Where was Leonardo da Vinci born: the life of the great Italian. Leonardo di ser piero da vinci

Biography and episodes of life Leonardo da Vinci. When born and died Leonardo da Vinci, memorable places and dates important events his life. Quotes from an artist and a scientist, images and videos.

Leonardo da Vinci's life years:

born April 15, 1452, died May 2, 1519

Epitaph

"Prophet, or demon, or magician,
Keeping an eternal riddle,
Oh Leonardo you are the harbinger
Of an unknown day. "
From the poem by Dmitry Merezhkovsky "Leonardo da Vinci"

Biography

Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most mysterious figures in world history and certainly the most outstanding genius of the Renaissance. He is credited with inventing the first prototypes of a helicopter, parachute, car, hang glider, scuba gear and dozens of other mechanisms, without which modern civilization is simply unthinkable. Da Vinci himself called himself more of a scientist and engineer than an artist, although his creative activity to this day does not cease to amaze the imagination of art critics and ordinary connoisseurs of painting and sculpture. In addition, da Vinci's works are reflected in other areas of science and art: physics, astronomy, anatomy, philology and others. Legends were formed about Leonardo during his lifetime, he took root in the milestones of history as a truly titanic figure, a true genius, centuries ahead of his time.

Leonardo was born in a small village near the town of Vinci, the name of which, according to the traditions of that time, formed the basis of his surname. His father was a wealthy hereditary notary, his mother was a simple peasant woman. From childhood, da Vinci studied with one of the most influential artists of the time, Andrea del Verrocchio, whom he managed to surpass already at the age of 20. So, when the young man completed the writing of "The Baptism of Christ", Verrocchio said that from now on all faces will be painted exclusively by Leonardo.

Subsequently, da Vinci served at the courts famous politicians, aristocrats and kings, moving between Florence, Milan, Rome. He held the posts of an architect, military engineer, designer, was knowledgeable in the principles of urban planning, wrote fundamental works on medicine and other sciences. Over the mature life of Leonardo da Vinci, dozens of masterpieces came out from under his brush: "The Lady with the Ermine", the Vitruvian Man, "Madonna Litta", as well as countless brilliant sketches. Unfortunately, only a tiny fraction of his works have survived in memory of Leonardo, but even they are enough to appreciate the artist's remarkable contribution to the development of world art.

In recent years, da Vinci lived out in the royal castle of Clos-Luce at the invitation of Francis I. Leonardo's health progressively waned, and soon he even lost the ability to move independently. However, nothing is known about the artist's mysterious illness, but there is still debate about the causes of da Vinci's death. Shortly before his death, Leonardo da Vinci left a will, and later died in the presence of the king and his students. The artist's body was buried in the castle of Amboise, and da Vinci's grave was marked with a laconic inscription: "Within the walls of this monastery lie the ashes of Leonardo da Vinci, the greatest artist, engineer and architect of the French kingdom."

Life line

April 15, 1452 Date of birth of Leonardo da Vinci.
1467 g. Admission to study with the artist Andrea del Verrocchio.
1472 g. Admission to the Guild of Painters of St. Luke.
1476 g. Opening of our own workshop.
1502 g. Joining Cesare Borgia as an architect.
1506 g. Service with the French king Louis XII.
1512 g. Moving to Rome under the patronage of Pope Leo X.
1516 g. Service with King Francis I.
May 2, 1519 Date of death of Leonardo da Vinci.

Memorable places

1. Leonardo Museum in Vinci - the city near which the genius was born.
2. Da Vinci Museum in Florence.
3. Da Vinci Museum in Milan.
4. Louvre, which houses the works of Leonardo da Vinci, including the famous "Mona Lisa".
5. National Gallery of Art in Washington, which displays the work of da Vinci.
6. State Hermitage in St. Petersburg, where you can see the work of da Vinci.
7. London National Gallery, which houses the work of da Vinci.
8. National Gallery of Scotland, which houses the work of da Vinci.
9. Clos-Luce castle, where da Vinci is buried.

Episodes of life

Once, when Leonardo was still young, a neighbor's peasant came to his father with a request to find an artist to decorate his homemade shield. The father agreed and allowed his son to get down to business. Young da Vinci approached the matter with an unprecedented originality: he depicted the mask of the Gorgon Medusa on the shield, and used real snakes, grasshoppers and other insects as an improvised material. Leonardo thought that a shield decorated in this way could not only protect its owner well, but also frighten enemies. In the end, the father did not appreciate the son's creativity and bought another shield for the peasant. The original was later sold to a wealthy Medici family in Florence.

