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Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci is a man of Renaissance art, sculptor, inventor, painter, philosopher, writer, scientist, polymath (universal man).

The future genius was born as a result of a love affair between the noble Piero da Vinci and the girl Katerina (Katarina). According to the social norms of that time, the marriage union of these people was impossible due to the low birth of Leonardo's mother. After the birth of her first child, she was given in marriage to a potter, with whom Katerina lived the rest of her life. It is known that from her husband she gave birth to four daughters and a son.

Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci

The first-born Piero da Vinci lived with his mother for three years. Immediately after his birth, Leonardo's father married a rich representative of a noble family, but his legal wife was never able to give birth to an heir. Three years after the marriage, Piero took his son to him and took up his upbringing. Stepmother Leonardo died after 10 years, trying to give birth to an heir. Pierrot remarried, but was quickly widowed again. In total, Leonardo had four stepmothers, as well as 12 paternal half-siblings.

Creativity and inventions of da Vinci

The parent gave Leonardo as an apprentice to the Tuscan master Andrea Verrocchio. During his studies with a mentor, Piero's son learned not only the art of painting and sculpture. Young Leonardo studied the humanities and technical sciences, the skill of leather dressing, the basics of working with metal and chemical reagents. All this knowledge was useful to da Vinci in life.

Leonardo received confirmation of the qualifications of the master at the age of twenty, after which he continued to work under the supervision of Verrocchio. The young artist was involved in minor work on the paintings of his teacher, for example, he prescribed background landscapes and clothes of secondary characters. Leonardo had his own workshop only in 1476.

In 1482, da Vinci was sent by his patron Lorenzo de' Medici to Milan. During this period, the artist worked on two paintings that were never completed. In Milan, Duke Lodovico Sforza enrolled Leonardo in the court staff as an engineer. A high-ranking person was interested in defensive devices and devices for entertaining the court. Da Vinci had the opportunity to develop the talent of an architect and the ability of a mechanic. His inventions turned out to be an order of magnitude better than those offered by contemporaries.

The engineer stayed in Milan under the Duke of Sforza for about seventeen years. During this time, Leonardo painted the paintings “Madonna in the Grotto” and “Lady with an Ermine”, created his most famous drawing “Vitruvian Man”, made a clay model of the equestrian monument of Francesco Sforza, painted the wall of the refectory of the Dominican monastery with the composition “The Last Supper”, made a number of anatomical sketches and drawings of devices.

Leonardo's engineering talent was useful to him after returning to Florence in 1499. He got a job with Duke Cesare Borgia, who counted on da Vinci's ability to create military mechanisms. The engineer worked in Florence for about seven years, after which he returned to Milan again. By that time, he had already completed work on his most famous painting, which is now stored in the Louvre Museum.

The master's second Milan period lasted six years, after which he left for Rome. In 1516, Leonardo went to France, where he spent his last years. On the journey, the master took with him Francesco Melzi, a student and main heir to the artistic style of da Vinci.

Despite the fact that Leonardo spent only four years in Rome, it is in this city that the museum named after him is located. In the three halls of the institution you can get acquainted with the devices built according to the drawings of Leonardo, look at copies of paintings, photos of diaries and manuscripts.

The Italian devoted most of his life to engineering and architectural projects. His inventions were both military and peaceful. Leonardo is known as a developer of tank prototypes, an aircraft, a self-propelled cart, a searchlight, a catapult, a bicycle, a parachute, a mobile bridge, a machine gun. Some drawings of the inventor still remain a mystery to researchers.

In 2009, the Discovery TV channel aired a series of films called Da Vinci Apparatus. Each of the ten episodes of the documentary series was dedicated to the construction and testing of mechanisms according to Leonardo's original drawings. The film's technicians tried to recreate the inventions of the Italian genius using materials from his era.

Personal life

The personal life of the master was kept by him in the strictest confidence. For entries in his diaries, Leonardo used a cipher, but even after decoding, the researchers received little reliable information. There is a version that da Vinci's unconventional orientation was the reason for the secrecy.

The basis of the theory that the artist loved men was the guesswork of researchers based on circumstantial facts. At a young age, the artist appeared in a case of sodomy, but it is not known for certain in what capacity. After this incident, the master became very secretive and stingy with comments about his personal life.

Possible lovers of Leonardo include some of his students, the most famous of which is Salai. The young man was endowed with an effeminate appearance and became a model for several paintings by da Vinci. The painting "John the Baptist" is one of the surviving works of Leonardo, for which Salai posed.

There is a version that "Mona Lisa" was also written from this sitter, dressed in a woman's dress. It should be noted that there is some physical similarity between the people depicted in the paintings "Mona Lisa" and "John the Baptist". It remains a fact that da Vinci bequeathed his artistic masterpiece to Salai.

Historians also rank Francesco Melzi as a possible beloved of Leonardo.

There is another version of the secret of the Italian's personal life. There is an opinion that Leonardo had a romantic relationship with Cecilia Gallerani, who, presumably, is depicted in the portrait "Lady with an Ermine". This woman was the favorite of the Duke of Milan, the owner of the literary salon, the patroness of the arts. She introduced the young artist to the circle of Milanese bohemia.

Among da Vinci's notes, a draft letter was found addressed to Cecilia, which began with the words: "My beloved goddess ...". Researchers suggest that the portrait of the "Lady with an Ermine" was painted with clear signs of unspent feelings for the woman depicted on it.

Some researchers believe that the great Italian did not know carnal love at all. Men and women were not physically attracted to him. In the context of this theory, it is assumed that Leonardo led the life of a monk who did not give birth to descendants, but left a great legacy.

Death and grave

Modern researchers have concluded that the probable cause of the artist's death is a stroke. Da Vinci died at the age of 67 in 1519. Thanks to the memoirs of contemporaries, it is known that by that time the artist was already suffering from partial paralysis. Leonardo could not move his right hand, as researchers believe, due to a stroke in 1517.

Despite the paralysis, the master continued an active creative life, resorting to the help of his student Francesco Melzi. Da Vinci's health was deteriorating, and by the end of 1519 it was already difficult for him to walk without assistance. This evidence is consistent with the theoretical diagnosis. Scientists believe that a second attack of cerebrovascular accident in 1519 ended the life of the famous Italian.

