In Northern Italy there is a city bustling with merchants and traders, street vendors and hawkers, well-dressed customers strolling in a out of shops, and visitors from near and far. The streets are narrow and the city squares packed with people. This city is called Florence, and looking at it from a distance you will see the tall figures of the great domed cathedral, the bell tower, and the council chamber rising above the roofs. Step a little closer and you will see the Arno River flowing through the middle of the city and the stone bridges crossing over the river. Stroll over the bridge called the Ponte Vechio and along the way you can stop and look at the jewelry shops perched above the water. Over 500 years ago Florence looked much the same to young Leonardo da Vinci, as it would to a young ambitious artist today. Leonardo was about sixteen years old when he came to the big city to study art in the workshop of a famous painter.
LEONARDO AND HIS WORLD
Florence, bustling with activity, must have been a marvelous sight for Leonardo. He had come to the city from Vinci, a small village less than a day's journey away. Five hundred years ago Vinci also looked much the same as it does today, a quiet town resting between the mountains and a valley. Leonardo was captivated by the nature which surrounded him, and later in life he spent a great deal of time trying to understand the world of nature and all of its creatures. He loved animals, and it is said that when passing through a marketplace he would buy birds sold in cages only to set them free. When Leonardo first arrived in Florence to study painting, his innate curiosity for the natural world led him to become an expert not only in art, but in an amazing range of disciplines.
Here we will take a look at Leonardo's life, and the ways in which this self- declared "disciple of experience" reached out with insatiable curiosity to understand every aspect of his world.
THE LIFE AND ART OF LEONARDO
Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452. One year later Constantinople, the eastern capital of Christianity, fell to the Turks, and forty years later Christopher Columbus sailed west and discovered the New World.
Although as a boy Leonardo received a good education, there was a limit to what could be learned in a small village. His father could see that Leonardo had artistic talent, and by 1469 sent him to Florence to be an apprentice in the workshop of the painter and sculptor Andrea Verrocchio. Verrocchio was a well- known artist and often worked for Lorenzo the Magnificent, ruler of Florence.
This was the period in history known as the Renaissance, when after hundreds of years of serfdom and superstition there was, at last, a renewal in the study of sciences. Europe had left the Middle Ages and the feudal system behind. New schools of learning were opening and people were leaving the countryside for the cities. It was (because of these changes that a marvelous city like Florence was filled with artisans and merchants.
The Renaissance reached inside Verrocchio's workshop, where painting and sculpting went hand in hand with being a goldsmith, making fine mechanical objects and musical instruments, and even repairing existing works. Elementary engineering was a basic part of an artist's job. As an apprentice in the workshop, Leonardo learned these skills as well as painting and sculpting, and became familiar with a wide assortment of tools for activities such as lifting, carrying, and digging. Later in life he would use this knowledge as a starting point for his numerous ideas and inventions.
LEONARO'S EARLY WORKS
When Leonardo was twenty years old, he became a member of the Florentine Guild of Painters. It was at about this time that he contributed to a painting by his teacher, Verrocchio, titled The Baptism of Christ. Leonardo painted an angel on the left side of the painting as well as part of the landscape. Students often contributed to their teacher's paintings, and Leonardo would later have his own pupils help with his work. In The Baptism of Christ Leonardo showed his young genius and originality. He used oil paints which were new to Italy, and with them was able to surpass his teacher in use of colors and light. Some people think that young Leonardo's talent may have made his master jealous. However, it is more likely that Verrocchio was glad to leave the painting for Leonardo so that he could spend more of his time on sculpting and other projects. Leonardo continued to live with his teacher but began to work on paintings of his own.
During the Renaissance, most paintings were either religious scenes or portraits. Landscapes were found only in the background of paintings, as in The Baptism of Christ. But painting landscapes as a background for human figures was not enough for Leonardo. His first dated drawing is a country landscape, Arno Valley. The drawing is in pen and is full of the movement of nature: light coming over the hills, rustling of leaves, and flowing of water. From the very beginning Leonardo broke away from tradition and created a new style with his focus on the natural world.
With time Leonardo's painting improved more and more. By painting one glaze of oil paint over another he would create a thin mist, making the forms in his paintings slightly blurred and not stiff as in traditional paintings. This technique is called sfumato, which means "turned to mist." He also used light and dark colors next to each other to make a painting appear more natural.
THE ASPIRING INVENTOR
After living and working in Florence for fourteen years, Leonardo was looking for new challenges. His years in Florence had given Leonardo the opportunity to study and perfect his art, as well as time to design inventions that he would later make him famous. Milan, a city-state to the north of Florence, was threatened by enemies and Leonardo wanted to put his designs to work for the benefit of the city. In a letter to Lodovico Sforza, the Ruler of Milan, Leonardo praised his own ability to make cannons,
catapults, war ships, to dig tunnels under the enemy, drain moats and scale castle walls. Sforza hired the artist and aspiring inventor, but Leonardo soon found that his employer was mostly concerned with making Milan a beautiful city like Florence. And so Leonardo was working as an artist once again.