Interestingly, information about Leonardo's personal life has practically not been preserved in history. Judging by the available facts, he was not married and did not even have affairs with women. Da Vinci's only life partner was one of his students named Salai (from Italian "devil"). Nothing is known for certain about the relationship between Leonardo and Salai, except that their relationship lasted more than 25 years. It is surprising that da Vinci did not maintain such a long relationship with anyone from his entourage.

Covenant

"Only loneliness gives the necessary freedom."

"As a day well lived gives a peaceful sleep, so a life lived well gives a peaceful death."

The life and work of Leonardo da Vinci

Condolences

“He was not only a great painter, but also a great mathematician, mechanic and engineer, to whom we owe important discoveries the most diverse branches of physics ".
Friedrich Engels, philosopher

“Everyone knows the names of Raphael, Titian, Bellini, Michelangelo - they are just a few of those worthy of mention. However, no one has achieved such skill in so many different areas as Leonardo da Vinci. "
Svyatoslav Roerich, artist

“The loss of Leonardo beyond measure saddened everyone who knew him, for there was never a person who would bring so much honor to the art of painting. This is a master who has truly lived his entire life with great benefit for humanity. "
Irina Nikiforova, bibliographer

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (Italian Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci; April 15, 1452, the village of Anchiano, near the town of Vinci, near Florence - May 2, 1519, Clos-Luce castle, near Amboise, Touraine, France) - italian artist(painter, sculptor, architect) and scientist (anatomist, naturalist), inventor, writer, musician, one of the the largest representatives arts High Renaissance, vivid example"Universal man" (lat. Homo universalis).

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the village of Anchiano near the small town of Vinci, not far from Florence at "three in the morning" that is, at 22:30 modern time. Noteworthy is the entry in the diary of Leonardo's grandfather, Antonio da Vinci (1372-1468) (literal translation): “On Saturday, at three o'clock in the morning on April 15, my grandson, the son of my son Pierrot, was born. The boy was named Leonardo. He was baptized by his father Piero di Bartolomeo. " His parents were 25-year-old notary Pierrot (1427-1504) and his beloved, a peasant woman, Katerina. Leonardo spent the first years of his life with his mother. His father soon married a wealthy and noble girl, but this marriage turned out to be childless, and Pierrot took his three-year-old son for upbringing. Separated from his mother, Leonardo tried all his life to recreate her image in his masterpieces. At that time he lived with his grandfather.

In Italy at that time, illegitimate children were treated almost like legal heirs. Many influential people of the city of Vinci took part in further destiny Leonardo.

When Leonardo was 13 years old, his stepmother died in childbirth. The father remarried - and again soon became a widower. He lived 77 years, was married four times and had 12 children. The father tried to introduce Leonardo to the family profession, but to no avail: the son was not interested in the laws of society.

Leonardo had no last name in modern sense; "Da Vinci" simply means "(originally from) the town of Vinci." His full name is Italian. Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, that is, "Leonardo, son of Monsieur Piero of Vinci."

In his "Biographies of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects" Vasari says that once a peasant friend asked Father Leonardo to find an artist to paint a round wooden shield. Ser Pierrot gave the shield to his son. Leonardo decided to depict the head of the Gorgon Medusa, and in order for the image of the monster to make the proper impression on the audience, he used lizards, snakes, grasshoppers, caterpillars, bats and “other creatures” “from many of which, combining them in different ways, he created a monster very disgusting and terrible, which poisoned with its breath and inflamed the air. " The result exceeded his expectations: when Leonardo showed the finished work to his father, he was frightened. The son told him: “This work serves what it was made for. So take it and give it away, for this is the action that is expected from works of art. " Ser Pierrot did not give Leonardo's work to the peasant: he received another shield, bought from a junk dealer. Leonardo's father sold Medusa's shield in Florence for one hundred ducats. According to legend, this shield passed to the Medici family, and when it was lost, the rebellious people expelled the sovereign masters of Florence from the city. Many years later, Cardinal del Monte ordered a painting depicting Medusa the Gorgon Caravaggio. The new talisman was presented to Ferdinand I de Medici in honor of the marriage of his son.

In 1466, Leonardo da Vinci entered Verrocchio's studio as an apprentice artist.

Verrocchio's workshop was located in the intellectual center of what was then Italy, the city of Florence, which allowed Leonardo to study humanities as well as acquire some technical skills. He studied drawing, chemistry, metallurgy, working with metal, plaster and leather. In addition, the young apprentice was engaged in drawing, sculpture and modeling. In the workshop, in addition to Leonardo, Perugino, Lorenzo di Credi, Agnolo di Polo studied, Botticelli worked, there were often such famous masters like Ghirlandaio et al. Subsequently, even when Leonardo's father took him to work in his workshop, he continued to collaborate with Verrocchio.

