gloomy appearance distinguish him from the other apostles, on whose illuminated faces one can read an expression of surprise, compassion, and indignation. Leonardo does not separate the figure of Judas from the other apostles, as the early Renaissance masters did. And yet the repulsive appearance of Judas reveals the idea of betrayal more sharply and deeply. All twelve disciples of Christ are located in groups of three, on either side of the teacher. Some of them jump up from their seats in excitement, turning to Christ. The artist subordinates the various internal movements of the apostles to a strict order. The composition of the fresco amazes with its unity, integrity, it is strictly balanced, centric in construction. The monumentalization of the images and the scale of the painting contribute to the impression of the deep significance of the image, subordinating the entire large space of the refectory. Leonardo brilliantly solves the problem of the synthesis of painting and architecture. By placing the table parallel to the wall that the fresco adorns, he asserts its plane. The perspective reduction of the side walls depicted on the fresco seems to continue real space refectory.

The fresco is badly damaged. Leonardo's experiments using new materials did not stand the test of time; later recordings and restorations almost hid the original, which was cleared only in 1954. But the surviving engravings and preparatory drawings allow you to fill in all the details of the composition (Appendix 3).

After Milan was captured by French troops, Leonardo left the city. Years of wandering began. Commissioned by the Florentine Republic, he made cardboard for the fresco “The Battle of Anghiari”, which was to decorate one of the walls of the Council Chamber in the Palazzo Vecchio (city government building). When creating this cardboard, Leonardo entered into competition with the young Michelangelo, who was executing an order for the fresco “The Battle of Cascina” for another wall of the same hall. However, these cardboards, which received universal recognition from their contemporaries, have not survived to this day. Only old copies and engravings allow us to judge the innovation of the geniuses of the High Renaissance in the field of battle painting.

In Leonardo's composition, full of drama and dynamics, an episode of the battle for the banner, a moment is given high voltage forces fighting, the cruel truth of war is revealed. The creation of a portrait of Mona Lisa (“La Gioconda”, circa 1504, Paris, Louvre), one of the most famous works of world painting, dates back to this time. The depth and significance of the created image is extraordinary, in which individual features are combined with great generalization. Leonardo's innovation was also evident in the development of Renaissance portraiture (Appendix 2).

Plastically elaborated, closed in silhouette, majestic figure of a young woman dominates a distant landscape shrouded in a bluish haze with rocks and water channels winding among them. The complex, semi-fantastic landscape subtly harmonizes with the character and intelligence of the person being portrayed. It seems that the unsteady variability of life itself is felt in the expression of her face, enlivened by a subtle smile, in her calmly confident, penetrating gaze. The face and sleek hands of the patrician are painted with amazing care and gentleness. The thinnest, as if melting, haze of chiaroscuro (the so-called sfumato), enveloping the figure, softens the contours and shadows; There is not a single sharp stroke or angular contour in the picture.

His art, scientific and theoretical research, and his very personality had a tremendous impact on the development of world culture. His manuscripts contain countless notes and drawings that testify to the universality of Leonardo's genius. There are carefully drawn flowers and trees, sketches of unknown tools, machines and apparatus. Along with analytically accurate images, there are drawings that are distinguished by their extraordinary scope, epicness or subtle lyricism. Passionate fan experimental knowledge, Leonardo strove for its critical understanding, for the search for generalizing laws. "Experience? This the only source of knowledge",? the artist spoke. “The Book of Painting” reveals his views as a theorist realistic art, for whom painting is both “science and the legitimate daughter of nature.” The treatise contains Leonardo's statements on anatomy and perspective; he looks for patterns in the construction of a harmonious human figure, writes about the interaction of colors, and reflexes. Among Leonardo's followers and students, however, there was not a single one approaching the teacher in terms of talent; deprived of an independent view of art, they only externally assimilated his artistic style.

Italian painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, technician, scientist, mathematician, anatomist, botanist, musician, philosopher of the High Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the town of Vinci, near Florence. Father - the lord, Messer Piero da Vinci - was a wealthy notary, as were four previous generations his ancestors. When Leonardo was born, he was about 25 years old. Piero da Vinci died at the age of 77 (in 1504), during his life he had four wives and was the father of ten sons and two daughters ( last child born when he was 75 years old). Almost nothing is known about Leonardo’s mother: in his biographies, a certain “young peasant woman” Katerina is most often mentioned. During the Renaissance, illegitimate children were often treated the same as children born in a legal wedlock. Leonardo was immediately recognized as his father, but after his birth he was sent with his mother to the village of Anchiano.

