Leonardo da Vinci: the Ultimate Renaissance Man.

Mona Lisa, Da Vinci, 1519

The Last Supper, Da Vinci, 1498

Anatomical Study, one of many sketches of the human body by Da Vinci

The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and St. John the Baptist (1500)

The Adoration of the Magi, Da Vinci, 1481

          Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) had one of the greatest minds the world has ever seen.  He was an artist, designer, and observer.  It was initially hard for him to enter guilds due to being an illegitimate child of a politician, but he learned how to paint and sculpt in Florence under Andrea del Verrocchio.   He did not receive a humanist education as a result of his lowliness and came to despise the pretentiousness of the learned.  He believed that they lacked the skills that he had garnered through experience, for art was truly a science learned best by practice.  He mathematically mastered perspective and dimension, which were originally utilized in art by Giotto, considered to be the first Renaissance artist.  


     Drawing for him was merely an instrument to depict what he imagined; his drawings of anatomy and invention were accompanied by a hidden code that was not deciphered for many years after his death.  Most of his work was unfinished, but his sketches may be more impressive than his paintings.  His interest in war machines lured him to Milan, where he obtained the patronage of the warmongering Sforza family.  After France invaded Milan, da Vinci fled back to Venice, then returned to Florence.  He worked for the infamous despot Cesare Borgia, drafting plans for cities, war machines, and battlements.  After again residing in Milan from 1508-1513, he lived in Rome until moving to France to live with the court of Francis I.  Here he was assigned numerous tasks, but the largest was to eventually design a new royal palace, but he died before being able to take up that immense project. In addition to designing tanks, flying machines, other vehicles, and canals, his organic interest led to his using of the writings of Vitruvius to depict the "ideal man," physically based on the two perfect shapes: the circle and square.  Despite being primarily interested in natural science and mechanics, da Vinci is remembered for his paintings, the most famous being Mona Lisa (1519) for the mysterious facial expression of the merchant's wife and The Last Supper (1498) for the depth of the room given by perspective.  His love for experimentation is evident in the latter; straying from the traditional fresco to try out layered oil paints led to the deteriorating of the classic work.  The dominant characteristic of his painting was sfumato, the blurring of colors instead of stark contrast between light and dark.  This is most evident in The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and St. John the Baptist (1500), but is present in all of his paintings.  Da Vinci’s work in the High Renaissance influenced his peers and also the future artists of the Baroque period, although his work was too harmonious and natural to be classified as such.  As one who had mastered human anatomy and expression to utilize in art, his skill set was imitated by the next era of artists who sought to distort both.  Today, many of his sketches and ideas remain in his Notebooks and have finally materialized.  He existed in a time when he had insufficient time and technology to implement his ideas, but his brilliance is acknowledged for thinking of many concepts and inventions centuries before their fruition.  

Vitruvian Man, Da Vinci, 1487

Da Vinci's tank drawings

Virgin of the Rocks, Da Vinci, 1486