The brilliant Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci created a whole series of masterpieces in his life. Thus, he perceived reality, learning it through his sketches and paintings.
The works of art that he created during his life still attract connoisseurs today. Thanks to his works, the art of painting moved to a new stage.
The list of works by Leonardo da Vinci includes especially significant works, which touched the souls of many people. For example, the painting “Madonna Litta”, completed in 1491. A young mother feeding her child. The artist himself seems to identify the process of feeding with understanding the human soul. In the child’s hands we see a small bird – a red goldfinch. The image of the bird is shed blood, sacrifice and suffering, life for the glory of the Faith. The painting glorifies motherhood, as well as the modesty of a mother. Currently this work of art is in the Hermitage.
The painting “Madonna with a Carnation” is surrounded by many mysteries. It dates back to around 1478 and depicts a spiritual mother with a smile on her face and a carnation in her hands and an active child trying to reach the flower. Leonardo's signature handwriting is already visible in this painting.
The poetess depicted with a sad expression on her face is the “Portrait of Ginevra de Benci.”
The artist often wrote female portraits, fully conveying the psychologism of experiences.
Let's talk about selected works of the great Italian painter. His most famous works: “The Last Supper”, “Mona Lisa”, “Lady with an Ermine”, “Vitruvian Man”, “The Baptism of Christ”.
"The Last Supper" reveals deep human experiences in religious themes. Jesus and his 12 disciples were painted in detail by Leonardo. The masterpiece began to deteriorate immediately, and restorers have been struggling for several centuries to “freeze” the work.
The painting “The Baptism of Christ” was created by Leonardo da Vinci together with Andrea del Verrocchio. It is believed that the student painted on this picture with an angel, and did it so accurately that Andrea stopped using his brush. Angel is really different in its writing technique.
"The Lady with an Ermine" is one of the most beautiful paintings in the world. beautiful face a lady dressed in fashion, with well-drawn hands. She gracefully holds the animal, without restricting its movements at all. It is believed that the painting depicts one of the mistresses of the Duke of Sforza, Cecilia Gallerani, but there is no documentary evidence.
“The Vitruvian Man” was created as an illustration for an educational publication dedicated to the works of Vitruvius. A drawing that shows the ideal human form, dividing the male figure into two equal parts. This work is both a masterpiece of art and scientific work. The “Golden Ratio” that we use today was invented by Leonardo da Vinci. There is a version that the author depicted himself, and to understand the picture itself, you need to carefully read the description of it.
And finally, the most mysterious and mystical picture Leonardo - “Mona Lisa” (La Gioconda). It is still unknown who is depicted in this picture, although there are many guesses. This painting now hangs in the Louvre. Her mysterious smile fascinating, causing numerous debates.
They say that hidden in the works of art of Leonardo da Vinci secret signs and encrypted esoteric codes that have not been solved for several centuries. But all over the world in museums we can find his paintings and admire how Italian master wrote them!
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 owns many engineering inventions, wrote paintings, sculptures and much more.
His external data is also amazing: tall, angelic appearance and extraordinary strength. Let's get acquainted with the genius Leonardo da Vinci; a short biography will tell you 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 live with him. The boy demonstrated his extraordinary intelligence and friendly character from a very 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.
- Leonardo's mature period of 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.
Inventions
A short biography cannot fully convey Leonardo da Vinci's contribution to science. However, we can note the most famous and valuable discoveries of the scientist.
- He made his greatest contribution to mechanics, as can be seen from his many drawings. Leonardo da Vinci studied the fall of a body, the centers of gravity of pyramids and much more.
- He invented a car made of wood, which was driven by two springs. The car mechanism was equipped with a brake.
- He came up with a spacesuit, fins and a submarine, as well as a way to dive to depth without using a spacesuit with a special gas mixture.
- The study of dragonfly flight has led to the creation of several variants of wings for humans. The experiments were unsuccessful. However, then the scientist came up with a parachute.
- He was involved in developments in the military industry. One of his proposals was chariots with cannons. He came up with a prototype of an armadillo and a tank.
- Leonardo da Vinci made many developments in construction. Arch bridges, drainage machines and cranes are all his inventions.
There is no man like Leonardo da Vinci in history. That is why many consider him an alien from other worlds.
Five secrets of da Vinci
Today, many scientists are still puzzling over the legacy left by the great man past era. Although it’s not worth calling Leonardo da Vinci that way, he predicted a lot, and foresaw even more, creating his unique masterpieces and amazing with his breadth of knowledge and thought. We offer you five secrets of the great Master that help lift the veil of secrecy over his works.
Encryption
The master encrypted a lot in order not to present ideas openly, but to wait a little until humanity “ripened and grew up” to them. Equally good with both hands, da Vinci wrote with his left hand, in the smallest font, and even from right to left, and often in mirror image. Riddles, metaphors, puzzles - this is what is found on every line, in every work. Never signing his works, the Master left his marks, visible only to an attentive researcher. For example, after many centuries, scientists discovered that by looking closely at his paintings, you can find a symbol of a bird taking off. Or the famous “Benois Madonna,” found among traveling actors who carried the canvas as a home icon.
