Genius of Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most respected and famous painters in the world. Almost everyone knows some of his works. The most important of them “Mona Lisa” (located in the Louvre) – the most famous painting in the world, “Lady with an Ermine” (Princes Czartoryski Museum in Krakow), “The Last Supper” (Milan – wall painting), “Vitruvian Man” (drawing – Venice ) or “Self-portrait” (Turin). As he was illegitimate, he was not able to study at universities in his contemporary times. Seeing his son’s drawing skills, his father sent him to the studio of a Florentine goldsmith and painter. It was there that Leonardo learned the basics of painting and ornamentation.

Leonardo da Vinci  – no doubt his mind was ahead of the times in which he lived. There have been few people like him in the history of the world. Learn about the unknown facts from the artist’s life, find out why he was almost sentenced to death and what his last words sounded like.

The life of a young genius

We do not know exactly how Leonardo’s childhood was. Information on the artist’s early life is scarce and is associated with a lot of ambiguity that is mixed with legends. Giorgio Vasari, who wrote the first biography of Leonardo, is responsible for this fact. As it turns out, it contains many distortions. The date of birth is some information. Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452, at 10:30 p.m. as the illegitimate son of a Florentine lawyer. He spent the first five years of his life with his mother, to later live with his father and his family.

Jester

Leonardo da Vinci became a prankster before it was fashionable. The Italian used fake wings and lizard horns to frighten the people of the Vatican.

Father of contact lenses

Leonardo da Vinci is considered the father of contact lenses. Corrective lenses in contact with the cornea were described by an Italian in 1508. Like many of Leonardo’s other inventions, they remained only in the realm of design.

Almost condemned to death

At 24, da Vinci was arrested along with several colleagues on charges of sodomy. They were withdrawn as no witnesses came forward to confirm them. Certainly, Leonardo had reason to be concerned. In the fifteenth century in Florence, sodomy was punishable by death.

Valued painter

Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most famous and respected painters in the world. Almost everyone is able to name at least one Italian work. He is credited with the authorship of 22 paintings, of which only 15 have survived to this day. One of them – Lady with an Ermine – is in the Princes Czartoryski Museum in Krakow.

Animal Defender

Da Vinci was a vegetarian which was not quite popular in the time he lived. Eating meat disgusted him. Moreover, he loved animals. Being at the market, he was able to buy an animal in a cage, only to be released in a moment.

Leonardo’s notes

The Italian wrote down all his ideas, designs, drawings, and thoughts for over 30 years. His notes were supposed to count over 13,000 cards, but only 6,000 of them have survived to the present day. They were divided into 10 separate collections. One of them – the Leicester Codex – consisting of 72 pages of a document was purchased in 1994 by Bill Gates for $ 30 million. Some of the notes were used as screensavers in Windows 95.

Final words

Before he died, he was to say, “I have insulted God and mankind, my work has not reached the quality it should have”.

Left-handed genius

Leonardo da Vinci wrote from right to left, the so-called in mirror writing. Some mistakenly believed that the Italian wanted to encrypt his notes in this way. In fact, the artist wanted to avoid smudging wet ink in this way. Moreover, Leonardo was able to paint with his other hand while writing.

Famous Quotes:

• “Human gait is always like the general gait of four-legged animals.”
• “Rejoice if you know the end of the things that your spirit plans.”
• “The truth is dignified … even the smallest things, when she praises them, become noble.”
• “You won’t write anything while looking for news.”
• “Let him not read my essay who is not a mathematician.
• “Some should not be called otherwise, only food pipes and fecal multipliers (…) after them, apart from full privates, nothing is left.”
• “Impatience (…) the mother of stupidity”
• “Nature is full of infinite causes that have never been the subject of experience.”
• “Movement is the cause of all life.”
• “Among all animal organisms, man has the dullest and thickest feelings.”
• “The senses are earthly, and the mind is beyond them when thoughts.”
• “If you live alone, you owe everything to yourself.”
• “You know we recognize defects in someone else’s work rather than our own… when you paint, you should have a flat mirror at hand and look at your work frequently in it. For if you see them in reverse, it will seem to be made by someone else’s hand, and you will better judge your mistakes. “
• “Thanks to art, we can call ourselves God’s grandchildren.”
• “Music cannot be called otherwise than the little sister of painting, considering that it is the object of hearing, of a sense inferior to the eye … painting is more perfect and surpasses music, because it does not die immediately after its creation …”
• “Don’t you see how many foods and human activities are? Can’t you see how diverse animals are, as well as trees, herbs, and flowers? Can’t you see the diversity of mountainous and plains landscapes, springs, rivers, cities, public and private buildings, tools for human use, various garments, costumes and crafts? “
• “Those who practice without diligence or, better to say, without learning, are like sailors going out to sea in a ship without a rudder and a compass, never knowing where they are going to go.”

***INERSTING FACTS***

• He was born on April 15, 1452, near the town of Vinci.

• His full name is Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci.

• He was illegitimate – he was the son of a wealthy Florentine lawyer Ser Piero and a peasant woman named Caterina.
• Da Vinci did not like to rush or work under duress – he would often postpone many things or not finish his works.

• Leonardo da Vinci wrote the so-called “mirror writing”.

• Leonardo was a vegetarian, but although he did not eat meat himself, he often bought it for his journeymen.

• Leonardo da Vinci’s last words were: “I have offended God and mankind by doing so little in life” – this shows how strict he was towards himself.

• Leonardo was interested in anatomy, in order to get to know the human body better, he conducted several dozen autopsies on bodies dug out from cemeteries.

• Da Vinci bought caged birds at fairs in order to release them into the wild.

• Leonardo protected his notes from others by deliberately making mistakes in the notes.

• He has never graduated from any school.

• In 2004, The Da Vinci Code was banned in Lebanon after Catholic leaders found it offensive to their religion.

• The artist was able to write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.

• He practiced his painting skills under the supervision of the Florentine painter Andrea del Verrocchio.

• He painted “only” 15 pictures. Leonardo was not a prolific painter. Due to his various interests, he often did not finish his paintings and projects. He spent a lot of time observing nature, conducting scientific experiments, or exploring the anatomy of humans and animals (it is estimated that in the years 1506-1513, Leonardo conducted about 30 autopsies, which resulted in, among others, detailed illustrations showing the structure of the lungs and heart, muscles of the trunk, arms, legs and face, spine, or larynx). As a result, “only” 15 images were assigned to him in whole or in part
• In 1911 his painting “Mona Lisa” was stolen from the Louvre. This event made this work the most famous painting in the world.

• The artist placed his initials on the right pupil of the Mona Lisa.

• Even though he was considered a left hand for many years, Leonardo da Vinci was ambidextrous.

• Leonardo da Vinci studied at home.

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• He could play the lyre.

• Using facial recognition software, the Mona Lisa was found to be 83% happy, 9% disgusted, 6% anxious, and the remaining 2% angry.

• In 2003, it was decided to build and test the Italian’s inventions on the basis of his notes. Some of them worked, while others turned out to be impractical.

• He was the first to answer the question why the sky is blue.

• Leonardo da Vinci was the first to observe the curvature of the human spine. Until then, everyone assumed it was simple.

• He has developed his mirror writing skills, which he used when he jotted down important finds and ideas.

• He used a mirror to assess the effects of his painting work thanks to the reversed perspective.

• Leonardo da Vinci also designed a parachute that was held with the hands. This design was tested by a brave British jumper in 2000. in the Kruger National Park in South Africa. Adrian Nicholas ascended in a balloon 3 km high with a pinned pyramid-shaped parachute, which was made of pine wood, which weighed 84 kg. Instead of a cotton canvas, however, he used linen. Nicholas descended gently, but at a height of 600 meters he opened a modern parachute.