At the age of 4 he was taken to his father's family, where he received his primary education: reading, writing, mathematics, Latin. One of the features of Leonardo da Vinci is his handwriting: Leonardo was left-handed and wrote from right to left, turning the letters so that the text was easier to read with the help of a mirror, but if the letter was addressed to someone, he wrote traditionally. When Piero was over 30, he moved to Florence and established his business there. To find work for his son, his father brought him to Florence. Being illegitimate, Leonardo could not become a lawyer or doctor, and his father decided to make him an artist. At that time, artists, considered artisans and not belonging to the elite, stood slightly above tailors, but in Florence they had much more respect for painters than in other city-states.

In 1467-1472 Leonardo studied with Andrea del Verrocchio - one of the leading artists of that period - sculptor, bronze caster, jeweler, organizer of festivities, one of the representatives of the Tuscan school of painting. Leonardo's talent as an artist was recognized by the teacher and the public when to the young artist barely twenty years old: Verrocchio received an order to paint the painting “The Baptism of Christ” (Uffizi Gallery, Florence), the minor figures were to be painted by the artist’s students. For painting at that time, tempera paints were used - egg yolk, water, grape vinegar and colored pigment - and in most cases the paintings turned out dull. Leonardo risked painting the figure of his angel and the landscape newly discovered oil paints. According to legend, after seeing the work of his student, Verrocchio said that “he has been surpassed and from now on only Leonardo will paint all faces.”

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 most He was not paid for his 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 considered the reason for this to be the overpopulation of the city and the dirt that reigned on narrow streets, invited the Duke to build new town. 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. IN different 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).

Leonardo da Vinci was born in the town of Vinci (or near it), located west of Florence, on April 15, 1452. He was the illegitimate son of a Florentine notary and a peasant girl, was brought up in his father’s house and, being the son educated person, received a thorough primary education.

1467 - at the age of 15, Leonardo became an apprentice to one of the leading masters Early Renaissance in Florence, Andrea del Verrocchio; 1472 - joined the guild of artists, studied the basics of drawing and other necessary disciplines; 1476 - he worked in Verrocchio’s workshop, apparently in collaboration with the master himself.

By 1480, Leonardo already had large orders, but 2 years later he moved to Milan. In a letter to the ruler of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, he introduced himself as an engineer, military expert and artist. The years he spent in Milan were filled with various activities. Leonardo da Vinci painted several paintings and the famous fresco “The Last Supper” and began to diligently and seriously keep his notes. The Leonardo we recognize from his notes is an architect-designer (the creator of innovative plans that were never implemented), an anatomist, a hydraulic engineer, an inventor of mechanisms, a creator of decorations for court performances, a writer of riddles, puzzles and fables for the entertainment of the court, musician and painting theorist.

1499 - after the expulsion of Lodovico Sforza from Milan by the French, Leonardo leaves for Venice, visits Mantua on the way, where he participates in the construction of defensive structures, and then returns to Florence. At that time, he was so passionate about mathematics that he didn’t even want to think about picking up a brush. For 12 years, Leonardo constantly moved from city to city, working for the famous in Romagna, designing defensive structures (never built) for Piombino.

In Florence he enters into rivalry with Michelangelo; This rivalry culminated in the enormous battle compositions that the two artists painted for the Palazzo della Signoria (also Palazzo Vecchio). Then Leonardo conceived a second equestrian monument, which, like the first, was never created. Throughout all these years, he continues to fill out his notebooks. They reflect his ideas related to the most different subjects. This is the theory and practice of painting, anatomy, mathematics and even the flight of birds. 1513 - as in 1499, his patrons are expelled from Milan...

Leonardo leaves for Rome, where he spends 3 years under the auspices of the Medici. Depressed and upset due to the lack of material for anatomical research, he engages in experiments that lead nowhere.

The kings of France, first Louis XII, then Francis I, admired the works Italian Renaissance, especially Leonardo's Last Supper. Therefore, it is not surprising that in 1516 Francis I, well aware of Leonardo’s versatile talents, invited him to the court, which was then located in the castle of Amboise in the Loire Valley. As the sculptor Benvenuto Cellini wrote, despite the fact that the Florentine worked on hydraulic projects and plans for the new royal palace, his main occupation is the honorary position of court sage and adviser.

