Page 38 - All About History - Issue 58-17

Da Vinci: Was he Really a Genius?

’
“Da Vincis keen eye and obsessive Mona Lisa to the magnificent The Last Supper
in the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria
curiosity led him to observe facts about delle Grazie in Milan that he created with tempera
and oil on gesso, pitch and mastic. Through his
the natural world” contribution to the maniera moderna (‘modern
style’), he influenced generations of future artists.
l er robotic knight, the lion could FrancescoMelzi,hisfaithful student.Fortherest While Michelangelo strived for ideal beauty, da
e ntly, opening its chest to present of his life, Melzi remained determined that his Vinci aimed to reproduce reality.
in reference to the French royal master’s work would be published for all the world Living before a distinction was made between
symbol of the fleur de lys. to see. Unfortunately, he was unable to completely science and art, da Vinci’s keen eye and obsessive
Francis, who was the king of France, was so sort his master’s vast collection of work. curiosity led him to observe facts about the natural
impressed that he employed him and he had Sadly,afterMelzi’sdeath,hissoninheritedthe world — from the inner workings of the human
movedtoliveneartheChâteaud’Amboisein papers and failed to realise how priceless they body to a rudimentary understanding of physics.
a manor provided for him by 1516. As well as were. Sold off piecemeal, they ended up scattered We remain deeply sceptical about how much
planning court celebrations, Leonardo entertained all over Europe and remained hidden from the he really understood about how things worked.
himself by pondering complex geometric puzzles. public for over 200 years. The flaws in some of We can also draw the line at calling his sketches
As it turned out, the king was to be his last patron Leonardo’s machines aside, this is undoubtedly ‘inventions’ — although some of them were more
as he died in France in 1519. According to legend, the main reason why da Vinci had little impact on developed than others, at best we can call them
the two were so close that Francis cradled his engineering and natural philosophy. innovations as they were never actually created.
head as he passed away. So, should we consider da Vinci a genius? He But his capacity to observe the world in such
The Florentine left the majority of his estate, certainly revolutionised the way in which pictures vivid detail is so singular it can undoubtedly only
includinghisthousandsofsketchesandnotes,to were painted, from the soft-focus sfumato of the be called genius.

Areplica modelofdaVinci’s A model of da Vinci’s innovative Arobotknightanditsmechanism,
diving suit design design for a parachute based on da Vinci’s drawings

A lot of
da Vinci’s
sketches Asketchof The Mona Lisa,one
focused on Monna Vanna of da Vinci’s most
anatomy from c.1515 famous works

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