At the time of his death, the master was in the Clos Luce castle near the city of Amboise, where he lived for the last three years of his life. In accordance with Leonardo's will, his body was buried in the gallery of the church of Saint-Florentin.

Unfortunately, the master's grave was devastated during the Huguenot wars. The church, in which the Italian rested, was plundered, after which it fell into severe disrepair and was demolished by the new owner of the Amboise castle, Roger Ducos, in 1807.

After the destruction of the Saint-Florentin chapel, the remains from many burials from different years were mixed and buried in the garden. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, researchers made several attempts to identify the bones of Leonardo da Vinci. Innovators in this matter were guided by the lifetime description of the master and chose the most suitable fragments from the remains found. They have been studied for some time. The work was led by archaeologist Arsen Usse. He also found fragments of a tombstone, presumably from the grave of da Vinci, and a skeleton, in which some fragments were missing. These bones were reburied in the reconstructed tomb of the artist in the chapel of Saint Hubert on the grounds of the Château d'Amboise.

In 2010, a team of researchers led by Silvano Vincheti was about to exhume the remains of a Renaissance master. It was planned to identify the skeleton using genetic material taken from the graves of Leonardo's paternal relatives. Italian researchers failed to obtain permission from the owners of the castle to carry out the necessary work.

In the place where the Church of Saint-Florentin used to be, at the beginning of the last century, a granite monument was erected, marking the four hundredth anniversary of the death of the famous Italian. The reconstructed tomb of the engineer and the stone monument with his bust are among the most popular sights of Amboise.

Secrets of da Vinci paintings

Leonardo's work has occupied the minds of art historians, religious researchers, historians and the public for more than four hundred years. The works of the Italian artist became an inspiration for people of science and creativity. There are many theories that reveal the secrets of da Vinci's paintings. The most famous of them says that when writing his masterpieces, Leonardo used a special graphic code.

With the help of a device of several mirrors, the researchers managed to find out that the secret of the views of the characters from the paintings "La Gioconda" and "John the Baptist" lies in the fact that they are looking at a masked creature resembling an alien alien. The secret cipher in Leonardo's notes was also deciphered using an ordinary mirror.

Hoaxes around the work of the Italian genius led to the emergence of a number of works of art, the author of which was the writer. His novels have become bestsellers. In 2006, the film The Da Vinci Code was released, based on the work of the same name by Brown. The film was met with a wave of criticism from religious organizations, but set box office records in its first month of release.

Lost and unfinished works

Not all of the master's works have survived to our time. Works that have not survived include: a shield with a painting in the form of the head of Medusa, a sculpture of a horse for the Duke of Milan, a portrait of the Madonna with a spindle, the painting "Leda and the Swan" and the fresco "Battle of Anghiari".

Modern researchers know about some of the master's paintings thanks to the preserved copies and memoirs of da Vinci's contemporaries. For example, the fate of the original Leda and the Swan is still unknown. Historians believe that the painting may have been destroyed in the mid-seventeenth century on the orders of the Marquise de Maintenon, wife of Louis XIV. Sketches made by Leonardo's hand and several copies of the canvas made by different artists have survived to our time.

The painting depicted a young naked woman in the arms of a swan, at whose feet babies hatched from huge eggs play. When creating this masterpiece, the artist was inspired by a famous mythical story. It is interesting that the canvas based on the story of the copulation of Leda with Zeus, who took the form of a swan, was written not only by da Vinci.

Leonardo's lifetime rival also painted a picture dedicated to this ancient myth. The painting by Buonarotti suffered the same fate as the work of da Vinci. Paintings by Leonardo and Michelangelo simultaneously disappeared from the collection of the French royal house.

Among the unfinished works of the brilliant Italian, the painting "The Adoration of the Magi" stands out. The canvas was commissioned by the Augustinian monks in 1841, but remained unfinished due to the departure of the master to Milan. The customers found another artist, and Leonardo saw no reason to continue working on the painting.

Researchers believe that the composition of the canvas has no analogues in Italian painting. The painting depicts Mary with the newborn Jesus and the Magi, and behind the backs of the pilgrims are horse riders and the ruins of a pagan temple. There is an assumption that Leonardo depicted in the picture among the men who came to the son of God, and himself at the age of 29 years.

• Researcher of religious mysteries Lynn Picknett published the book Leonardo da Vinci and the Brotherhood of Zion in 2009, naming the famous Italian as one of the masters of a secret religious order.
• It is believed that da Vinci was a vegetarian. He wore clothes made of linen, neglecting outfits made of leather and natural silk.
• A team of researchers plans to isolate Leonardo's DNA from the surviving personal belongings of the master. Historians also claim they are close to finding da Vinci's maternal relatives.
• The Renaissance was the time when noble women in Italy were addressed with the words "my mistress", in Italian - "Madonna" (ma donna). In colloquial speech, the expression was reduced to "monna" (monna). This means that the name of the painting "Mona Lisa" can literally be translated as "Madame Lisa".

• Raphael Santi called da Vinci his teacher. He visited the studio of Leonardo in Florence, tried to adopt some features of his artistic style. Rafael Santi also called Michelangelo Buonarroti his teacher. The three artists mentioned are considered the main geniuses of the Renaissance.
• Australian enthusiasts have created the largest traveling exhibition of the inventions of the great architect. The exposition was developed with the participation of the Leonardo da Vinci Museum in Italy. The exhibition has already visited six continents. During its operation, five million visitors were able to see and touch the works of the most famous engineer of the Renaissance.

Combining the development of new means of artistic language with theoretical generalizations, Leonardo da Vinci created an image of a person that meets the humanistic ideals of the High Renaissance. In the painting "The Last Supper" (1495-1497, in the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan), a high ethical content is expressed in strict patterns of composition, a clear system of gestures and facial expressions of characters.

The humanistic ideal of female beauty is embodied in the portrait of the Mona Lisa (La Gioconda, circa 1503). Numerous discoveries, projects, experimental research in the field of mathematics, natural sciences, mechanics. Defended the decisive experience in the knowledge of nature (notebooks and manuscripts, about 7 thousand sheets).

Leonardo was born into the family of a wealthy notary. 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 of an educated man, received a thorough primary education in reading, writing and counting.