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Leonardo da Vinci was born in the town of Vinci (or near it), located west of Florence, on April 15, 1452. He was the illegitimate son of a Florentine notary and a peasant girl, brought up in the house of his father and, as a son educated person, received a solid primary education.

1467 - at the age of 15, Leonardo became an apprentice to one of the leading masters Early renaissance in Florence, Andrea del Verrocchio; 1472 - joined the guild of artists, studied the basics of drawing and other necessary disciplines; 1476 - and worked in Verrocchio's workshop, apparently in collaboration with the master himself.

By 1480, Leonardo already had large orders, but after 2 years he moved to Milan. In a letter to the ruler of Milan, Lodovico Sforza, he introduced himself as an engineer, military expert and artist. The years he spent in Milan were filled with various pursuits. Leonardo da Vinci painted several paintings and the famous fresco "The Last Supper" and began to carefully and seriously take his notes. The Leonardo whom we recognize from his notes is an architect-designer (creator of innovative plans that were never realized), anatomist, hydraulics, inventor of mechanisms, creator of scenery for court performances, writer of riddles, riddles and fables for the entertainment of the courtyard. musician and painting theorist.

1499 - after the expulsion of Lodovico Sforza from Milan by the French, Leonardo leaves for Venice, visits Mantua on the way, where he participates in the construction of defensive structures, after which he returns to Florence. In those days, he was so passionate about mathematics that he did not even want to think about picking up a brush. For 12 years, Leonardo has been constantly moving from city to city, working for the famous in Romagna, designing defensive structures (never built) for Piombino.

In Florence, he enters into a rivalry with Michelangelo; This rivalry culminated in the creation of huge battle compositions that the two artists wrote for Palazzo della Signoria (also Palazzo Vecchio). Then Leonardo conceived a second equestrian monument, which, like the first, was never created. Throughout all these years, he continues to fill out his notebooks. They reflect his ideas related to the most different subjects... This is the theory and practice of painting, anatomy, mathematics and even the flight of birds. 1513 - as in 1499, his patrons are expelled from Milan ...

Leonardo leaves for Rome, where he spends 3 years under the auspices of the Medici. Depressed and distressed for lack of material for anatomical research, he is engaged in experiments that lead nowhere.

The kings of France, first Louis XII, then Francis I, admired the works Italian Renaissance, especially Leonardo's The Last Supper. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that in 1516 Francis I, well aware of the versatile talents of Leonardo, invited him to the court, which was then located in the castle of Amboise in the Loire Valley. As the sculptor Benvenuto Cellini wrote, despite the fact that the Florentine worked on the hydraulic projects and plans for the new royal palace, his main occupation is the honorary position of court sage and adviser.

Carried away by the idea of ​​creating aircraft, the Florentine first developed the simplest apparatus (Daedalus and Icarus) based on wings. His new idea is an airplane with full control. But it was not possible to bring the idea to life due to the lack of a motor. Also the famous idea of ​​the scientist is a vertical take-off and landing apparatus.

Studying the laws of fluid and hydraulics in general, Leonardo introduced huge contribution into the theory of gateways, sewerage ports, testing ideas in practice.

Famous paintings by Leonardo - "La Gioconda", "The Last Supper", "Madonna with the Ermine", and many others. Leonardo was exacting and exacting in everything he did. Even before painting a picture, he insisted on a complete study of the object before starting.

Leonardo's manuscripts are priceless. They were published in full only in XIX-XX centuries... In his notes, Leonardo da Vinci noted not just reflections, but supplemented them with drawings, drawings, descriptions.

Leonardo da Vinci was talented in many fields, he made a significant contribution to the history of architecture, art, physics.

Died Leonardo da Vinci at Amboise on May 2, 1519; By this time, his paintings were usually dispersed in private collections, and the notes lay in different collections, almost in complete oblivion, for several more centuries.

Secrets of Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci encrypted a lot so that his ideas were revealed gradually, as humanity could "mature" to them. He wrote with his left hand and in very small letters, from right to left, so that the text looked like a mirror image. He spoke in riddles, made metaphorical prophecies, loved to make puzzles. Leonardo da Vinci did not sign his works, but there are identification marks on them. For example, if you take a closer look at the paintings, you may find a symbolic bird flying up. There are many such signs, as you can see, because one or another of his hidden "brainchildren" are unexpectedly found on famous canvases, through the centuries. So, for example, it was with "Madonna Benoit", which for a long time, as a home icon, was carried by itinerant actors.

The principle of scattering (or sfumato) was discovered by Leonard. The objects on his canvases do not have clear boundaries: everything, as in life, is blurry, penetrates one into another, which means it breathes, lives, awakens imagination. To master this principle, he advised to exercise: look at the spots that appear on the walls, ash, clouds or dirt that appear from dampness. He specially fumigated the room where he worked with smoke in order to look for images in clubs.