THE BRONZE HORSE
Leonardo's first project in Milan was to build a huge statue of Sforza's father on horseback. Leonardo had a brilliant plan to make a statue like no other - the largest ever of a man on horseback. Here we begin to see that Leonardo's marvelous plans were not always realized. For several years he planned the statue, and it took eleven years for him to complete a clay model of the horse, 26 feet high - as tall as a two-story house! Once the model was completed, Leonardo had the task of making the actual statue. He had to find a way of pouring 200,000 tons of melted bronze into a mold without ruining the job. Before Leonardo was able to solve his problem, the bronze he needed was used to make cannons, and then in 1499 the French took over Milan and destroyed the clay model. Despite sixteen years of planning and working on the statue Leonardo had to give up.
THE LAST SUPPER
The horse only took up part of Leonardo's attention; he was also painting the walls of a monastery. The painting was of the Last Supper of Christ. For many years Leonardo had thought about how to make this painting. Many other artists before him had made their own versions of Jesus Christ having his last meal with the twelve disciples. When Leonardo painted the picture, however, the scene was alive with action and new meaning that no one else was able to give, or has been able to give since. Five hundred years later the Last Supper is one of Leonardo's most famous works.
Although Leonardo's Last Supper must have been incredibly beautiful when just finished, it soon began to flake and fall apart. There was too much moisture in the walls of the monastery, and to make matters worse a heavy rainstorm caused a flood in the room. In the centuries after Leonardo completed his work the painting was restored many times, sometimes poorly, causing more harm to the great work of art. During World War II, a bomb hit the monastery, barely missing the treasure! In recent years the Last Supper was again restored, and it is now possible to see Leonardo's original forms and colors.
THE COURT ENTERTAINER
Leonardo was busy with many other projects while he lived in Milan. He continued to paint, sometimes completing his masterpieces but just as often never finishing. He was also a court entertainer for the rulers of Milan and would play the lute, sing, and recite poetry. When there was a festival he would make costumes and art work.
THE MILITARY INVENTOR
He was forever busy with the drawing of plans for military inventions; missiles, mortar bombs, tanks, and fortresses. He did not have a chance to actually carry out most of his ideas, but they were far ahead of his time. The tank, for example, was not used until World War I, almost 450 years after his drawing of a horseless armored car. He also planned a sewage system for Milan and devised how to rebuild the city so that the Black Plague would not be as dangerous a threat.
THE MONA LISA
In 1500, Leonardo returned to Florence, and three years later he completed his most famous painting, perhaps the most famous painting of all time, Mona Lisa. She sits above a landscape of rocks, trees, and water, her eyes gazing off to the side and her mouth forming her ageless half-smile. What does that smile mean? And what is she looking at? The more we look at her the more we wonder. But it is not only this woman who is so mysterious to us. Twenty years before the Mona Lisa was painted, the same curious smile is on the faces of the Virgin, her mother, and the angel in The Madonna of the Rocks. For almost 500 years artists have been attempting to imitate that smile, but its secret remains hidden.
THE BATTLE OF ANGHIARI
While Leonardo was living in Florence he was commissioned to paint the Battle of Anghiari on the walls of the council chamber. Anghiari had been a minor battle which took place in 1440, but Leonardo planned to use this event as a background for a dramatic scene showing the horrors of war.
At the same time that he prepared his painting, Michelangelo was working on another wall of the council chamber. Two of history's greatest artists were working on the same project! A third famous artist, Raphael, visited the building to see the masters at work. Neither Leonardo nor Michelangelo completed their work in the council chamber.
THE ENGINEER
In 1506, Leonardo returned to Milan. The French were still in control of the city-state, and he came to work for Charles d'Amboise, the commander of the French troops. For the next seven years he painted little, but spent most of his time studying mechanics, optics, anatomy, and mathematics. One of his many schemes from this period was to drain the Pontine Marshes, a feat of engineering which was actually carried out in later years.
LEONARDO'S LATER YEARS
By the time he was sixty years old, Leonardo found himself without income. Artists usually had a wealthy sponsor, or patron, but Leonardo had none. Why would such a talented man find himself in this kind of trouble? Why weren't people competing with each other to hire him? The reality was that Leonardo had begun many projects, but completed only a few. The wealthy were afraid to hire him for a project he would never finish. Although his fame as a painter has lasted through the centuries, Leonardo produced just over one dozen paintings in his entire lifetime.
When he was about sixty years old Leonardo drew his self-portrait. It is done in red chalk and shows a long white beard, wrinkled forehead, and sad eyes. Was he disappointed at seeing so many projects go unfinished? Was he overwhelmed by the questions which his pursuit of science had left unanswered? Was he lonely? We will never know, but it is quite clear from the drawing that he had grown old fast. In his last years his hand was partly paralyzed due to an illness, probably a minor stroke. Yet even this did not stop him from continuing with his many enterprises. He may not have been able to paint with the same brilliant detail, but he continued to draw.