Perhaps in 1467 (at the age of 15) Leonardo was apprenticed to one of the leading masters of the early Renaissance in Florence, Andrea del Verrocchio. In 1472, Leonardo joined the guild of artists, having studied the basics of drawing and other necessary disciplines. In 1476 he was still working in Verrocchio's workshop, apparently in collaboration with the master himself.

The methods of work in the Florentine workshop of that time, where the artist's work was closely associated with technical experiments, as well as acquaintance with the astronomer P. Toscanelli, contributed to the emergence of young Leonardo's scientific interests. In his early works (the head of an angel in Verrocchio's Baptism, after 1470, the Annunciation, circa 1474, both in the Uffizi, the Benois Madonna, circa 1478, the Hermitage) enriches the traditions of Quattrocento painting, emphasizing the smooth volume of forms with soft chiaroscuro, enlivening faces thin, barely perceptible smile.

By 1480, Leonardo was already receiving large orders, but in 1482 he moved to Milan. In a letter to the ruler of Milan, Lodovico Sforza, he introduced himself as an engineer and military expert, as well as an artist. The years spent in Milan were filled with varied pursuits. Leonardo painted several paintings and the famous fresco The Last Supper and began diligently and seriously to keep his notes. The Leonardo whom we recognize from his notes is an architect-designer (the creator of innovative plans that were never carried out), an anatomist, a hydraulician, an inventor of mechanisms, a designer of scenery for court performances, a writer of riddles, rebuses and fables for the entertainment of the court, musician and art theorist.

After the expulsion of Lodovico Sforza from Milan by the French in 1499, Leonardo left for Venice, visiting Mantua on the way, where he participated in the construction of defensive structures, and then returned to Florence; it is reported that he was so absorbed in mathematics that he did not want to think about picking up a brush. For twelve years, Leonardo constantly moved from city to city, working for the famous Cesare Borgia in Romagna, designing defenses (never built) for Piombino. In Florence he entered into a rivalry with Michelangelo; this rivalry culminated in the enormous battle compositions that the two artists painted for Palazzo della Signoria (also Palazzo Vecchio). Then Leonardo conceived a second equestrian monument, which, like the first, was never created. All these years, he continued to fill his notebooks with a variety of ideas on subjects as diverse as the theory and practice of painting, anatomy, mathematics, and the flight of birds. But in 1513, as in 1499, his patrons were expelled from Milan.

Leonardo went to Rome, where he spent three years under the auspices of the Medici. Depressed and distressed by the lack of material for anatomical research, Leonardo fiddled with experiments and ideas that led nowhere.

French, first Louis XII , and then Francis I , admired the works of the Italian Renaissance, especially last supper Leonardo. Therefore, it is not surprising that in 1516 Francis I , well aware of the various talents of Leonardo, invited him to the court, which was then located in the castle of Amboise in the Loire Valley. Although Leonardo worked on hydraulic projects and plans for a new royal palace, it is clear from the writings of the sculptor Benvenuto Cellini that his main occupation was the honorary position of court sage and adviser. Leonardo died at Amboise on May 2, 1519; his paintings by this time were scattered mainly in private collections, and the notes lay in various collections almost in complete oblivion for several more centuries.

"The Last Supper"

In the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Leonardo creates the painting “The Last Supper” (1495-97; due to the risky experiment that the master went through, using oil mixed with tempera for the fresco, the work has come down to us in a very damaged form). The high religious and ethical content of the image, which represents the stormy, contradictory reaction of Christ's disciples to his words about the coming betrayal, is expressed in clear mathematical patterns of the composition, imperiously subjugating not only the painted, but also the real architectural space. The clear stage logic of facial expressions and gestures, as well as the excitingly paradoxical, as always with Leonardo, combination of strict rationality with an inexplicable mystery made The Last Supper one of the most significant works in the history of world art.

Being also engaged in architecture, Leonardo develops various versions of the "ideal city" and the central-domed temple. The following years the master spends in constant travel (Florence - 1500-02, 1503-06, 1507; Mantua and Venice - 1500; Milan - 1506, 1507-13; Rome - 1513-16). From 1517 he lives in France, where he was invited by King Francis I.

"Battle of Angyari". Gioconda (Portrait of Mona Lisa)

In Florence, Leonardo is working on a painting in the Palazzo Vecchio (“Battle of Anghiari”, 1503-1506; not finished and not preserved, known from copies from cardboard, as well as from a recently discovered sketch - a private collection, Japan), which stands at the origins of the battle genre in the art of modern times; the deadly fury of war is embodied here in the frenzied battle of horsemen.

In the most famous painting by Leonardo, the portrait of the Mona Lisa (the so-called "La Gioconda", circa 1503, Louvre), the image of a wealthy townswoman appears as a mysterious personification of nature as such, without losing a purely feminine cunning; The internal significance of the composition is given by the cosmically majestic and at the same time disturbingly alienated landscape, melting in a cold haze.

Later paintings

The later works of Leonardo include: projects of the monument to Marshal Trivulzio (1508-1512), the painting "Saint Anna with Mary and the baby Christ"(about 1500-1507, Louvre). The latter sums up, as it were, his searches in the field of light-air perspective, tonal color (with a predominance of cool, greenish hues) and harmonic pyramidal composition; at the same time, this is harmony over the abyss, since a group of holy characters, soldered by family closeness, is represented on the edge of the abyss. Leonardo's last painting, "Saint John the Baptist" (circa 1515-1517, ibid.), is full of erotic ambiguity: the young Forerunner here does not look like a holy ascetic, but like a tempter full of sensual charm. In a series of drawings depicting a universal catastrophe (the cycle with the "Flood", Italian pencil, pen, circa 1514-1516, Royal Library, Windsor), reflections on the frailty and insignificance of man in front of the power of the elements are combined with rationalistic ones, anticipating the "vortex" cosmology R. Descartes ideas about the cyclic nature of natural processes.