Sfumato
The idea of dispersion also belongs to the great mystifier. Take a closer look at the canvases, all the objects do not reveal clear edges, just like in life: the smooth flow of one image into another, blurriness, dispersion - everything breathes, lives, awakening fantasies and thoughts. By the way, the Master often advised practicing such vision, peering into water stains, mud deposits or piles of ash. Often he deliberately fumigated his work areas with smoke in order to see in the clubs what was hidden beyond the reasonable eye.
Look at famous painting– the smile of “Mona Lisa” from different angles is sometimes tender, sometimes slightly arrogant and even predatory. The knowledge gained through the study of many sciences gave the Master the opportunity to invent perfect mechanisms that are becoming available only now. For example, this is the effect of wave propagation, the penetrating power of light, oscillatory motion... and many things still need to be analyzed not even by us, but by our descendants.
Analogies
Analogies are the main thing in all the works of the Master. The advantage over accuracy, when a third follows from two conclusions of the mind, is the inevitability of any analogy. And Da Vinci still has no equal in his whimsicality and drawing absolutely mind-blowing parallels. One way or another, all his works have some ideas that are not consistent with each other: famous illustration « golden ratio" is one of them. With limbs spread and apart, a person fits into a circle, with his arms closed into a square, and with his arms slightly raised into a cross. It was this kind of “mill” that gave the Florentine magician the idea of creating churches, where the altar was placed exactly in the middle, and the worshipers stood in a circle. By the way, engineers liked this same idea - this is how the ball bearing was born.
Contrapposto
The definition denotes the opposition of opposites and the creation of a certain type of movement. Example – sculptural image huge horse in Corte Vecchio. There, the animal’s legs are positioned precisely in the contrapposto style, forming a visual understanding of the movement.
Incompleteness
This is perhaps one of the Master’s favorite “tricks”. None of his works are finite. To complete is to kill, and da Vinci loved every one of his creations. Slow and meticulous, the hoaxer of all times could take a couple of brush strokes and go to the valleys of Lombardy to improve the landscapes there, switch to creating the next masterpiece device, or something else. Many works turned out to be spoiled by time, fire or water, but each of the creations, at least meaning something, was and is “unfinished”. By the way, it is interesting that even after the damage, Leonardo da Vinci never corrected his paintings. Having created his own paint, the artist even deliberately left a “window of incompleteness,” believing that life itself would make the necessary adjustments.
What was art before Leonardo da Vinci? Born among the rich, it fully reflected their interests, their worldview, their views on man and the world. The works of art were based on religious ideas and themes: affirmation of those views on the world that the church taught, depiction of scenes from sacred history, instilling in people a sense of reverence, admiration for the “divine” and consciousness of their own insignificance. The dominant theme also determined the form. Naturally, the image of the “saints” was very far from the images of real living people, therefore, schemes, artificiality, and staticity dominated in art. The people in these paintings were a kind of caricature of living people, the landscape is fantastic, the colors are pale and inexpressive. True, even before Leonardo, his predecessors, including his teacher Andrea Verrocchio, were no longer satisfied with the template and tried to create new images. They had already begun searching for new methods of depiction, began to study the laws of perspective, and thought a lot about the problems of achieving expressiveness in an image.
However, these searches for something new did not yield great results, primarily because these artists did not have a sufficiently clear idea of the essence and tasks of art and knowledge of the laws of painting. That is why they fell again into schematism, then into an equally dangerous true art naturalism, copying individual phenomena of reality. The significance of the revolution made by Leonardo da Vinci in art and in particular in painting is determined primarily by the fact that he was the first to clearly, clearly and definitely establish the essence and tasks of art. Art should be deeply life-like and realistic. It must come from a deep, careful study of reality and nature. It must be deeply truthful, it must depict reality as it is, without any artificiality or falsehood. Reality, nature is beautiful in itself and does not need any embellishment. The artist must carefully study nature, but not to blindly imitate it, not to simply copy it, but in order to create works, having understood the laws of nature, the laws of reality; strictly comply with these laws. Create new values, values real world- this is the purpose of art. This explains Leonardo's desire to connect art and science. Instead of simple, casual observation, he considered it necessary to systematically, persistently study the subject. It is known that Leonardo never parted with the album and wrote drawings and sketches in it.
They say that he loved to walk through the streets, squares, markets, noting everything interesting - people’s poses, faces, their expressions. Leonardo's second requirement for painting is the requirement for the truthfulness of the image, its vitality. The artist must strive for the most accurate representation of reality in all its richness. At the center of the world stands a living, thinking, feeling person. It is he who must be depicted in all the richness of his feelings, experiences and actions. For this purpose, it was Leonardo who studied human anatomy and physiology; for this purpose, as they say, he gathered peasants he knew in his workshop and, treating them, told them funny stories to see how people laugh, how the same event causes different impressions in people. If before Leonardo there was no real man in painting, now he has become dominant in the art of the Renaissance. Hundreds of Leonardo's drawings provide a gigantic gallery of types of people, their faces, parts of their bodies. Man in all the diversity of his feelings and actions is the task artistic image. And this is the power and charm of Leonardo’s painting. Forced by the conditions of the time to paint pictures mainly on religious subjects, because his customers were the church, feudal lords and rich merchants, Leonardo imperiously subordinates these to his genius traditional stories and creates works of universal significance. The Madonnas painted by Leonardo are, first of all, an image of one of the deeply human feelings - the feeling of motherhood, the boundless love of a mother for her baby, admiration and admiration for him. All his Madonnas are young, blooming women full of life, all the babies in his paintings are healthy, full-cheeked, playful boys, in whom there is not an ounce of “holiness.”