Leonardo's last years were spent in relative comfort, thanks to an offer from abroad. King Francis I of France was a great admirer of Leonardo and invited him to be a painter in the royal court. Living in a small castle next to the royal residence at Amboise, Leonardo had a perfect place to pursue his art, work on his notes, and conduct scientific experiments. He lived this way for over two years before he died on May 2, 1519, at the age of 67.
HIS NOTEBOOKS AND MIRROR WRITING
When Leonardo da Vinci died, he left behind over 5,000 pages of drawings and notes. He wrote his notes in a backwards "secret" handwriting which he taught himself. Why did he disguise his writings? Possibly he was protecting himself from the Church. We must not forget that even though the Renaissance was a period of learning, the Church was still very powerful. Much of what Leonardo wrote went against the teachings of the Church, and it is a wonder that he did not find himself in great trouble. Another theory is that, as a left-handed person, the eccentric Leonardo simply found it more comfortable to write this way, and no teacher had ever tried to change him.
LEONARDO - THE WEDDING OF ARTS TO SCIENCE
"He is not well rounded who does not have an equally keen interest in all of the things within the compass of painting," wrote Leonardo in his notes. Leonardo definitely had an interest in "all things." Biology, anatomy, botany, and engineering are part of his paintings. Take for example his painting, Adoration of the Magi, made in 1481-1482, in which the baby Jesus first appears before the world. The painting includes dozens of men and women, several horses, a camel, trees, rocks, and a structure made of columns, stairs, and arches. When painting a man leaning over in the Adoration, Leonardo was concerned with the detail of every muscle. To paint this correctly meant that he had to understand the human body. To paint a horse rearing up on its hind feet also required that Leonardo knew the anatomy of a horse. The details of the trees and rocks were not overlooked either. The building in the background is both graceful and exact, showing off Leonardo's knowledge of architecture and engineering. A painting for Leonardo was therefore as much an exercise in science as it was in art.
TREATISE ON PAINTING
An important part of his notes were devoted to helping others learn to paint. He believed that there are rules of painting just as there are laws of mathematics. His Treatise on Painting includes a study of geometry, optics, perspective, and proportion, all of which were central to his work. Although he never completed his writings on the subject, there is still much for a modern artist to learn from them.
ANATOMICAL STUDIES
One of Leonardo's greatest contributions was in the study of human anatomy. While most artists thought of anatomy as a tool for their drawings, Leonardo was interested in understanding how the human body worked. He was not discouraged by the Church's negative attitude toward the dissection of corpses. In all, he dissected over thirty bodies. From his studies he was able to make a model of the human heart, eye, and brain. He wrote detailed notes of these dissections which show that his understanding of the human body was in fact far ahead of his time. Leonardo made many sketches from these studies. One is of an open womb with the embryo inside. The positions of the umbilical cord and embryo were surprisingly correct. He was also the first to draw parts of the body in cross-section, labeling the individual parts. This method is still used today.
He paid special attention to the eye, and understood what are now known to be basic principles of optics. He noted correctly that images are reversed on the human retina, and remarked on the bending properties of light. He also understood that the eye is a lens which is connected by nerves to the brain.
THE BOTANIST
Many students of botany, the study of plants, consider Leonardo to be the founder of botanical science. Before Leonardo, only magicians and makers of medicines were concerned with plants. But when he studied plants Leonardo made detailed observations and drawings which are as good as any used today. His discoveries in botany included that the age of a tree could be determined by the number of rings in its trunk.
The Church followed the traditional belief that the earth and sea were created only a few thousand years ago. Walking in the mountains of Italy, it is not unusual to find fossils of sea creatures in the rocks. Leonardo wondered how fish and other animals of the sea had come to be in the mountains. He noted that there must have been a primeval sea which covered the rocks. He was the first to propose that sediments fell to the bottom of the ancient sea and later became rock, enclosing fossilized fish. He saw that this must have happened long ago, longer than the Church claimed.
LEONARDO AND FLIGHT
Yet another of Leonardo's interests was flight. His notebook, On the Flight of Birds, was a study of birds and bats. He spent much time trying to invent a way for humans to fly as birds do. His designs failed because they featured flapping wings instead of the stiff design that modern airplanes have, and because he lacked a modern power source, but his drawings show that he had given some thought to the concept of gliding. With more work, Leonardo might have succeeded in putting humans in the sky. He also drew designs for a helicopter and a parachute, hundreds of years before they were constructed.
"I WISH TO WORK MIRACLES"
Leonardo's many discoveries and inventions were truly marvelous. When he was still young he wrote "I wish to work miracles." Did he realize that his wish had come true?
The Renaissance was an age when people were just beginning to discover and rediscover the world around them. There were artists, musicians, scientists, architects, mathematicians, engineers, inventors and philosophers, but only Leonardo da Vinci was all of these at once. No sooner had he begun one project, when he threw himself into the next. He had endless imagination and original thoughts. "Whoever in discussion cites authority uses not intellect but memory," he wrote. Leonardo, the true Renaissance man, used his intellect to look to the future and help make the world we live in today.
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