"Treatise on Painting"

The most important source for studying the views of Leonardo da Vinci are his notebooks and manuscripts (about 7 thousand sheets), written in colloquial Italian. The master himself did not leave a systematic presentation of his thoughts. "Treatise on Painting", prepared after the death of Leonardo by his student F. Melzi and had a great influence on the theory of art, consists of passages largely arbitrarily taken from the context of his notes. For Leonardo himself, art and science were inextricably linked. Giving the palm to painting in the “dispute of the arts” as the most intellectual, in his opinion, type of creativity, the master understood it as a universal language (similar to mathematics in the field of sciences), which embodies the entire diversity of the universe through proportions, perspective and chiaroscuro. “Painting,” Leonardo writes, “is a science and the legitimate daughter of nature ..., a relative of God.” By studying nature, the perfect naturalist thus comes to know the "divine mind" hidden under the external appearance of nature. Involving in creative competition with this divine-intelligent principle, the artist thereby affirms his likeness to the supreme Creator. Since he "has first in his soul and then in his hands" "everything that exists in the universe", he is also "a kind of god."

Leonardo is a scientist. Technical projects

How the scientist and engineer Leonardo da Vinci enriched almost every field with insightful observations and conjectures knowledge of that time, considering his notes and drawings as sketches for a giant natural-philosophical encyclopedia. He was a prominent representative of the new natural science based on experiment. Leonardo paid special attention to mechanics, calling it the "paradise of mathematical sciences" and seeing in it the key to the secrets of the universe; he tried to determine the coefficients of sliding friction, studied the resistance of materials, and was enthusiastically engaged in hydraulics. Numerous hydrotechnical experiments were expressed in innovative designs for canals and irrigation systems. The passion for modeling led Leonardo to amazing technical foresights, far ahead of his time: such are the sketches of projects for metallurgical furnaces and rolling mills, looms, printing, woodworking and other machines, a submarine and a tank, as well as the designs of aircraft and aircraft developed after a thorough study of bird flight. parachute.

Optics

The observations collected by Leonardo on the influence of transparent and translucent bodies on the color of objects, reflected in his painting, led to the establishment of the principles of aerial perspective in art. The universality of optical laws was associated for him with the idea of ​​the uniformity of the universe. He was close to creating a heliocentric system, considering the Earth "a point in the universe." He studied the structure of the human eye, speculating about the nature of binocular vision.

Anatomy, botany, paleontology

In anatomical studies, summarizing the results of autopsies of corpses, laid the foundations of modern scientific illustration in detailed drawings. Studying the functions of organs, he considered the body as a model of "natural mechanics". For the first time he described a number of bones and nerves, paid special attention to the problems of embryology and comparative anatomy, trying to introduce the experimental method into biology. Having established botany as an independent discipline, he gave classical descriptions of leaf arrangement, helio- and geotropism, root pressure and the movement of plant sap. He was one of the founders of paleontology, believing that the fossils found on the tops of the mountains refute the notion of a "global flood".
Revealing the ideal of the Renaissance "universal man", Leonardo da Vinci was comprehended in the subsequent tradition as a person who most clearly outlined the range of creative quests of the era. In Russian literature, the portrait of Leonardo was created by D.S. Merezhkovsky in the novel "The Resurrected Gods" (1899-1900).

Significance of scientific heritage

the works of any scientist must be considered in comparison with the achievements of his predecessors and contemporaries and in the light of their influence on the subsequent development of science. Due to the secrecy of Leonardo and the discovery of part of his manuscripts only 300 years after they were written, naturally, one does not have to talk about the influence of these notes on the subsequent development of natural sciences and technology. A serious comparison of the texts of Leonardo da Vinci with the surviving manuscripts and even with the publications of contemporaries and predecessors until the second half of the 20th century. almost never carried out. Professor Truesdell, who was not afraid to challenge traditional views, approached the scientific and technical heritage of Leonardo with an open mind and critically. He pointed out the obvious exaggeration by many modern historians of the depth of a number of Leonardo's statements, the inconsistency, inconsistency and speculation of many of his remarks, the almost complete absence of a description of his own experiments, and the widespread use of borrowed materials. Truesdell emphasized the need for a serious historical and critical analysis of Leonardo's notes, comparing their content with other materials of his era, in order to isolate truly original and unambiguously formulated judgments. This is a grandiose work, which is just beginning now and requires highly qualified specialists who own both the relevant natural and technical sciences, as well as knowledge of medieval printed and manuscript sources.

Unfortunately, we do not know exactly whose works Leonardo read. Mentions of other scientists are extremely rare in him, moreover, he rejected on principle any blind adherence to authorities. In Leonardo there are (as a rule, outside the scientific context) references to Aristotle, Archimedes and Theophrastus - from the ancient authors (IV-III centuries BC), Vitruvius, Heron, Lucretius and Frontinus - the heyday of the Roman Empire (I century BC - I century AD), Sabita ibn Korru - from Arab scientists (IX century), Jordan Nemorarius and Roger Bacon (XIII century), Albert of Saxony, Swainshead and Haytesbury (XIV century), Alberti and Fossambrone (XV century). Almost the only exception in Leonardo's notes was his direct polemic with Albert of Saxony on the movement. However, we do not know what he actually read. This can only be determined by painstakingly comparing Leonardo's notes with the texts of his predecessors and contemporaries, often preserved only in manuscripts.

It is known that in Leonardo there are free retellings of certain authors. So, according to various sources, we know that he was familiar with the teachings of the Parisian school of the XIV century on the nature of movement and the theory of the lever. However, Leonardo did not add anything significant: his statements here are fuzzy and inconsistent. But, perhaps, he was the first who became interested in movement on an inclined plane.

In general, in sections of science that require generalizations, Leonardo does not show much insight, apparently due to poor general natural science training. Where a sharp eye is needed, he is unsurpassed and ingenious. Unprepared for a serious study of the dynamics of processes, he is brilliant in observing their kinematics.

Leonardo's attitude to mathematics is peculiar. The following words are often quoted from his notes: “Let no one who is not a mathematician read me.” It is not clear how to understand this statement and whether it is a transcription of the words of the Greek authors. Elsewhere, Leonardo writes: "Mechanics is the paradise of the mathematical sciences; through it one achieves mathematical fruit." But it must be borne in mind that Leonardo almost did not know mathematics: he added fractions, but he barely knew the rudiments of algebra, he could not solve even the simplest linear equations and used only proportions. Therefore, the above statements about mathematics are, perhaps, purely apologetic in nature.