• The sixteenth-century collection of letters and notes drawn up by Leonardo da Vinci, the so-called Leicester Codex, owes its name to Thomas Coke, the first Earl of Leicester, who acquired the notes in 1717. In 1980 the codex was purchased by the wealthy industrialist Armand Hammer and renamed the Hammer Codex. In 1994, the manuscript was purchased at an auction by billionaire Bill Gates for $ 30.8 million. The Codex became the most expensive book in history. For a year it was exhibited in various cities around the world. Gates renamed the codex Leicester.

• He was fascinated by military engineering, and his sketches were ahead of his time.  He was the author of, among others, the design of a flying machine, parachute, or tank. He left a lot of notes, which show that engineering was more important to him than painting – the notes contained mostly technical designs.

• He learned human anatomy through autopsies.

• Even before the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus and the emergence of the heliocentric theory, he stated that the sun does not move.

• According to his contemporaries, he was a man of extraordinary beauty with a beautiful voice. Descriptions also refer to his extravagant wardrobe, which was dominated by pink and purple.

• Leonardo da Vinci was considered an animal protector.  He strongly condemned hunting popular in 15th century Italy. According to the Italian art historiographer Giorgio Vasari, he sometimes bought caged animals at fairs in order to give them back their freedom.

• Apparently he was a joker. He gave lizards wings and horns to frighten the inhabitants of the Vatican.

• He was famous for his lack of patience. A huge number of works and projects were never completed by the artist.

• Despite being aware of his many talents, he considered himself a failure. He was convinced that he had left behind nothing that would testify to his greatness.

• He died on May 2, 1519, most likely as a result of complications after a stroke.

• Da Vinci did not like to rush or work under duress – he would often postpone many things or not finish his works.
• Da Vinci was ahead of the time. Leonardo da Vinci was fascinated by mechanics: he designed mills, water-powered engines, created models and plans for boring tunnels through mountains, demonstrated heavy lifting with the use of levers and winches, principles of using pumps taking water from great depths. He introduced pulleys, cranks and rack and pinion mechanisms. His inventions, however, are before the patent era. So, we do not know how many of his inventions have come into use. However, it can be said with certainty that his sketches preceded his era by several hundred years.

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• Da Vinci designed war and defense machines. His inventions included a tank that “shot” small stones and was powered by a crankshaft (2 adult men were enough to operate it). In his notes, there are drawings of cannons that throw small rocks in comparison to a storm.

• Another project he worked on was a horse powered machine with four scythes attached to a rotating mechanism. Da Vinci knew how to construct various bridges (even portable ones), he knew methods of destroying fortresses and fortresses located even on rocks. In the event of a sea fight, he declared that he knew the methods of attack and defense. As it turned out recently, he was also the inventor of the wheel lock, on which he worked at the end of the 15th century. Scientists discovered that the use of this lock was used in the north of Italy in 1510, and Leonardo worked in the area in connection with the fortifications at a nearby castle.

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• Dreams of flying. As he lay outside as a little boy in a cradle, a hawk flew overhead. This event was imprinted on his memory, and he considered it prophetic. Leonardo da Vinci drew his ideas from the observation of nature – he claimed that birds fly according to the rules of mathematics. He dreamed of being able to fly as well. He designed wings based on the structure of bat wings, made models of paper and wax, and then constructed a flying machine. Chroniclers claim that one of the master’s students made a flight from the summit of Monte Ceceri with a fatal result.

• Leonardo da Vinci wrote the so-called  “mirror writing”.

• Leonardo was a vegetarian, but although he did not eat meat himself, he often bought it for his journeymen.

• Leonardo da Vinci’s last words were: “I have offended God and mankind by doing so little in life” – this shows how strict he was towards himself.

• He could juggle.