Thanks to the sfumato effect, a flickering smile of Gioconda appeared: depending on the focus of the gaze, the viewer seems that Gioconda smiles either tenderly or somehow ominously. The second miracle of "Mona Lisa" is that she is "alive". Over the centuries, her smile has changed, the corners of her lips rise higher. In the same way, the Master mixed the knowledge of various sciences, therefore his inventions find more and more applications over time. From the treatise on light and shadow, the beginnings of the sciences of penetrating force, vibrational motion, and wave propagation originate. All of his 120 books have spread around the world and are gradually being revealed to mankind.

Leonardo da Vinci preferred analogy to all others. The approximation of an analogy is an advantage over the accuracy of a syllogism, when a third inevitably follows from two inferences. But the more bizarre the analogy, the further the conclusions from it extend. Take, for example, the famous illustration of da Vinci, proving the proportionality of the human body. A human figure with outstretched arms and legs apart fits into a circle, and with closed legs and raised arms - into a square. This "mill" gave impetus to various conclusions. Leonardo was the only one who created projects of churches in which the altar is placed in the middle (symbolizing the navel of a person), and the worshipers are evenly around. This church plan in the form of an octahedron served as another invention of the genius - the ball bearing.

The Florentine loved to use counterpost, which creates the illusion of movement. Everyone who saw his sculpture of a giant horse in Corte Vecchio involuntarily changed their gait to a more relaxed one.

Leonardo was never in a hurry to finish a work, because incompleteness is an integral quality of life. To finish is to kill! The slowness of the Florentine was the talk of the town, he could make two or three strokes and leave the city for many days, for example, to improve the valleys of Lombardy or was engaged in the creation of an apparatus for walking on water. Almost every one of his significant works- "unfinished". The master had a special composition, with the help of which he was finished painting as if he was making "windows of unfinishedness" on purpose. As you can see, in this way he left a place where life itself could intervene and correct something ...

He played the lyre masterly. When Leonardo's case was heard in the Milan court, he figured there precisely as a musician, and not as an artist or inventor.

There is a version that Leonardo da Vinci was a homosexual. When the artist studied at Verrocchio's workshop, he was accused of molesting a boy who posed for him. The court acquitted him.

According to one version, Mona Lisa smiles at the realization of her secret pregnancy for all.

According to another, Mona Lisa is entertained by musicians and clowns while she posed for the artist.

There is another assumption, according to which, "Mona Lisa" is a self-portrait of Leonardo.

Leonardo da Vinci, apparently, did not leave a single self-portrait that could be unambiguously attributed to him. Experts doubt that famous self-portrait sanguine Leonardo (traditionally dated 1512-1515), depicting him in old age, is such. It is believed that this is probably only a sketch of the head of the Apostle for The Last Supper. Doubts that this is a self-portrait of the artist began to be expressed with 19th century, the latter was recently expressed by one of the greatest experts on Leonardo da Vinci, Professor Pietro Marani.

University of Amsterdam scientists and American researchers studying mysterious smile Mona Lisa with the help of a new computer program, they figured out its composition: according to their data, it contains 83 percent of happiness, 9 percent of neglect, 6 percent of fear and 2 percent of anger.

Leonardo loved water: he developed instructions for scuba diving, he invented and described a diving device, a breathing apparatus for scuba diving. All the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci formed the basis of modern scuba equipment.

Leonardo was the first painter who began to dismember corpses in order to understand the location and structure of muscles.

Observations of the moon in the waxing crescent phase led the researcher to one of the important scientific discoveries - Leonardo da Vinci found that sunlight is reflected from our planet and returns to the moon in the form of secondary illumination.

The Florentine was ambidextrous - he was equally good at right and left hands. He suffered from dyslexia (impaired reading ability) - this ailment, called "verbal blindness", is associated with decreased brain activity in a certain area of ​​the left hemisphere. Known fact, Leonardo wrote in a mirror-like manner.

More recently, the Louvre spent $ 5.5 million to outweigh the most famous masterpiece artist "Gioconda" from the general to a hall specially equipped for her. For the "La Gioconda" was allocated two thirds State hall occupying a total area of ​​840 sq. m. The huge room was rebuilt into a gallery, on the far wall of which now hangs the famous creation of the great Leonardo. The reconstruction, which was designed by the Peruvian architect Lorenzo Piqueras, lasted about 4 years. The decision to move the Mona Lisa to separate hall accepted by the administration of the Louvre due to the fact that in the same place, surrounded by other paintings Italian craftsmen, this masterpiece was lost, and the audience was forced to queue to see famous painting.