Leonardo formulated all laws only in the form of simple proportions. Sometimes they could coincide with reality, sometimes not. And it is difficult to judge when he comes to the correct conclusion consciously, and when accidentally.

It is curious, however, that by considering some geometric problems that he could not solve analytically, Leonardo came up with mechanical devices that provided solutions. In terms of what can be considered and designed, he was certainly a genius.

Leonardo constantly talks about experiments, about the need to set them up. But we do not know how often he actually performed them. Leonardo's only remark, indisputably based on experiment, is the assertion that the friction force is proportional to the load, with the coefficient of friction being one quarter. This is the first known and fairly plausible estimate of the coefficient of friction. In this respect, Leonardo certainly anticipated the work of Guillaume Amontons of the late seventeenth century, who is usually credited with discovering the laws of friction.

A large number of Leonardo's notes are devoted to the strength of columns, beams and arches. In support of his judgments, he sometimes refers to an experiment, but more often he suggests that the reader himself be convinced by experience. Leonardo's conclusion that the strength of the supports is inversely proportional to their height is unnatural, although he repeatedly refers to thought experiments. Based on a thorough analysis of all the notes on the strength of structures, Truesdell came to the conclusion that Leonardo did not have a single correct result in this area, except for the obvious position that strength is proportional to the section of the column (beam), - the position, a priori intuitively known to any builder.

On the contrary, where knowledge is achieved by observation, Leonardo is brilliantly insightful. So, obviously on the basis of observations, he establishes the break points of arches and vaults when they are loaded. He discovered resonant excitation of vibrations in bells, the appearance of wave patterns on vibrating plates covered with fine dust - phenomena that were described only in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The movement of waters represented a particularly wide field of observation for Leonardo. Here much is noticed by him for the first time. He described the movement of waves on water and, in particular, the propagation of circular waves on the surface and their mutual unhindered passage. He noted the formation of bottom sand ridges in streams and similar ridges due to the action of wind on land. He observed and sketched the trajectories of particles as they flowed out of orifices and through weirs. Remarkable are his schematic sketches of pictures of secondary flows in a liquid when the flow leaves the bottom stage. He observed the movement of water in rivers and, apparently, was the first to note the law of continuity - the inverse proportionality of velocities to cross-sectional areas.

Apparently, Leonardo not only proposed and described a flat slotted tray for studying the movement of fluid, but actually used it to observe flow trajectories by placing suitable tracers in the fluid, for which he used dry grains.

Thus, Leonardo discovered a lot of new things in the movement of waters, although, as always, he did not bring his broad plans to fruition. It is no coincidence that in the middle of the 17th century Cardinal Barberini commissioned to prepare for him, based on the notes of Leonardo da Vinci, the Treatise on the Movement and Measurement of Waters, which has survived to this day, published for the first time in 1826.

Such is Leonardo da Vinci in all his contradictions. He knew how to correctly pose questions, sometimes pointing out possible ways to find solutions. Of course, this was the genius of Leonardo. He did not become a pathfinder in science, but he could have been a guide, if not for his painful secrecy and self-conceit, which deprived the next generations of acquaintance with his notes.

Leonardo da Vinci lived in the era of the formation of a new science, which was emerging just at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries. And although he did not lay any of the trends in the natural sciences of that era, he remains for us the most insightful observer of nature, striking with the incredible versatility of his interests and conjectures, intuition and foresight.

Leonardo as a person

Leonardo was one of the most legendary and prolific figures of the entire Renaissance. According to some estimates, up to 20,000 publications are devoted to him, of which the vast majority are in the second half of the 20th century. This literature, predominantly of an idolatrous nature, created in society the image of a brilliant artist, sculptor and scientist. The fact that Leonardo was an outstanding painter was recognized during his lifetime, but he also openly claimed the title of engineer and architect and, moreover, was a hidden naturalist, which he did not publicly declare at all. His interests were all-encompassing. They covered all areas of wildlife - anatomy, physiology, biomechanics (the movement of animals and the flight of birds) and botany, as well as geology, orography, meteorology and a wide range of natural sciences - primarily mechanics (including the strength of structures and the movement of water), optics and partly astronomy and chemistry. He also showed a deep interest in technology - mechanical engineering and especially aircraft.

Leonardo was an astute observer: he had a sharp eye, masterfully wielded a pen, fixing everything he saw. Not having received a good education and not fully knowing the language of science of that time - Latin, he wrote thousands of sheets in Italian on various topics, supplementing them with drawings depicting what he saw and independently invented.

Leonardo wrote down all his thoughts in secret writing - in a mirror image, hiding them from others. He had exceptional self-esteem. Let us give, for example, one of his laudatory notes addressed to him, related to an unfeasible aircraft project: “The big bird will begin its first flight from the back of its gigantic swan, filling the universe with amazement, filling all scriptures with rumors about itself, with eternal glory to the nest where it was born!”

According to legend, Leonardo systematically lacked sleep, giving himself entirely to work. His notes have survived only partially, mostly in an unsystematic placer. In them, he asked nature thousands of questions, receiving almost no answer to any of them. He pointed out possible experimental routes to many of the answers, but practically did not use them himself. We find Leonardo repeatedly mentioning grandiose plans for writing treatises on various topics, although he understood their complete unreality. Alas, a brilliant projector, he undertook everything, but he hardly fulfilled even an insignificant fraction of what was planned. Having lived a relatively long life (67 years), he never came close to completing any of his ideas. The inability to set realistic goals was the life tragedy of this great genius.

The Italian Renaissance enters a new stage of development at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. The culmination of art (the end of the 15th and the first decades of the 16th century), which presented the world with such great masters as Raphael, Titian, Giorgione and Leonardo da Vinci, is called the stage of the High Renaissance.