His apostles in The Last Supper are living people of various ages, social status, of various nature; in appearance they are Milanese artisans, peasants, and intellectuals. Striving for truth, the artist must be able to generalize what he finds individual and must create the typical. Therefore, even when painting portraits of certain historically known people, such as Mona Lisa Gioconda, the wife of a bankrupt aristocrat, Florentine merchant Francesco del Gioconda, Leonardo gives them, along with individual portrait features, a typical feature common to many people. That is why the portraits he painted survived the people depicted in them for many centuries. Leonardo was the first who not only carefully and carefully studied the laws of painting, but also formulated them. He deeply, like no one before him, studied the laws of perspective, the placement of light and shadow. He needed all this to achieve the highest expressiveness of the picture, in order to, as he said, “become equal to nature.” For the first time, it was in the works of Leonardo that the painting as such lost its static character and became a window into the world. When you look at his painting, the feeling of what was painted, enclosed in a frame, is lost and it seems that you are looking through an open window, revealing to the viewer something new, something they have never seen. Demanding the expressiveness of the painting, Leonardo resolutely opposed the formal play of colors, against the enthusiasm for form at the expense of content, against what so clearly characterizes decadent art.
Form for Leonardo is only the shell of the idea that the artist must convey to the viewer. Leonardo pays a lot of attention to the problems of composition of the picture, problems of placement of figures, individual parts. Hence his favorite composition of placing figures in a triangle - the simplest geometric harmonic figure - a composition that allows the viewer to embrace the whole picture as a whole. Expressiveness, truthfulness, accessibility - these are the laws of real, truly folk art formulated by Leonardo da Vinci, the laws that he himself embodied in his brilliant works. Already in my first big picture“Madonna with a Flower” Leonardo showed in practice what the principles of art he professed mean. What is striking about this picture is, first of all, its composition, the surprisingly harmonious distribution of all the elements of the picture that make up a single whole. The image of a young mother with a cheerful child in her arms is deeply realistic. The directly felt deep blue of the Italian sky through the window slot is incredibly skillfully conveyed. Already in this picture, Leonardo demonstrated the principle of his art - realism, the depiction of a person in the deepest accordance with his true nature, the depiction of not an abstract scheme, which was what medieval ascetic art taught and did, namely a living, feeling person.
These principles are even more clearly expressed in Leonardo’s second major painting, “The Adoration of the Magi” from 1481, in which what is significant is not the religious plot, but the masterful depiction of people, each of whom has his own, individual face, his own pose, expresses his own feeling and mood. Life truth is the law of Leonardo’s painting. Maximum full disclosure inner life human beings is its goal. In “The Last Supper” the composition is brought to perfection: despite the large number of figures - 13, their placement is strictly calculated so that they all as a whole represent a kind of unity, full of great internal content. The picture is very dynamic: some terrible news communicated by Jesus struck his disciples, each of them reacts to it in their own way, hence the huge variety of expressions of inner feelings on the faces of the apostles. Compositional perfection is complemented by an unusually masterful use of colors, harmony of light and shadows. The expressiveness of the picture reaches its perfection thanks to the extraordinary variety of not only facial expressions, but the position of each of the twenty-six hands drawn in the picture.
This recording by Leonardo himself tells us about the careful preliminary work that he carried out before painting the picture. Everything in it is thought out to the smallest detail: poses, facial expressions; even details such as an overturned bowl or knife; all this in its sum forms a single whole. The richness of colors in this painting is combined with a subtle use of chiaroscuro, which emphasizes the significance of the event depicted in the painting. The subtlety of perspective, the transmission of air and color make this painting a masterpiece of world art. Leonardo successfully solved many problems facing artists at that time and opened the way further development art. By the power of his genius, Leonardo overcame the medieval traditions that weighed heavily on art, broke them and discarded them; he managed to expand the narrow boundaries that limited creative power artist of the then ruling clique of churchmen, and to show, instead of the hackneyed gospel stencil scene, a huge, purely human drama, to show living people with their passions, feelings, experiences. And in this picture the great, life-affirming optimism of the artist and thinker Leonardo again manifested itself.