Fascinated by the idea of creating aircraft, the Florentine first developed the simplest apparatus (Daedalus and Icarus) based on wings. His new idea is an airplane with full control. But it was not possible to bring the idea to life due to the lack of a motor. The scientist’s also famous idea is a vertical take-off and landing device.

Studying the laws of fluid and hydraulics in general, Leonardo made a great contribution to the theory of locks and sewer ports, testing ideas in practice.

Famous paintings by Leonardo - “La Gioconda”, “The Last Supper”, “Madonna with an Ermine”, and many others. Leonardo was demanding and precise in everything he did. Even before painting, he insisted on fully studying the subject before starting.

Leonardo's manuscripts are priceless. They were fully published only in the 19th and 20th centuries. In his notes, Leonardo da Vinci noted not just thoughts, but supplemented them with drawings, drawings, and descriptions.

Leonardo da Vinci was talented in many fields; he made significant contributions to the history of architecture, art, and physics.

Leonardo da Vinci died in Amboise on May 2, 1519; By this time, his paintings were usually distributed to private collections, and his notes lay in various collections, almost completely forgotten, for several more centuries.

Secrets of Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci encrypted a lot so that his ideas would be revealed gradually, as humanity could “ripen” to them. He wrote with his left hand and in very small letters, from right to left, so that the text looked like a mirror image. He spoke in riddles, made metaphorical prophecies, and loved to make puzzles. Leonardo da Vinci did not sign his works, but they are present identification marks. For example, if you take a closer look at the paintings, you may find a symbolic bird taking off. There are, apparently, a lot of such signs, which is why one or another of his hidden “brainchildren” are unexpectedly discovered on famous paintings, through centuries. So, for example, it happened with the “Benois Madonna”, which for a long time, as a home icon, was carried with itinerant actors.

Leonard discovered the principle of scattering (or sfumato). The objects on his canvases have no clear boundaries: everything, like in life, is blurry, penetrates one into another, which means it breathes, lives, awakens imagination. To master this principle, he advised practicing: looking at stains on walls, ashes, clouds or dirt that appear from dampness. He specially fumigate the room where he worked with smoke in order to look for images in clubs.

Thanks to the sfumato effect, the flickering smile of Gioconda appeared: depending on the focus of the view, it seems to the viewer that Gioconda is smiling either tenderly or sinisterly. The second miracle of the Mona Lisa is that it is “alive.” Over the centuries, her smile changes, the corners of her lips rise higher. In the same way, the Master mixed the knowledge of various sciences, so his inventions find more and more applications over time. From the treatise on light and shadow come the beginnings of the sciences of penetrating force, oscillatory motion, and wave propagation. All of his 120 books have been distributed around the world and are gradually being revealed to humanity.

Leonardo da Vinci preferred the analogy method to all others. The approximate nature of an analogy is an advantage over the precision of a syllogism, when a third inevitably follows from two conclusions. But the more bizarre the analogy, the further the conclusions from it extend. Take, for example, Da Vinci’s famous illustration, which proves the proportionality of the human body. Human figure with outstretched arms and spread legs fits into a circle, and with closed legs and raised arms fits into a square. This “mill” gave rise to various conclusions. Leonardo was the only one who created designs for churches in which the altar is placed in the middle (symbolizing the human navel), and the worshipers are evenly spaced around. This church plan in the form of an octahedron served as another invention of the genius - the ball bearing.

The Florentine loved to use contrapposto, which creates the illusion of movement. Everyone who saw his sculpture of a giant horse in Corte Vecchio involuntarily changed their gait to a more relaxed one.

Leonardo was never in a hurry to finish a work, because unfinishment is an integral quality of life. Finishing means killing! The Florentine's slowness was the talk of the town; he could make two or three strokes and leave the city for many days, for example, to improve the valleys of Lombardy or to create an apparatus for walking on water. Almost every one of it significant works- “unfinished”. The master had a special composition with which he finished painting as if he deliberately created “windows of incompleteness.” Apparently, he left a place where life itself could intervene and correct something...

He played the lyre masterfully. When Leonardo's case was heard in the Milan court, he appeared there precisely as a musician, and not as an artist or inventor.

There is a version that Leonardo da Vinci was a homosexual. While the artist was studying in Verrocchio's studio, he was accused of molesting a boy who posed for him. The court acquitted him.

According to one version, Gioconda smiles from the realization of her secret pregnancy.

According to another, the Mona Lisa was entertained by musicians and clowns while she posed for the artist.