• Leonardo da Vinci, on almost six thousand pages of notes, carried out much more technical projects than artistic works, which indicates that engineering was an extremely important field of his interest. One of his inventions was also a diving apparatus.

• His painting Mona Liza still raises a lot of controversy and questions. Interestingly, the title character of the painting is neither a woman nor a man. It carries a subtle message of androgyny. This is evidenced by the title of the work itself. It is an anagram of the names of the Egyptian fertility gods. Amun and Isis (Isis) formerly known as L’Iza. AMON L’IZA

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• His IQ is estimated in the range of 200-250.

• The Last Supper does not represent the 13 men (the 12 apostles and Jesus). On the right side of Jesus sits none other than Mary Magdalene, who was most likely … his wife. In the same painting, Leonardo depicted a hand holding a knife that belongs to no one. For this composition, however, the artist could not find a human type so vile and so criminal that it could resemble Judas, and the painting waited and waited for its completion. The prior of the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie assumed that Leonardo was mocking him and simply refusing to work, so he made an official complaint. Da Vinci explained to him that his work also included long hours spent … looking for the villainous type. In a fit of acerbic humor, he said that he had solved the problem and made Judas a prior.

• Leonardo da Vinci belonged to the Order of Zion, a secret society operating in Europe, founded in 1099. In 1975, parchment scrolls, Les Dossier Secrets, were discovered at the National Library in Paris, revealing the identity of many members of the Order, including Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Leonard himself.

• Leonardo performed many autopsies on bodies excavated from cemeteries. Thanks to them, he got to know the functioning of the human body more closely and probably discovered blood circulation, but he did not announce his theory, because for “desecrating” the corpse he would have ended up in a pile.

• His scientific works far exceeded the imaginations of modern people and scientists, for example he designed a flying machine 400 years before the first plane, again ahead of his time.

• This genius believed that science should be the servant of science. Therefore, while learning about nature, he looked for ways to use the acquired knowledge in practice. His projects include: a submarine, a helicopter, flying machines, a parachute, a scuba diver’s outfit, a design of a tank powered by human muscles, various excavators, cranes and a whole host of other devices and structures, such as a stone arch bridge with a span of 600 meters.

• Leonardo was very impatient and often left his work unfinished. Only 15 of the artist’s paintings have survived to this day. Instead, he left behind about 7,000 pages of sketches and notes, which he made in mirror script, possibly because of his left-handedness.

• Leonardo was interested in anatomy, in order to get to know the human body better, he conducted several dozen autopsies on bodies dug out from cemeteries.

• Da Vinci bought caged birds at fairs in order to release them into the wild.

• Leonardo protected his notes from others by deliberately making mistakes in the notes.

• Not all Italian inventions or ideas were successful. Once, together with Niccolo Machiavelli, he decided to divert the course of the Arno River. The men were in conflict with the authorities of Pisa and wanted to do them out of spite. Nature thwarted their plan.

• Though he was the genius of his time, he made mistakes. One of them is visible in the painting “The Last Supper”’. The Italian placed oranges on the table that arrived in the Middle East several hundred years after Christ.

• Learn to juggle to exercise his brain.

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• Leonardo protected his notes by deliberately leaving mistakes. Thus, he prevented the project from being carried out by a person who could become in possession of the notes.

• Da Vinci is the owner of one of the greatest minds in the history of mankind. His IQ is determined at the level of 200-250.

• The Italian designed, among other things, an armored car, a chariot with scythes and a flying ship.

• 60 years before Galileo (the creator of the first telescope), he claimed that with the help of a “large magnifying glass” it is possible to study the surfaces of the moon and other celestial bodies. 200 years before Newton, he wrote in advance of theories of gravity, “a weight that finds no resistance will fall down the shortest path”.  Elsewhere, he added that “all the Earth must have taken the shape of a ball”.  – 400 years before Darwin – put humans in the same category as monkeys.

• In 1516, da Vinci had a stroke. As a result, his right hand was paralyzed.