2003, August - the painting of the great Leonardo worth 50 million dollars "Madonna of the Spindle" was stolen from the castle of Drumlanrig in Scotland. The masterpiece was stolen from the home of one of the richest landowners in Scotland, the Duke of Bucklew.

It is believed that Leonardo was a vegetarian (Andrea Corsali, in a letter to Giuliano di Lorenzo Medici, compares him to one Indian who did not eat meat). The phrase often attributed to Leonardo “If a person strives for freedom, why does he keep birds and animals in cages? .. Man is truly the king of beasts, because he cruelly exterminates them. We live by killing others. We are walking cemeteries! Also in early age I gave up meat "taken from english translation the novel by Dmitry Merezhkovsky "The Risen Gods. Leonardo da Vinci ".

Leonardo da Vinci created designs for a submarine, propeller, tank, loom, ball bearing and flying machines.

Building the canals, Leonardo made an observation that later entered geology under his name as a theoretical principle for recognizing the time of formation of earth layers. He came to the conclusion that our planet is much older than indicated in the Bible.

Da Vinci's hobbies even included cooking and the art of serving. In Milan for thirteen years he was the steward of the court feasts. He invented several culinary devices that facilitate the work of cooks. Original dish"From Leonardo" - a thinly sliced ​​stew with vegetables on top - was very popular at court feasts.

In the books of Terry Pratchett there is a character called Leonard, whose prototype was Leonardo da Vinci. Pratchett's Leonard writes from right to left, invents various machines, does alchemy, paints (the most famous is the portrait of Mona Yagg)

A considerable number of Leonardo's manuscripts were first published by the curator of the Ambrosian Library, Carlo Amoretti.

Italian scientists have made a statement about the sensational find. According to them, an early self-portrait of Leonardo was discovered. The discovery belongs to the journalist Piero Angela.

Leonardo da Vinci (born April 15, 1452, the village of Anchiano, near the town of Vinci, near Florence - died on May 2, 1519, Clou Castle, near Amboise, Touraine, France) - a great Italian artist (painter, sculptor, architect) and scientist (anatomist, mathematician, physicist, naturalist), a bright representative of the type of "universal man" (lat. homo universale) - the ideal Italian Renaissance... Painter, engineer, mechanic, carpenter, musician, mathematician, pathologist, inventor - this is not a complete list of facets of the universal genius. He was called a sorcerer, a servant of the devil, an Italian Faust and a divine spirit. He was ahead of his time by several centuries ahead. Surrounded by legends during his lifetime, the great Leonardo is a symbol of the boundless aspirations of the human mind. Having shown himself the ideal of the Renaissance "universal man", Leonardo was interpreted in the subsequent tradition as a person who most vividly outlined the range of creative searches of the era. He was the founder of the art of the High Renaissance.

Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in the village of Anchiano near Vinci: near Florence. His parents were Pierrot, a 25-year-old notary, and his beloved, a peasant woman, Katerina. Leonardo spent the first years of his life with his mother. His father soon married a rich and noble girl, but this marriage turned out to be childless, and Pierrot took his three-year-old son to foster care. Separated from his mother, Leonardo tried all his life to recreate her image in his masterpieces. In Italy at that time, illegitimate children were treated almost like legitimate heirs. Many influential people of the city of Vinci took part in the further fate of Leonardo. When Leonardo was 13 years old, his stepmother died in childbirth. The father remarried - and again soon became a widower. He lived 78 years, was married four times and had 12 children. The father tried to introduce Leonardo to the family profession, but to no avail: the son was not interested in the laws of society.

Do not feed the idler with bread, but let him speculate, and you will not deny him the ability to denigrate others. He is always ready to find an excuse for his own worthlessness.

Da Vinci Leonardo

Leonardo did not have a surname in the modern sense; "Da Vinci" means simply (originally from) the town of Vinci. " His full name is Italian. Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, that is, "Leonardo, son of Monsieur Piero of Vinci."

There is a legend about the beginning of the path of the great artist. It was as if a peasant had turned to Father Leonardo. He gave the notary a round fig tree shield and asked him to find an artist who could paint this shield. Pierrot did not look for a specialist and entrusted the work to his son. Leonardo decided to portray something "terrible". He brought many "models", snakes and bizarre insects to his room, and wrote a fantastic dragon on his shield. The stunned father then sent Leonardo to study with the best painter of Tuscany, Andrea del Verrocchio. So the young man found himself in the famous art workshop of that time.