There is another assumption, according to which, “Mona Lisa” is a self-portrait of Leonardo.

Leonardo da Vinci, apparently, did not leave a single self-portrait that could be unambiguously attributed to him. Experts doubt that Leonardo's famous self-portrait of Sanguine (traditionally dated 1512-1515), depicting him in old age, is such. It is believed that this is probably only a study of the head of the apostle for the Last Supper. Doubts that this is a self-portrait of the artist began to be expressed from XIX century, they were recently expressed by one of the leading experts on Leonardo da Vinci, Professor Pietro Marani.

Scientists at the University of Amsterdam and American researchers, having studied the mysterious smile of Mona Lisa using a new computer program, unraveled its composition: according to them, it contains 83 percent happiness, 9 percent disdain, 6 percent fear and 2 percent anger.

Leonardo loved water: he developed instructions for underwater diving, he invented and described a device for underwater diving, a breathing apparatus for scuba diving. All of Leonardo da Vinci's inventions formed the basis of modern underwater equipment.

Leonardo was the first of the painters to begin dismembering corpses in order to understand the location and structure of the muscles.

Observations of the Moon in the waxing crescent phase led the researcher to one of the important scientific discoveries- Leonardo da Vinci established that sunlight reflected from our planet and returned to the moon in the form of secondary illumination.

The Florentine was ambidextrous - he was equally good with his right and left hands. He suffered from dyslexia (impaired reading ability) - this ailment, called “word blindness,” is associated with reduced brain activity in a certain area of the left hemisphere. Known fact, Leonardo wrote in a mirror way.

Relatively not so long ago, the Louvre spent $5.5 million to move the artist’s most famous masterpiece, La Gioconda, from the general public to a room specially equipped for it. Two thirds were allocated for La Gioconda State Hall, occupying a total area of 840 sq. m. The huge room was rebuilt into a gallery, on the far wall of which the famous work of the great Leonardo now hangs. The reconstruction, which was carried out according to the design of the Peruvian architect Lorenzo Piqueras, lasted about 4 years. The decision to move the Mona Lisa to a separate room was made by the administration of the Louvre due to the fact that in its original place, surrounded by other paintings Italian masters, this masterpiece was lost, and the public was forced to stand in line to see the famous painting.

2003, August - a painting by the great Leonardo worth 50 million dollars, “Madonna with a Spindle,” was stolen from Drumlanrig Castle in Scotland. The masterpiece was stolen from the home of one of the richest landowners in Scotland, the Duke of Buccleuch.

It is believed that Leonardo was a vegetarian (Andrea Corsali, in a letter to Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici, compares him to an Indian who did not eat meat). The phrase often attributed to Leonardo: “If a person strives for freedom, why does he keep birds and animals in cages? .. man is truly the king of animals, because he cruelly exterminates them. We live by killing others. We are walking cemeteries! At an early age I gave up meat" taken from English translation novel by Dmitry Merezhkovsky “Resurrected Gods. Leonardo da Vinci."

Leonardo da Vinci created designs for a submarine, a propeller, a tank, a loom, a ball bearing and flying cars.

While building canals, Leonardo made an observation that later entered geology under his name as a theoretical principle for recognizing the time of formation of the earth's layers. He concluded that our planet is much older than the Bible indicated.

Da Vinci's hobbies even included cooking and the art of serving. In Milan, for thirteen years he was the manager of court feasts. He invented several culinary devices to make the work of cooks easier. Leonardo's original dish - thinly sliced stewed meat with vegetables placed on top - was very popular at court feasts.

In Terry Pratchett's books there is a character whose name is Leonard, whose prototype was Leonardo da Vinci. Pratchett's Leonard writes from right to left, invents various machines, practices alchemy, paints pictures (the most famous is the portrait of Mona Ogg)

A considerable number of Leonardo's manuscripts were first published by the curator of the Ambrosian Library, Carlo Amoretti.

Italian scientists made a statement about the sensational discovery. According to them, an early self-portrait of Leonardo has been discovered. The discovery belongs to the journalist Piero Angela.

Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci (1452 - 1519) - Italian painter, sculptor and architect, natural scientist, writer and musician, inventor and mathematician, botanist and philosopher, bright representative Renaissance.

Childhood

Not far from Italian Florence The small town of Vinci is located, near it in 1452 there was the village of Anchiano, where the genius Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15.

His father, a fairly successful notary Pierrot, was 25 years old at that time. He was in love affair with the beautiful peasant woman Katerina, as a result of which a child was born. But later the father was legally married to a noble and rich girl, and Leonardo stayed to live with his mother.