Childhood Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Vinci, a Tuscan town located on the hill of the same name. Mysteries surround the life of Leonardo from birth. He was the illegitimate son of a young notary, Piero da Vinci, and a certain Katerina, either a peasant woman or a tavern owner. We know almost nothing about the mother of our hero, although the life of Piero da Vinci is well documented. Pierrot's ancestors settled in Vinci at least in the 13th century (and maybe even earlier). His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were also notaries - and so successful that they became landowners and became wealthy citizens, the so-called "seniors". This title was inherited by Pierrot. The house where Leonardo lived as a child

Leonardo was raised in the home of Piero da Vinci. It is known that the young Leonardo was distinguished by a strong physique, beauty and inquisitive mind. At the same time, he received a rather superficial education - later the artist regretted that he had not learned Latin, and this language was the basis of education in those days. However, even then Leonardo showed outstanding mathematical abilities, sang beautifully and played the lyre, and drew wonderfully. At the age of 15, he became an apprentice with one of the famous Florentine masters - Andrea del Verrocchio (c. 1435 1488). Here he studied not only painting, but also drawing, sculpture, and jewelry making. Seeing the student's abilities, Andrea allowed him to take part in the creation of The Baptism of Christ, instructing him to write a figure of an angel holding the clothes of Christ.

Vasari's Impression Vasari describes the impression made on the teacher by the work of his student in the following way: . . Leonardo's angel turned out to be much better than Verrocchio's figures, and this was the reason that Andrea never again wanted to touch paints, offended that some boy surpassed him in skill.

Coincidence of interests of teacher and student Verrocchio was not only a famous artist and sculptor of the Italian Renaissance, but also a talented teacher. He started as a master jeweler, but his sculpture and paintings brought him fame. In addition, Verrocchio was revered as an outstanding engineer. He was happy to study with his new student, rejoicing at the coincidence of their interests. Unfortunately, their shortcomings also coincided. So, neither the teacher nor the student wanted to deeply study the fresco technique. If Leonardo painted frescoes in the traditional way, then his great works "The Last Supper" and "The Battle of Anghiari" would have come down to us in their original form.

The title of master of painting Leonardo received the title of master of painting in 1472, but until 1476 he remained with Verrocchio. Perhaps this was due to some kind of joint work. 1481 dates from the first large order of Leonardo. He was commissioned to paint the painting "The Adoration of the Magi" - for the altar of the monastery of San Donato. He never finished it. But, working on the image, Leonardo managed to move far enough to be talked about as an innovator in terms of the transmission of gestures and emotions. In the same year, work began on the painting "Saint Jerome"

Long before Leonardo, the ma donna in the paintings and sculptures of the Italian masters ceased to be the heavenly queen holding the savior of the world in her arms. She has become a young mother admiring her son. But no matter what Leonardo did, he always opened up new, as yet unexplored possibilities, both in art and in science. Never before has a religious subject turned into a genre scene to such an extent as in the Benois Madonna.

The young Florentine, sweet and charming, dressed in the fashion of the last quarter of the 15th century, placed her son on her lap. Amusing him, she separated a flower from a modest bouquet and handed it to the child. The baby grabbed one hand of the mother, and the second tries to take a new object for him. The mother laughs carelessly, watching the boy's still uncertain movements. The flower, around which the hands are intertwined, serves as the semantic and mathematical center of the composition. The crucifer in the hand of the Madonna

The problems that worried the masters throughout the 15th century found their solution in this small work of Leonardo. Unmistakable transfer of bodies in motion, the ability to connect the figures so that the group is perceived as something unified both externally and in mood, the finest gradations of light and shade, thanks to which the forms become tangibly voluminous, the transfer of features of different objects - hair, fabrics, jewelry , persuasiveness on buildings - all this suggests that the Benois Madonna sums up the long journey of Italian painting.

Moving from Florence to Milan and back One of the reasons that made Leonardo quit his job was his move from Florence to Milan to serve at the court of Duke Lodovico Sforza, the ruler of the city, who received the nickname "Moro" (that is, "Moor" because of his dark skin). ). In 1482, before moving to Milan to the court of Duke Lodovico Moro, Leonardo sent him a letter in which he listed in detail to his patron everything that he could do: “I know how to make extremely light and easily portable bridges, suitable to pursue enemies and to flee from them. . . » And so on, point by point (there are ten of them), Leonardo sets out his possibilities in the field of technology. And only at the end does he add: “In peacetime, I hope you will compete with everyone in architecture, in the construction of buildings. . . I also undertake in sculpture, in marble, bronze or clay, as in painting, to do everything possible, no worse than anyone who wants to measure with me. However, Leonardo did not stop there. He was destined to discover new horizons in art when he left Florence for Milan in 1482, realizing that his native city did not give him the opportunity to truly reveal his talent.

In Milan, the Master of Vinci thought that for him the ruler of Milan, Lodovico Moro, a rude but ambitious man, who sought to secure for Milan the position of the leading center in the system of fragmented Italy, would become such a patron. As is clear from the letter cited at the beginning of our story, Leonardo is the last to speak of himself as an artist. Indeed, the field of his activity in Milan was extremely wide. He was engaged in science, painted a picture for one of the churches, worked for the duke. He painted a portrait of the beloved Duke Cecilia Galerani, but the main task in the field of art for him was the construction of a monument in honor of Moro's father, Francesco Sforza. Unfortunately, only preparatory drawings and a small group of bronze - the winner on horseback - have come down to us. The model of the monument was destroyed during the French invasion at the beginning of the 16th century, the soldiers of Louis XII made it into an arrow target.

Sculpture in Milan. Leonardo's Horse In 2001, Leonardo's horse was finally installed in Milan.

Back in 1482, the Duke of Milan, Lodovico Sforza, ordered Leonardo da Vinci to sculpt a horse in memory of his father Francesco. The horses are not simple, but not even golden. But simply the biggest. In the world. What is really trifles there, after all, dear father. Leonardo is also not a modest guy, and the project was complicated by an unusual and difficult-to-implement composition with a rider preparing to crush an enemy sprawled on the ground (and they also say, “you don’t beat a lying down one”). Having received a deposit from Sforza, Da Vinci, with his characteristic responsibility and diligence, began to study the anatomy of horses in the ducal stables. Separate parts of the body of the most beautiful specimens were sketched with notes like "Morel Florentine is huge and has a beautiful neck with a rather beautiful head." A rearing horse more than seven meters high at that time was a colossal idea in terms of complexity. As it turned out, even for Leonardo. A few years after receiving the order, the defeated enemy was crossed out of the plans, and the horse itself was decided to be lowered to the sinful earth on all four horseshoes. In 1493, a life-size clay model was exhibited to the admiring public. Natural in plan, not in nature mother, that is, more than seven meters of playing muscles and a curly mane. There was only a little left - to fill the statue with bronze. Bronze required about 100 tons. Which were available quite recently, but floated away. On cannons for the defense of the duchy from the French invasion led by Louis XII. Leonardo was offended by such extravagance and retired to Mantua. And the horse remained in the Sforza castle, where it soon became a target in shooting training with French soldiers, who were distinguished by enviable accuracy.