In the 15th century, ideas about the revival of ancient ideals were in the air. At the Florentine Academy the best minds Italy created a theory of new art. Creative youth spent their time in lively discussions. Leonardo stayed away from the stormy public life and rarely left the workshop. He had no time for theoretical disputes: he improved his skills. One day Verrocchio received an order for the painting "The Baptism of Christ" and commissioned Leonardo to paint one of the two angels. It was a common practice in art workshops of that time: the teacher created the picture together with the student assistants. The most talented and diligent ones were entrusted with the execution of a whole fragment. Two angels, written by Leonardo and Verrocchio, clearly demonstrated the superiority of the student over the teacher. As Vasari writes, amazed Verrocchio abandoned the brush and never returned to painting.

At the age of 24, Leonardo and three other young people were attracted to trial on a false anonymous charge of sodomy. They were acquitted. Very little is known about his life after this event, but he probably had his own workshop in Florence in 1476-1481.

In 1482 Leonardo, being, according to Vasari, very talented musician, created a silver lyre in the shape of a horse's head. Lorenzo Medici sent him as a peacemaker to Lodovico Moro, and sent the lyre with him as a gift.

Leonardo had many friends and students. As for love relationship, there is no reliable information on this score, since Leonardo carefully concealed this side of his life. According to some versions, Leonardo had a relationship with Cecilia Gallerani, the favorite of Lodovico Moro, with whom he painted his famous painting "The Lady with the Ermine".

The wine was consumed by the drunkard - and this wine avenged the drunkard. Wine takes revenge on the drunkard.

Da Vinci Leonardo

In France, Leonardo almost never painted. The master's right hand was numb, and he could hardly move without assistance. The third year of his life in Amboise, 68-year-old Leonardo spent in bed. On April 23, 1519, he left a will, and on May 2, he died surrounded by his students and his masterpieces. Leonardo da Vinci was buried in the castle of Amboise. The inscription was engraved on the tombstone: "Within the walls of this monastery lie the ashes of Leonardo of Vinci, the greatest artist, engineer and architect of the French kingdom."

News and Publications Concerning Leonardo Da Vinci

He seemed to know the evolutionary keys to the secrets of the human psyche. So, one of the secrets of Leonardo da Vinci was a special sleep formula: he slept for 15 minutes every 4 hours, thus reducing his daily sleep from 8 to 1.5 hours. Thanks to this, the genius immediately saved 75 percent of his sleep time, which actually lengthened his life time from 70 to 100 years!

"A painting from a painter will not be perfect if he takes pictures of others as an inspiration; if he studies on the subjects of nature, he will produce good fruit ..."

Painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, scientist, all this is Leonardo da Vinci. Wherever such a person turns, his every action is divine so much that, leaving behind all other people, he is something given to us by God, and not acquired human art... Leonardo da Vinci. Great, mysterious, attractive. So distant and so modern. Like a rainbow, the master's fate is bright, mosaic, multi-colored. His life is full of wanderings, meetings with amazing people, events. How much has been written about him, how much published, but it will never be enough. The mystery of Leonardo begins with his birth in 1452 on April 15 in a town west of Florence. It was illegal born son a woman about whom almost nothing is known. We do not know her surname, age, or appearance, we do not know whether she was smart or stupid, whether she studied anything or not. Biographers call it a young peasant woman. Let it be so. Much more is known about Leonardo's father, Piero da Vinci, but not enough. He was a notary and came from a family that had settled in Vinci at least in the 13th century. Leonardo was brought up in his father's house. His education, obviously, was the same as that of any boy from a good family living in a small town: reading, writing, the beginning of mathematics, Latin. His handwriting is amazing, He writes from right to left, the letters are inverted so that the text is easier to read with a mirror. In more later years he was fond of botany, geology, observation of the flight of birds, playing sunlight and shadows by the movement of water. All this testifies to his curiosity and also to the fact that in his youth he spent a lot of time on fresh air walking around the outskirts of the town. These surroundings, which have changed little over the past five hundred years, are now almost the most picturesque in Italy. The father noticed and taking into account the high flight of his son's talent in art, one day he selected several of his drawings, took them to Andrea Verrocchio, who was his great friend, and urged him to say whether Leonardo would achieve any success by taking up drawing. ... Struck by those enormous inclinations that he saw in the drawings of the novice Leonardo, Andrea supported Ser Pierrot in his decision to devote him to this business and immediately agreed with him that Leonardo should enter his workshop, which Leonardo did more than willingly and began to exercise not in just one area, but in all those that include the drawing.