After some time, it turned out that the married couple and Vicni could not have their own children, and then Piero took their common son Leonardo, who by that time was already three years old, from Katerina to raise. The baby was separated from his mother, and then all his life he diligently tried to recreate her image in his masterpieces.

IN new family the boy began to receive primary education at the age of 4; he was taught Latin and reading, mathematics and writing.

Youth in Florence

When Leonardo was 13 years old, his stepmother died, his father married a second time and moved to Florence. Here he opened his own business, to which he tried to involve his son.

In those days, children born out of legal marriage were endowed with exactly the same rights as heirs born into an officially registered family. However, Leonardo had little interest in the laws of society, and then Pierrot's father decided to make his son an artist.

His teacher in painting was the representative of the Tuscan school, sculptor, bronze caster, and jeweler Andrea del Verrocchio. Leonardo was accepted into his workshop as an apprentice.

In those years, the entire intellect of Italy was concentrated in Florence, so that, in addition to painting, da Vinci here had the opportunity to study drawing, chemistry, humanities. Here he learned some technical skills, learned to work with materials such as metal, leather and plaster, and became interested in modeling and sculpture.

At the age of 20, Leonardo qualified as a master at the Guild of St. Luke.

The first painting masterpieces

In those days, painting workshops practiced joint painting, when the teacher completed orders with the help of one of his students.

So Verrocchio, when he received his next order, chose da Vinci as his assistant. The painting “The Baptism of Christ” was needed; the teacher instructed Leonardo to paint one of the two angels. But when the master teacher compared the angel he was painting with the work of da Vinci, he threw away his brush and never returned to painting. He realized that the student not only surpassed him, but a real genius was born.

Leonardo da Vinci mastered several painting techniques:

Italian pencil;
sanguine;
silver pencil;
feather.

Over the next five years, Leonardo worked on creating such masterpieces as “Madonna with a Vase”, “Annunciation”, “Madonna with a Flower”.

Period of life in Milan

In the spring of 1476, da Vinci and three of his friends were accused of sadism and were arrested. At that time, this was considered a terrible crime, for which the death penalty was imposed - burning at the stake. The artist’s guilt was not proven; no accusers or witnesses were found. The son of a noble Florentine nobleman was also among the suspects. These two circumstances helped da Vinci avoid punishment; the defendants were flogged and released.

After this incident, the young man did not return to Verrocchio, but opened his own painting workshop.

In 1482, the ruler of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, invited Leonardo da Vinci to his court as the organizer of the holidays. His job was to create costumes, masks and mechanical “miracles”; the holidays turned out great. Leonardo had to simultaneously combine several positions: engineer and architect, court artist, hydraulic engineer and military engineer. Moreover, his salary was less than that of a court dwarf. But Leonardo did not despair, because in this way he had the opportunity to work for himself and develop in science and technology.

During the years of his life and work in Milan, da Vinci paid especially much attention to anatomy and architecture. He sketched several options for the central-domed temple; got hold of a human skull and made a discovery - cranial sinuses.

During the same Milanese period, while working at court, he became very interested in cooking and the art of table setting. In order to make the work of cooks easier, Leonardo invented some culinary devices.

Artistic creations of the genius da Vinci

Although his contemporaries consider Leonardo da Vinci to be a great artist, he considered himself a learned engineer. He drew rather slowly and did not devote much time to fine arts, because I was too keen on science.

Some works have been lost or severely damaged over the years and centuries; many unfinished paintings remain. For example, the large altar composition “Adoration of the Magi”. That's why artistic heritage Leonardo isn't that great. But what has survived to this day is truly priceless. These are paintings such as “Madonna in the Grotto”, “La Gioconda”, “The Last Supper”, “Lady with an Ermine”.

To depict so brilliantly in paintings human bodies, Leonardo was the first in the world of painting to study the structure and location of muscles, for which he dismembered corpses.

Other areas of activity of Leonardo

But he owns it great amount discoveries in other areas and areas.
In 1485, a plague epidemic occurred in Milan. About 50,000 city residents died from this disease. Da Vinci justified such a pestilence to the Duke by the fact that in the overpopulated city dirt reigned on the narrow streets, and came up with a proposal to build a new city. He proposed a plan according to which the city, designed for 30,000 inhabitants, was divided into 10 districts, each with its own sewerage system. Leonardo also proposed calculating the width of streets based on the average height of horses. The Duke rejected his plan, as, indeed, many rejected it during his lifetime. brilliant creations da Vinci.