In 1483, Leonardo received an order to create an altar image, that is, a picture that was placed in the center of the wall above the altar and played the role of the main decoration of the church. Leonardo was always procrastinating in completing work, breaking all deadlines. This led to the fact that the first version of the painting, written for the church of San Francesco, remained with the artist, and later he took it with him to France. The second, created many years later with minimal participation by Leonardo and maximum by his students, is currently in the National Gallery in London. We are interested in the first version of the so-called Madonna of the Rocks. Traditional for the altar image was the image of Mary with the baby sitting on a throne among saints and angels. Leonardo has created something extraordinary, something like this has never happened before.

His Madonna sits not on a throne, but in a strange grotto, on the bank of a stream overgrown with flowers. With one hand on the shoulders of little John the Baptist, she extends her hand in a guarding gesture over the head of her son, who is blessing the Baptist. With a smile full of hidden, mysterious meaning, the mother looks at the baby Christ, and this smile seems to be reflected on the lips of a beautiful angel, who mysteriously looks at the viewer, while the finger of his right hand points to John. Thus the circle of looks and gestures closes, forming a magical connection of communication between beautiful beings in the midst of majestic nature. Perhaps the words “magic”, “magic” sound somewhat banal, but they fully express the impression that many paintings of the painter from Vinci make on us. It seems strange that this man, who had the sober mind of a scientist, spoke with such magical power about the poetic depths of the human soul and nature. Until today, art historians do not get tired again and again to unravel the meaning of Leonardo's creations.

A work that marks the onset of the High Renaissance "Madonna in the Rocks" is a work that marks the onset of the High Renaissance, the time of the highest rise of Italian art. The main principles of the High Renaissance are formulated in the work of Leonardo. The artist no longer seeks to follow nature with "soul and eyes" - the principle of the masters of the 15th century, but chooses from the surrounding world what is most essential, sweeping aside everything accidental and secondary, generalizing what he saw. If the individual features in the face of the Benois Madonna were brought almost to portrait resemblance, then the faces of Mary and the angel in the picture we are analyzing are types that have absorbed the idea of ​​​​ideal beauty. The combination of calm greenish blue tones reinforces the impression of unity reigning in the work.

Unfortunately, the legacy of Leo Nardo as an artist is small: no more than 12-14 of his works have come down to us. Some died during his lifetime. Such is the fate of the model of the monument to Francesco Sforza, preparatory cardboard for the wall painting "Battle of Anghiari". Others, although they have come down to us, are in a rather deplorable state. This also applies to the master's program work - The Last Supper. "

The Last Supper fresco was supposed to decorate the wall of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. While working on it, Leonardo experimented with the composition, designed, in his opinion, to protect the painting from moisture. The experiment ended in disaster - a few years after the creation, the fresco began to crumble, and now, after a series of restorations, it is the most famous ruin in the history of art. The famous fresco "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci was not lucky from the very beginning. Already two decades after completion, it began to lose its original appearance. Firstly, the artist used a completely new, untested composition of paints and a new writing technique in his work on it. The novelty was not very successful: although the colors were initially surprisingly bright, they soon began to fade. Secondly, an extremely unfortunate place was chosen for her. . . . This fresco was commissioned by Leonardo, already a well-known painter from Vinci, by the monks of the Dominican order for the refectory of their monastery near the newly built church of Site Maria della Grazie in Milan. In 1495, Leonardo set to work, and two years later the order was completed.

Numerous attempts were made to “treat” the pictorial composition of the brilliant artist, which depicts a scene from the gospel legend: Christ at a meal with the twelve apostles. In the 18th and 19th centuries, attempts were made to restore the work of Leo Nardo, but little success was achieved. All of them only suspended the destruction of the masterpiece for a while. To top it all off, in 1943 a bomb hit the refectory. But especially great damage has been caused to the fresco recently as a result of poisoning the air in the city with exhaust gases, as a result, the very existence of the Last Supper was threatened. Now, looking at it, it seems as if the painted wall is covered with a gauze curtain: before that, the fresco faded.

Drawing in the Louvre At the authorship of Leonardo indicates the sketch of the head of the Madonna, which is stored in the Louvre. Nevertheless, many art historians pay attention to the elements of the picture, unusual for the author's manner of Leonardo, in particular, to the unnatural posture of the baby. It is assumed that at least the figure of the baby belongs to the brush of one of Leonardo's students, most likely Boltraffio.

Plot The painting depicts a woman holding a baby in her arms, whom she is breastfeeding. The background of the painting is a wall with two arched windows, the light from which falls on the viewer and makes the wall darker. The windows overlook the landscape in blue tones. The very same figure of the Madonna is as if illuminated by light coming from somewhere in front. The woman looks at the child tenderly and thoughtfully. Madonna's face is depicted in profile, there is no smile on her lips, only a certain image of her lurks in the corners. The baby looks absently at the viewer, holding his mother's breast with his right hand. In the left hand the child holds a goldfinch. The vivid imagery of the work is revealed in small details that tell us a lot about mother and child. We see the baby and the mother in the dramatic moment of weaning. The woman is wearing a red shirt with a wide neck. Special cuts are made in it, through which it is convenient, without removing the dress, to breastfeed the baby. Both incisions were carefully sewn up (that is, it was decided to wean the baby from the breast). But the right cut was hastily torn off - the top stitches and a piece of thread are clearly visible. The mother, at the insistence of the child, changed her mind and postponed this difficult moment.

Even the first Italian biographers of Leonardo da Vinci wrote about the place that this painting occupied in the artist's work. Leonardo did not shy away from working on the Mona Lisa - as was the case with many other orders, but, on the contrary, gave himself to her with some kind of passion. She devoted all the time that remained with him from work on The Battle of Anghiari. He spent considerable time on it and, leaving Italy in adulthood, he took with him to France, among some other selected paintings. Da Vinci had a special affection for this portrait, and also thought a lot during the process of its creation, in the "Treatise on Painting" and in those notes on painting techniques that were not included in it, one can find many indications that undoubtedly refer to the "Gioconda » .