Over the years of his wanderings, Leonardo painted many more paintings that received well-deserved world fame and recognition. In "La Gioconda" a deeply vital and typical image is given. It is this deep vitality, the unusually relief rendering of facial features, individual details, and costume, combined with a masterfully painted landscape, that gives this picture special expressiveness. Everything about her—from the mysterious half-smile playing on her face to her calmly folded hands—speaks of great inner content, of the great spiritual life of this woman. Leonardo's desire to convey inner world in the external manifestations of mental movements is expressed here especially fully. An interesting painting by Leonardo is “The Battle of Anghiari”, depicting the battle of cavalry and infantry. As in his other paintings, Leonardo sought here to show a variety of faces, figures and poses. Dozens of people depicted by the artist create a complete impression of the picture precisely because they are all subordinated to a single idea underlying it. It was a desire to show the rise of all man’s strength in battle, the tension of all his feelings, brought together to achieve victory.
Leonardo da Vinci is one of the great geniuses of all time, significantly ahead of his era. This Italian scientist of the Renaissance (Renaissance) was not only an outstanding artist and a sculptor, but also a scientist, a researcher of the secrets of many sciences. He was born in the small village of Vinci in 1452. Already in his youth, da Vinci wrote beautiful paintings"Annunciation" and "Adoration of the Magi". Later, from under his brush came the following magnificent works, like the wall painting “The Last Supper” in the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, the portrait of Mona Lisa, “St. John the Baptist", "Bacchus". Throughout his life, da Vinci made notes on the theory of art (after the master’s death, these notes were collected and published under the title “Treatise on the Picturesque”).
Leonardo da Vinci is a brilliant artist.
Leonardo da Vinci is the author of many superb works that will always delight art lovers. One of the outstanding images he created, a portrait of Mona Lisa del Giocondo, painted between 1503 and 1506, can be seen in the Louvre. In the St. Petersburg Hermitage there is another of his most beautiful creations - “Madonna Litta”. Many works genius creator remained unfinished, since it was to a greater extent I was interested in the depth of the creation process rather than the effect of completion. The uniqueness of Leonardo da Vinci was also manifested in the fact that he was mainly interested in facial features, positioning of the figure, movement, correct, natural depiction of objects, chiaroscuro and perspective. Before starting a painting or sculpting a sculpture, the master made many sketches, which he then used during the work. Today they are valued no less than the finished canvases of a great artist.
Leonardo da Vinci is an inventor.
Even in his youth, Leonardo da Vinci began to conduct scientific research. His range of interests is extremely wide: anatomy, botany, mathematics, physics, astronomy, optics, hydraulics, engineering, architecture, music and poetry. Da Vinci developed designs for many inventions, in particular, inventing prototypes of a helicopter, a parachute, an armored train, a submarine, a textile machine, a hydraulic press, a rolling mill (a machine that gives the required shape and size metal products), lathe, grinding machine, valve, pump. Unfortunately, the scientist’s brilliant achievements did not change the course of technology development, since he refused to publish his unusual projects.
Chronology.
1452 - born in the village of Vinci;
1467 - becomes a student of A. del Verrocchio in Florence;
1482/83-1499 - work in Milan, at the court of L. Sforza;
1500-1506 - life and work in Florence;
1503-1506 - work on the portrait of Mona Lisa;
1513-1516 - life and work in Rome, under the patronage of D. Medici, brother of Pope Leo X;
1517 - move to France, construction of purification systems on the Loire;
1519 - death in Ambual.
Did you know that:
- Leonardo da Vinci became famous not only brilliant paintings, but also scientific discoveries that were ahead of his era.
- While working at the Milanese court, Leonardo da Vinci painted a portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, known as “The Lady with an Ermine.”
- The portrait of the Florentine Mona Lisa del Giocondo is remarkable primarily for the woman’s mysterious half-smile.
- Many of the great master’s drawings testify to his passion, for example, for anatomy and mechanics.
Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most talented and mysterious persons of the Renaissance. The Creator left behind a lot of inventions, paintings and secrets, many of which remain unsolved to this day. Da Vinci is called a polymath, or “universal man.” After all, he reached heights in almost all areas of science and art. In this article you will learn the most interesting things from the life of this person.
Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the settlement of Anchiano in the Utuscan city of Vinci. The parents of the future genius were lawyer Piero, 25 years old, and orphan peasant Katerina, 15 years old. However, Leonardo, like his father, did not have a surname: da Vinci means “from Vinci.”
Until the age of 3, the boy lived with his mother. The father soon married a noble but barren lady. As a result, 3-year-old Leonardo was taken into care by a new family, separated from his mother forever.
Pierre da Vinci gave his son a comprehensive education and more than once tried to introduce him to the notary profession, but the boy did not show any interest in the profession. It is worth noting that during the Renaissance, illegitimate children were considered equal to legitimate ones. Therefore, even after the death of his father, Leonardo was helped by many noble people of Florence and the town of Vinci itself.
Verrocchio's workshop
At the age of 14, Leonardo became an apprentice in the workshop of the painter Andrea del Verrocchio. There the teenager drew, sculpted, and learned the basics of the humanities and technical sciences. 6 years later, Leonardo qualified as a master and was accepted into the Guild of St. Luke, where he continued to study the basics of drawing and other significant disciplines.
History includes the incident of Leonardo's victory over his teacher. While working on the painting “The Baptism of Christ,” Verrocchio asked Leonardo to draw an angel. The student created an image that was many times more beautiful than the whole picture. As a result, the amazed Verrochio left painting for the rest of his life.