Painting Madonna in the grotto. 1483-86

In nature, everything is wisely thought out and arranged, everyone must do his own thing, and in this wisdom is the highest justice of life. Leonardo da Vinci

Painting by Mona Lisa (La Gioconda). 1503-04

By 1514-1515 refers to the creation of a masterpiece by the great master - the painting of La Gioconda. Until recently, it was thought that this portrait was painted much earlier, in Florence, around 1503. They believed the story of Vasari, who wrote: “Leonardo undertook to make for Francesco del Gioconde a portrait of Monna Lisa, his wife, and after working on it for four years, left it imperfect.This work is now with the French king in Fontainebleau.By the way, Leonardo resorted to the following method: since Madonna Lisa was very beautiful, while painting the portrait he kept people who played the lyre or sang, and here constantly there were jesters who supported her gaiety and removed the melancholy that painting usually imparts to portraits performed. "

Where the spirit does not lead the hand of the artist, there is no art.

Painting Madonna with a flower ( Madonna Benoit). 1478

Thinking that I am learning to live, I have learned to die.

Painting by Madonna Litta. 1490

Painting "Madonna of the Pomegranate". 1469

Painting Madonna. 1510

Painting Lady with an Ermine. 1483-90

Painting Portrait of Ginevra de Benchi. 1474-76

Painting Annunciation. 1472-75

The Last Supper. 1498

Painting of John the Baptist. 1513-16

The head of a woman. 1500?

"Vitruvian Man". 1487

Virgin Mary with child and St. Anne

Portrait of a musician

The greatest scientist of his time, Leonardo da Vinci enriched almost every field of knowledge with insightful observations and guesses, but how surprised a genius would be if he found out that his many inventions are used even 555 years after his birth. Oddly enough, only one invention of da Vinci received recognition during his lifetime - a wheel lock for a pistol, which was started with a key. At first, this mechanism was not widespread, but by the middle of the 16th century it gained popularity among the nobles, especially in the cavalry, which even affected the design of armor: for the sake of firing pistols, Maximilian's armor began to be made with gloves instead of mittens. The wheel lock for a pistol, invented by Leonardo da Vinci, was so perfect that it continued to be found in the 19th century. But, as often happens, recognition comes to geniuses after centuries: many of his inventions have been supplemented and modernized, and are now used in Everyday life... For example, Leonardo da Vinci created a device capable of compressing air and driving it through pipes. This invention has a very wide range of applications: from lighting stoves to ... ventilation of rooms. He was educated at home, played the lyre masterly, was the first to explain why the sky is blue and the moon is so bright, was ambidextrous and suffered from dyslexia. He masters several drawing techniques: italian pencil, silver pencil, sanguine, nib. In 1472 Leonardo was admitted to the guild of painters - the guild of St. Luke, but stayed to live in the house of Verrocchio. He opened his own workshop in Florence between 1476 and 1478. April 8, 1476 Leonardo da Vinci was accused of sadomey and arrested along with three friends. At that time in Florence, sadomeya was a crime, and the highest measure was burning at the stake. Judging by the records of that time, many doubted Leonardo's guilt, neither the prosecutor nor the witnesses were found. The fact that among those arrested was the son of one of the nobles of Florence was probably also helped to avoid a harsh sentence: there was a trial, but the guilty were released after a small flogging. In 1482, having received an invitation to the court of the ruler of Milan, Lodovico Sforza, Leonardo da Vinci unexpectedly left Florence. Lodovico Sforza was considered the most hated tyrant in Italy, but Leonardo decided that Sforza would be a better patron for him than the Medici, who ruled in Florence and disliked Leonardo. Initially, the duke took him as the organizer of the court celebrations, for which Leonardo invented not only masks and costumes, but also mechanical "miracles". The magnificent festivities worked to increase the fame of the Duke of Lodovico. For a salary lower than that of a court dwarf, in the castle of the Duke Leonardo acted as a military engineer, hydraulic engineer, court artist, and later - an architect and engineer. At the same time, Leonardo "worked for himself", being engaged in several areas of science and technology at the same time, but for most he was not paid for the work, since the Sforza paid no attention to his inventions. In the years 1484-1485, about 50 thousand inhabitants of Milan died of the plague. Leonardo da Vinci, who believed that the reason for this was the overcrowding of the city and the dirt that reigned in the narrow streets, suggested that the Duke build new town... According to Leonardo's plan, the city was supposed to consist of 10 districts of 30 thousand inhabitants each, each district had to have its own sewage system, the width of the narrowest streets had to be equal to the average height of a horse (after several centuries, the State Council of London recognized the proportions proposed by Leonardo as ideal and gave the order to follow them when laying out new streets). The project of the city structure, like many other technical ideas of Leonardo, was rejected by the Duke. Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to found an Academy of Arts in Milan. For teaching, he compiled treatises on painting, light, shadows, movement, theory and practice, perspective, movement human body, the proportions of the human body. The Lombard School, which consisted of the students of Leonardo, appears in Milan. In 1495, at the request of Lodovico Sforza, Leonardo began to paint his " The last supper"on the wall of the refectory of the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. July 22, 1490 Leonardo settled in his house the young Giacomo Caprotti (later he began to call the boy Salai -" Demon "). Whatever the young man did, Leonardo forgave him everything. Relations with Salai were the most constant in the life of Leonardo da Vinci, who had no family (he did not want a wife or children), and after his death, Salai inherited many of Leonardo's paintings.
After the fall of Lodovic Sforza, Leonardo da Vinci left Milan. V different years he lived in Venice (1499, 1500), Florence (1500-1502, 1503-1506, 1507), Mantua (1500), Milan (1506, 1507-1513), Rome (1513-1516). In 1516 (1517) he accepted the invitation of Francis I and left for Paris. Leonardo da Vinci did not like to sleep for a long time, he was a vegetarian. According to some testimonies, Leonardo da Vinci was perfectly built, had a huge physical strength, possessed good knowledge of knightly arts, horse riding, dancing, fencing. In mathematics, he was attracted only by what can be seen, so for him it primarily consisted of geometry and the laws of proportion. Leonardo da Vinci tried to determine the sliding friction coefficients, studied the resistance of materials, was engaged in hydraulics, and modeling. Areas of interest to Leonardo da Vinci included acoustics, anatomy, astronomy, aeronautics, botany, geology, hydraulics, cartography, mathematics, mechanics, optics, weapon design, civil and military construction, and urban planning. Died Leonardo da Vinci May 2, 1519 at the castle of Clu near Amboise (Touraine, France).