However, several centuries will pass, and the State Council of London will take advantage of the proportions proposed by Leonardo, call them ideal and will apply them when laying out new streets.

Da Vinci was also very talented in music. His hands were responsible for the creation of a silver lyre, which was shaped like a horse's head; he could also play this lyre masterfully.

Leonardo was fascinated by the water element; he created many works related to water in one way or another. He owns the invention and description of a device for diving under water, as well as breathing apparatus, which can be used for scuba diving. All modern underwater equipment is based on da Vinci's inventions. He studied hydraulics, the laws of fluid, developed the theory of sewer ports and locks, testing his ideas in practice.

And how passionate he was about the development of an aircraft, and he created the simplest of them based on wings. These are his ideas - an airplane with full control and a device that will have vertical takeoff and landing. He didn’t have a motor and couldn’t bring his ideas to life.

Absolutely everything about the structure of man interested him; he worked very hard to study human eye.

Some interesting facts

Leonardo da Vinci had many students and friends. As for his relationships with the female sex, there is no reliable information on this matter. It is known for certain that he was not married.

Leonardo da Vinci slept very little and was a vegetarian. He did not understand at all how a person could combine the freedom he strives for with keeping animals and birds in cages. In his diaries he wrote:

“We are all walking cemeteries because we live by killing other (animals).”

Almost 5 centuries have passed without a great genius, and the world is still trying to unravel the smile of Gioconda. It was studied by specialists and scientists in Amsterdam and the USA, and even with the help of computer technology they determined the emotions that a smile conceals:

happiness (83%);
fear (6%);
anger (2%);
neglect (9%).

There is a version that when Mona Lisa posed for the master, she was entertained by jesters and musicians. And some scientists suggested that she was pregnant and smiled blissfully from the realization of this secret.

Leonardo da Vinci died on May 2, 1519, surrounded by his students. Heritage genius man included not only paintings, but also huge library, tools, about 50,000 sketches. The manager of all this was his friend and student Francesco Melzi.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci (April 15, 1452 - May 2, 1519) - was famous Italian architect Renaissance musician, inventor, engineer, sculptor and a brilliant artist. He has been described as the archetype of the "Renaissance man" and universal genius. Leonardo is widely known for his unique paintings such as the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. He is also famous for his many inventions. In addition, he helped in the development of anatomy, astronomy and urban planning.

During the Renaissance there were many brilliant sculptors, artists, musicians, and inventors. Leonardo da Vinci stands out against their background. He created musical instruments, he owned many engineering inventions, painted paintings, sculptures and much more.
His external data is also amazing: high growth, angelic appearance and extraordinary strength. Let's get acquainted with the genius Leonardo da Vinci; a short biography will tell about his main achievements.

Biography facts
He was born near Florence in the small town of Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci was the illegitimate son of a famous and wealthy notary. His mother is an ordinary peasant woman. Since the father had no other children, at the age of 4 he took little Leonardo to yourself. The boy demonstrated his extraordinary intelligence and friendly character from the very beginning. early age, and he quickly became a favorite in the family.
To understand how the genius of Leonardo da Vinci developed, a brief biography can be presented as follows:
At the age of 14 he entered Verrocchio's workshop, where he studied drawing and sculpture.
In 1480 he moved to Milan, where he founded the Academy of Arts.
In 1499, he left Milan and began moving from city to city, where he built defensive structures. During this same period, his famous rivalry with Michelangelo began.
Since 1513 he has been working in Rome. Under Francis I, he becomes a court sage.
Leonardo died in 1519. As he believed, nothing he started was ever completed.

Creative path
The work of Leonardo da Vinci, whose brief biography was outlined above, can be divided into three stages.
Early period. Many works of the great painter were unfinished, such as the “Adoration of the Magi” for the monastery of San Donato. During this period, the paintings “Benois Madonna” and “Annunciation” were painted. Despite his young age, the painter already demonstrated high skill in his paintings.
Mature period Leonardo's creativity took place in Milan, where he planned to make a career as an engineer. Most popular work, written at this time, was “The Last Supper”, at the same time he began work on “Mona Lisa”.
IN late period creativity, the painting “John the Baptist” and a series of drawings “The Flood” were created.

Painting always complemented science for Leonardo da Vinci, as he sought to capture reality.

The most famous paintings Leonardo