1472–1516
1472–1513 years are considered the most fruitful in the artist’s life. After all, it was then that the polymath created his famous creations.
In 1476–1481 Leonardo da Vinci had a personal workshop in Florence. In 1480 the artist became famous and began to receive incredibly expensive orders.
1482–1499 Da Vinci spent a year in Milan. The genius arrived in the city as a messenger of peace. The head of Milan, the Duke of Moro, often ordered da Vinci various inventions for wars and for the amusement of the court. In addition, Leonardo da Vinci began keeping a diary in Milan. Thanks to personal notes, the world learned about many discoveries and inventions of the creator, about his passion for music.
Due to the French invasion of Milan, in 1499 year the artist returned to Florence. In the city, the scientist served Duke Cesare Borgia. On his behalf, da Vinci often visited Romagna, Tuscany and Umbria. There the master was engaged in reconnaissance and preparing fields for battles. After all, Cesare Borgia wanted to seize the Papal States. All christian world considered the Duke a fiend from hell, and da Vinci respected him for his tenacity and talent.
In 1506 Leonardo da Vinci returned to Milan again, where he studied anatomy and the study of the structure of organs with the support of the Medici family. In 1512, the scientist moved to Rome, where he worked under the patronage of Pope Leo X until the latter's death.
In 1516 Leonardo da Vinci became a court advisor to the King of France, Francis I. The ruler allocated the artist the castle of Clos-Lucé and gave him complete freedom of action. In addition to an annual fee of 1000 ecus, the scientist received an estate with vineyards. Da Vinci noted that French years gave him a comfortable old age and were the calmest and happiest in life.
Death and grave
Leonardo da Vinci's life was cut short on May 2, 1519, presumably from a stroke. However, signs of the disease appeared long before this. The artist couldn't move right hand due to partial paralysis already in 1517, and shortly before his death he completely lost the ability to walk. The maestro bequeathed all his property to his students.
Da Vinci's first tomb was destroyed during the Huguenot Wars. Remains different people mixed and buried in the garden. Later, archaeologist Arsene Houssay identified the artist's skeleton from the description and transferred it to a reconstructed grave on the grounds of the Castle of Amboise.
In 2010, a group of scientists intended to exhume the body and conduct DNA testing. For comparison, it was planned to take material from the artist’s buried relatives. However, the owners of Watermelon Castle did not allow da Vinci to be exhumed.
Secrets of personal life
Personal life was kept in the strictest confidence. The artist described all love events in his diary using a special code. Scientists put forward 3 opposing versions regarding the personal life of a genius:
Secrets in the life of da Vinci
In 1950, the list of Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion, a Jerusalem order of monks founded in the 11th century, was made public. According to the list, Leonardo da Vinci was a member of a secret organization.
A number of researchers believe that the artist was its leader. The main task of the group was to restore the Merovingian dynasty - the direct descendants of Christ - to the throne of France. Another of the group's missions was to keep the marriage of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene secret.
Historians dispute the existence of the Priory and consider Leonardo's participation in it a hoax. Scientists emphasize that the Priory of Sion was created in 1950 with the participation of Pierre Plantard. In their opinion, documents were forged at the same time.
However, few surviving facts can only speak of the caution of the monks of the order and their desire to hide their activities. Da Vinci's writing style also speaks in favor of the theory. The author wrote from left to right, as if imitating Hebrew writing.
The Priory Mystery formed the basis of Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code. Based on the work, a film of the same name was made in 2006. The plot talks about a cryptex allegedly invented by Da Vinci - an encryption device. When you try to hack the device, everything written is dissolved in vinegar.
Predictions of Leonardo da Vinci
Some historians consider Leonardo da Vinci a seer, others - a time traveler who found himself in the Middle Ages from the future. So, scientists are wondering how the inventor could create a gas mixture for scuba diving without knowledge of biochemistry. However, it is not only da Vinci’s inventions that raise questions, but also his predictions. Many prophecies have already come true.
So, Leonardo da Vinci described Hitler and Stalin in detail, and also predicted the appearance of:
- missiles;
- telephone;
- Skype;
- players;
- electronic money;
- loans;
- paid medicine;
- globalization, etc.
In addition, da Vinci painted the end of the world, depicting an atomic mushroom. Among future cataclysms, scientists have described the collapse of the earth's surface, the activation of volcanoes, the flood and the coming of the Antichrist.
Inventions
He left the world a lot of useful inventions that became prototypes:
- parachute;
- airplane, hang glider and helicopter;
- bicycle and car;
- robot;
- eye glasses;
- telescope;
- spotlights;
- scuba gear and spacesuit;
- lifebuoy;
- military devices: tank, catapult, machine gun, mobile bridges and wheel lock.
Among Da Vinci's great inventions, his "Ideal City". After the plague pandemic, the scientist developed a project for Milan with proper planning and sewerage. It was supposed to divide the city into levels for the upper classes and trade, to ensure constant access of water to houses.