According to Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), a biographer of Italian artists who wrote about Leonardo in 1550, 31 years after his death, Mona Lisa (short for Madonna Lisa) was the wife of a Florentine named Francesco del Giocondo, whose portrait Leonardo spent 4 years, yet left it unfinished.

"Mona Lisa" Leonardo became a watershed in the history of world art. This painting opened a new era of realistic portraiture. As a rule, portraits in Italy of the 15th century were painted in profile and were rather formal, in many respects repeating the minting of Roman coins. For a long time, very rich and noble people who wanted to see themselves in the portrait not so much recognizable as powerful could order their own portrait. However, already in the same XV century, rich merchants began to order portraits. New customers, on the contrary, demanded a portrait resemblance. Leonardo's ability to create portraits is most powerfully embodied in the Mona Lisa, which marked the transition from the formal portrait of the early Renaissance to the more realistic portrait of the High Renaissance.

All Leonardo's paintings (with the exception of those made on the wall) are painted on wooden boards, which were the usual “base” in those days (canvas in this capacity was still very rare then). It was on the board that Leonardo commissioned two of his most enchanting portraits, Portrait of a Musician, 1485 and Portrait of Ginevra de Benci, 1474.

In 1513-1516 Leonardo lived in the Belvedere and worked on the painting "John the Baptist"

A deaf background, devoid of landscape, so characteristic of the works of the Renaissance in general, completely concentrates the viewer's attention on the figure of John the Baptist, which is enveloped in a melting sfumato brought to perfection. The image of the saint is equipped with traditional paraphernalia: a thin reed cross, long hair, woolen clothes. The intersection of the diagonals of the body and the right hand enhances the motif of the cross, which is barely noticeable by the artist. The upward gesture of the right hand is also considered traditional for the images of John the Baptist. However, this gesture, in a certain sense, is also traditional for Leonardo’s work, it can be found in a number of finished works (“The Last Supper”, “Madonna in the Rocks”, “Madonna and Child” (1510), etc.), as well as sketches.

In 1508 the great artist, scientist and engineer Leonardo da Vinci created a wax figure of a rider on a horse, which was thought to be a model for a larger sculpture. However, the genius of the Italian Renaissance died before the sculpture could be cast in metal, and the model mysteriously disappeared from view for several centuries. And, nevertheless, after a diligent search, the figurine was found, and the bronze figure of a horse with a rider finally appeared before the public eye.

A distinctive feature of the High Renaissance culture A distinctive feature of the High Renaissance culture was the extraordinary expansion of the social horizons of its creators, the scale of their ideas about the world and space. The view of a person and his attitude to the world is changing. The very type of artist, his worldview, his position in society are decisively different from that occupied by the masters of the 15th century, who were still largely associated with the class of artisans. The artists of the High Renaissance are not only people of great culture, but creative personalities, free from the framework of the guild foundations, forcing representatives of the ruling classes to reckon with their plans.

Where is the famous Da Vinci Horse located? Of course, in my beloved Italy, in Milan!

The history of the Da Vinci horse sculpture is unusual.

The famous Sforzo Castle is probably the most beautiful building in Milan.

Da Vinci's horse was supposed to be located in front of him on the square where the beautiful one is now located.

The sculpture of Leonardo's Horse even stood here for some time. True, it was a clay version.

What is the history of the real sculpture of Da Vinci's Horse?

Leonardo wanted to erect the largest statue of a horse to commemorate the father of his patron, Ludovic Sforza. He worked on the Leonardo project for 10 years, visited the most elite horse yards, made sketches, looked at the existing equestrian statues. After 10 years, he embodied his idea in clay, the horse was installed exactly in the place where the entire statue with the rider was to be installed later.

The events took place at the end of the 25th century, by this time Leonardo had already painted the Lady with the Ermine, the Madonna in the Rocks and the Last Supper, and became famous during his lifetime, thanks to this monument to the Horse. Money was already being raised to cast the original and install the clay sculpture in its place. And then the unforeseen happened, they entered and began to practice shooting at a clay horse. This could have been a sad end for the Da Vinci Horse if not for a miracle. This is exactly how I see it.

Almost 500 years later, an American pilot, amateur sculptor Charles Dent, after reading an article in National Geographic, was outraged by this fact. It was Charles Dent who made it his life's work to recreate the statue of the Da Vinci Horse. In 1977, Charles Dent began the reconstruction of the sculpture. The project required a lot of time and money - 15 years and about $2.5 million. In 1994 Dent died, the sculpture was not completed. Luckily, Japanese-American sculptor Nina Akama completed the project. In 1997, on a special plane flight, this horse was delivered from America to. Of course, we wanted to install with sculpture of the Da Vinci Horse in the square near the Sforzesco castle, but the mayor's office did not agree, and the sculpture was installed here, at the hippodrome IPPODROMO DEL GALOPPO where a horse should be.

Da Vinci's horse stands on two limbs and seems to be floating in the air. Every muscle, every relief is clearly visible. At the same time, the sculpture weighs 13 tons, and the height is 7.5 meters without a pedestal, in a word, Da Vinci's Horse is Leonardo's masterpiece.

The memorial plaque with the names of all those who participated in the recreation of the Da Vinci Horse is impressive. Huge thanks to them. And first of all, Charles Dent, who was able to inspire with his idea Someone always says: This is impossible! And at the same time, there are often those who do the impossible!

The hippodrome is close to the San Siro stadium, just turn your back on it and you immediately have a view of the stadium.

Going to San Siro, our plans included seeing this masterpiece along the way. That's how it all happened.

By the way, there are a lot of wonderful monuments in the area of ​​the stadium, they even have their own horse, but the Da Vinci Horse is on the hippodrome.

This story of the Da Vinci Horse is unusual in my opinion.

Another refurbishment project for the Da Vinci Horse culminated in the installation of a sculpture in the Meyer Gardens. It was financed by billionaire Frederick Meyer, and the installation site of the Horse is quite obvious.

How to get to the San Siro stadium and Hippodrome read in the next post.

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