In addition, the master rejected narrow streets, which were a breeding ground for infections, and emphasized the importance of wide squares and roads. However, the Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza did not accept the bold scheme. Centuries later, according to an ingenious project, they built new city- London.
Leonardo da Vinci also left his mark on anatomy. The scientist was the first to describe the heart as a muscle and tried to create a prosthetic aortic valve. In addition, da Vinci accurately described and depicted the spine, thyroid gland, tooth structure, muscle structure, location internal organs. Thus, the principles of anatomical drawing were created.
The genius also contributed to the development of art, developing blurred drawing technique and chiaroscuro.
Great paintings and their mysteries
He left behind many paintings, frescoes and drawings. However, 6 works were lost, and the authorship of another 5 is disputed. There are 7 works of Leonardo da Vinci that are most famous in the world:
1. - Da Vinci's first work. The drawing is realistic, neat and done with light pencil strokes. When looking at the landscape, it seems that you are looking at it from a high point.
2. "Turin self-portrait". The painter created a masterpiece 7 years before his death. The painting is valuable because it gives the world an idea of what Leonardo da Vinci looked like. However, some art historians believe that this is just a sketch for the Mona Lisa, made from another person.
3. . The drawing was created as an illustration for the book. Da Vinci captured a naked man in 2 positions superimposed on each other. The work is considered simultaneously an achievement of art and science. After all, the artist embodied canonical proportions bodies and the golden ratio. Thus, the drawing emphasizes the natural ideality and mathematical proportionality of man.
4. . The painting has a religious plot: it is dedicated to the Mother of God (Madonna) and the Christ Child. Despite its small size, the painting amazes with its purity, depth and beauty. But “Madonna Litta” is also shrouded in mystery and raises a lot of questions. Why does the baby have a chick in his hands? Why is Our Lady's dress torn in the chest area? Why was the painting done in dark colors?
5. . The painting was commissioned by the monks, but due to his move to Milan, the artist never completed the work. The canvas depicts Mary with the newborn Jesus and the Magi. According to one version, 29-year-old Leonardo himself is depicted among the men.
6th masterpiece –
“The Last Supper” is a fresco depicting Christ’s last supper. The work is no less mysterious and mysterious than the Mona Lisa.
The history of the creation of the canvas is shrouded in mysticism. The artist quickly drew portraits of all the characters in the picture.
However, it was impossible to find prototypes for Jesus Christ and Judas. Once Da Vinci noticed a bright and spiritual young man in church choir. The young man became the prototype of Christ. The search for a model for the drawing of Judas dragged on for years.
Later, da Vinci found the most vile person in his opinion. The prototype of Judas was a drunkard found in a sewer. Having already completed the picture, Da Vinci learned that Judas and Christ were drawn by him from the same person.
Among the mysteries of the Last Supper is Mary Magdalene. Da Vinci depicted her at the right hand of Christ, as a lawful wife. The marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene is also indicated by the fact that the contours of their bodies form the letter M - “Matrimonio” (marriage).
7th masterpiece – “Mona Lisa”, or “La Gioconda”
“Mona Lisa”, or “La Gioconda” is the most famous and mysterious painting by Leonardo da Vinci. To this day, art historians argue about who is depicted on the canvas. Among the popular versions: Lisa del Giocondo, Constanza d'Avalos, Pacifica Brandano, Isabella of Aragon, an ordinary Italian, da Vinci himself and even his student Salai in women's dress.
In 2005, it was proven that the painting depicts Lisa Gerandini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo. This was indicated by the notes of da Vinci's friend Agostino Vespucci. Thus, both names become understandable: Mona - short for the Italian Madonna, my mistress and Gioconda - after the surname of Lisa Gerandini's husband.
Among the secrets of the painting is the demonic and at the same time divine smile of the Mona Lisa, which is capable of enchanting anyone. When you focus on your lips, they seem to smile more. They say that people who look at this detail for a long time go crazy.
A computer study has shown that Mona Lisa's smile simultaneously expresses happiness, anger, fear and disgust. Some scientists are convinced that the effect is caused by the absence of front teeth, eyebrows or the heroine’s pregnancy. Others say that the smile seems to fade away due to the fact that it is in the low frequency range of light.
Researcher Smith-Kettlewell argues that the smile change effect is due to random noise in the human visual system.
The look of the Mona Lisa is also written in a special way. From whatever angle you look at the girl, it seems that she is looking at you.
The technique of writing La Gioconda is also impressive. The portrait, including the eyes and smile, is a series of golden ratios. The face and hands form an isosceles triangle, and some details fit perfectly into the golden rectangle.
Secrets of Da Vinci's paintings: hidden messages and meanings
The paintings of Leonardo da Vinci are shrouded in mysteries that hundreds of scientists from all over the world are struggling with. In particular, Hugo Conti decided to use the mirror method. The scientist was prompted to this idea by da Vinci’s prose. The fact is that the author wrote from left to right, and his manuscripts can only be read with the help of a mirror. Conti applied the same approach to reading paintings.
It turned out that the characters in da Vinci’s paintings point with their eyes and fingers to the places where the mirror should be placed.
A simple technique reveals hidden images and figures:
1. In the painting “The Virgin and Child, Saint Anne and John the Baptist” discovered a number of demons. According to one version, this is the Devil, according to another, the Old Testament god Yahweh in the papal tiara. It was believed that this god “protects the soul from the vices of the body.”
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2. In the painting “John the Baptist”- “tree of life” with an Indian deity. A number of researchers believe that in this way the artist hid mysterious picture"Adam and Eve in Paradise." Da Vinci's contemporaries often mentioned the painting. For a long time it was believed that “Adam and Eve” was a separate picture.
3. On the “Mona Lisa” and “John the Baptist”- the head of a demon, the Devil or the god Yahweh in a helmet, somewhat similar to the hidden image on the canvas “Our Lady”. With this, Conti explains the mystery of the looks in the paintings.
4. On “Madonna of the Rocks”(“Madonna in the Grotto”) depicts the Virgin Mary, Jesus, John the Baptist and an Angel. But if you hold a mirror to the picture, you can see God and a number of biblical characters.
5. In the painting “The Last Supper” a hidden vessel is discovered in the hands of Jesus Christ. Researchers believe this is the Holy Grail. In addition, thanks to the mirror, the two apostles become knights.
6. In the painting “The Annunciation” hidden angelic, and in some versions alien, images.
Hugo Conti believes that you can find a hidden mystical drawing in every painting. The main thing is to use a mirror for this.
In addition to mirror codes, the Mona Lisa also stores secret messages under layers of paint. Graphic designers noticed that when the canvas is turned on its side, images of a buffalo, lion, monkey and bird become visible. Da Vinci thus told the world about the four Essences of man.
Among interesting facts about da Vinci the following can be noted:
- The genius was left-handed. Many scientists explain the master’s special writing style by this. Da Vinci always wrote in a mirror manner - from left to right, although he could write with his right hand.
- The Creator was not constant: he quit one job and jumped to another, never returning to the previous one. Moreover, da Vinci moved to completely unrelated areas. For example, from art to anatomy, from literature to engineering.
- Da Vinci was talented musician and played the lyre beautifully.
- The artist was a zealous vegetarian. Not only did he not eat animal food, but he also did not wear leather or silk. Da Vinci called people who eat meat “walking cemeteries.” But this did not prevent the scientist from being the manager at court feasts and creating new profession- "assistant" cook.
- Da Vinci's passion for drawing knew no bounds. So, the master spent hours sketching the bodies of the hanged in detail.
- According to one version, the scientist developed colorless and odorless poisons, as well as glass listening devices for Cesare Borgia.
They say that geniuses are born only when the world is ready to accept them. However, Leonardo da Vinci was far ahead of his era. The bulk of his discoveries and creations were appreciated only centuries later. Da Vinci proved by his own example that the human mind knows no boundaries.
Books were written and films were made about the titan of the Renaissance, and monuments were erected in his honor. Minerals, craters on the Moon and asteroids were named after the great scientist. And in 1994 they found it for real beautiful way perpetuate the memory of a genius.
Breeders have developed a new variety of historical rose, called Rosa Leonardo da Vinci. The plant blooms continuously, does not burn out and does not freeze in the cold, like the memory of the “universal man”.
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Date of birth: April 15, 1452
Date of death: May 2, 1519
Place of birth: Anchiano village, Florence, Italy
Leonardo da Vinci- legendary and outstanding personality, Leonardo da Vinci- a great scientist and inventor who was given to the world by Italy in XV-XVI centuries. He was not only a great artist of the High Renaissance, but also a scientist, writer, inventor, whose contribution today is invaluable, both for science and art.
On April 15, 1452, in the village of Anchiano, near Florence, a baby was born. They gave him the name Leonardo. Leonardo's parents were the peasant woman Katerina and the wealthy notary Piero. For the first three years, Leonardo lived with his mother, since his father left the family and married a noble and wealthy young lady. But the children in new family there was none, and the father took Leonardo to him. The boy had a hard time being separated from his mother. When young artist reached the age of 13, his stepmother dies. His father's remarriage did not last long and he was widowed again. Piero wanted Leonardo to follow in his footsteps, but the boy was not interested in the profession of a notary.
While still a young man, Leonardo showed unique abilities as an artist. At the age of 14, at the encouragement of his father, he went to Florence and became an apprentice to Andrea Verrocchio. There he studies humanities, drawing, chemistry. He works with metals and plaster, draws and models, spending all his time in the studio.
In 1473, the efforts of Leonardo da Vinci were appreciated by the Guild of St. Luke - he was awarded the qualification of a master. At the same time, Andrea Verrocchio was commissioned to paint “The Baptism of Christ,” and he entrusted Leonardo with the work on one of the angels. Leonardo copes with the task perfectly - he surpassed the work of his teacher. Soon Verrocchio moved away from painting, leaving this niche to a talented student, and took up sculpture. Leonardo proves himself to be an innovator, looking for new paint compositions and discovering oil painting, which was just emerging in Italy. "Enlightenment" is the first independent work young master.
Soon Leonardo, mesmerized by the image of the Madonna, creates a series of paintings dedicated to her. His works include Madonna of the Flower (Benois Madonna), Madonna with a Vase, Madonna of the Grotto, Madonna Litta, and many unfinished sketches.
In 1481, representatives of the monastery of San Donato a Scopeto commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to write the work “The Adoration of the Magi,” which remained unfinished. Even then, da Vinci had a tendency not to complete the work. Leonardo was alien to the traditions of the palace Lorenzo Medici, ruling in Florence, and leaves the city.
In 1482, armed with his own creation - the silver lyre, and masterfully playing this instrument, Leonardo da Vinci moved to Milan. He is accepted to the court of Duke Lodovico Moro. Recommending himself initially as an architect, military engineer, and then as an artist and sculptor, Leonardo wanted to enlist the support of the ducal family.
In 1483, Leonardo da Vinci accepted a new order from the Franciscan brotherhood Immaculate Conception on the altar picture. This was his first commission in Milan, and he begins work on the painting “Madonna of the Rocks” or “Madonna in the Grotto”. Without agreeing with the customers on payment, Leonardo kept the canvas for himself, and completed it only in 1490-1494.
Soon Da Vinci becomes famous artist in Italy, paints portraits. But he was not able to implement all projects. More than a century he sculpted equestrian statue Francesco Sforza, but it was not cast in bronze. Guns were made from bronze, and the clay statue was destroyed by the French, who captured Milan in 1499.
Possessing literary talent, Leonardo da Vinci writes notes, reflections on painting, sciences, inner essence things. Unfortunately, these works did not see the light of day during the master’s lifetime. Only after the death of da Vinci, his successor Francesco Melzi isolated passages on painting from all the notes and created a Treatise on Painting, published in 1651.
Being a great inventor, Leonardo da Vinci became the author and creator of the wheel lock for a pistol - the only invention that received lifetime recognition of the master's merits. He also designed the first rolling mill, a machine for notching files, a machine for making cloth, and took part in creating the architectural appearance of the Milan Cathedral. In 1485, Leonardo proposed a drawing of the city with perfectly clear calculations of all parameters and a sewerage system, which was rejected by the Duke of Milan.
In 1495, Leonardo da Vinci began painting the Last Supper fresco in the monastery dining room of Santa Maria del Grazie, commissioned by Lodovico Moro. The work was often interrupted and was completed only in 1498.
On August 10, 1499, the Sforza dynasty fell and Milan was occupied by French troops. Leonardo da Vinci leaves Milan. His wanderings begin. Mantua, Venice, Florence. In memory of that time, only a drawing of a portrait of Isabella de Este remained.
At the end of July 1502, Cesare Borgia accepted da Vinci into his service as a military engineer and architect. Leonardo drew up plans for fortresses and advised engineers on how to improve defense systems.
March 1503 brings Leonardo da Vinci back to Florence, where he creates greatest masterpiece– portrait of the wife of the local merchant Francesco del Giocondo “Mona Lisa” or “Gioconda”. Here he returns to his anatomy studies, exact sciences. In 1512 he created his “Self-Portrait”.
September 14, 1513, when the Medici came to power,
Leonardo moves to the capital. Under the tutelage of his friend Giuliano de' Medici, who was interested in alchemy, da Vinci designs new equipment for the papal mint. After the death of the Medici in 1517, the Master went into the service of Francis I and moved to France. There, in the small castle of Cloux, da Vinci lived his last years, creating architectural projects and improving the area.
Leonardo da Vinci left the world on May 2, 1519, in the arms of King Francis I of France, close friend and was buried in the castle of Amboise.
Achievements and inventions of Leonardo da Vinci:
1. The invaluable achievements of the legendary creator in the emergence of innovative revolutions in the art of the Great Renaissance.
2. Invention and improvement of unique hydraulic mechanisms:
- fan,
- diving suit,
- gate for the sluice,
- water wheel,
- a boat with a paddle wheel,
- swimming webbed gloves
3. Innovations in the military sphere:
- lock with wheel for weapon factory,
- ship destruction system,
- double skinned boat and submarine,
4. The wealth of the master’s literary talent are thousands of sheets of da Vinci’s manuscripts, which he left to his descendants and reveal the immeasurable depth of his unique personality.
Interesting facts about Leonardo da Vinci's Meter:
He was a virtuoso in playing the lyre,
- Could write different texts with both hands at the same time,
- I gave up meat as a child.
- Described the reason blue sky,
- "Leonardo's Handwriting" - his observations are written using the reflection of a mirror,
- Created a unique culinary masterpiece “From Leonardo” - stewed meat, cut into thin slices, covered with vegetables,
- Da Vinci became the prototype of the wizard of the game “Assassin's Creed 2”, where he helps the main character with his unique inventions,
- Worried about imperfect knowledge Greek language and Latin,
- There are rumors about Leonardo’s unconventional sexual orientation, since he personal life shrouded in mystery
- I came up with a lot of synonyms for the word “penis”,
- He suggested that the light of the Moon is nothing more than the light of the Sun reflected from the Earth.