If you happen to fly, then henceforth you will walk on the ground, turning your eyes to the sky, for there you were and there you will always strive.

Leonardo da Vinci.

Leonardo da Vinci is a genius whose inventions undividedly belong to both the past, present and future of humanity. He lived ahead of his time, and if even a small part of what he invented was brought to life, then the history of Europe, and possibly the world, would be different: already in the 15th century we would drive around in cars and cross the seas on submarines. Leonardo da Vinci enriched almost all areas of knowledge with insightful observations and guesses. But how surprised a genius would be if he knew that his numerous inventions are used even centuries after his birth.

I present to your attention a couple of inventions by Leonard da Vinci: Military equipment, Aircraft, Hydraulics, Various mechanisms.

The most audacious dream of Leonardo the inventor was, without a doubt, the flight of a man. One of the earliest (and most famous) sketches on this topic is a diagram of the device, which in our time is considered to be a prototype of a helicopter. Leonardo proposed to make a propeller with a diameter of 5 meters from thin flax soaked in starch. It had to be set in motion by four people rotating the levers in a circle. Modern experts argue that the muscular strength of four people would not be enough to lift this device into the air (especially since even if it was lifted, this structure would begin to rotate around its axis), but if, for example, a powerful spring were used as the "engine" , such a "helicopter" would be capable of flight, albeit a short one.

After a long and careful study of the flight of birds, which he began while still in Milan, Leonardo designed in 1490, and possibly built the first model of an aircraft. This model had wings like bat, and with its help, using the muscular efforts of the arms and legs, the person had to fly. Now we know that in such a setting the problem is insoluble, because the muscular energy of a person is not enough for flight.

The drawing of the device turned out to be prophetic, which Leonardo himself described as follows: "If you have enough linen fabric sewn into a pyramid with a base of 12 yards (approximately 7 m 20 cm), then you can jump from any height without any harm to your body." ...

The illustration shows an underwater breathing apparatus with air intake and exhaust valve parts.

Webbed Swimming Gloves - To speed up swimming, the scientist developed a schematic of webbed gloves, which over time evolved into the well-known fins.

Diving suit. Leonardo's diving suit project was connected with the problem of finding a person by submarine. The suit was made of waterproof leather. It was supposed to have a large chest pocket that was filled with air to increase volume, which made it easier for the diver to rise to the surface. Leonardo's diver was equipped with a flexible breathing tube.

Lifebuoy - One of the most essential things for teaching a person to swim is a lifebuoy. This invention of Leonardo remained practically unchanged.

Water Walking System: Leonardo's water walking system included swim boots and poles.

Optics was popular in Leonardo's time and even had a philosophical connotation. There are several machines for making mirrors and lenses on display here. The second from the top is intended for creating concave mirrors, the third is for polishing them, and the fourth is for the production of flat mirrors. The first and last machines make it possible to grind mirrors and lenses, make their surface smooth, while simultaneously transforming rotary motion into a variable. Also known is the project (carried out by Leonardo between 1513 and 1516 during his stay in Rome) of a large parabolic mirror with many faces. It was conceived to heat boilers in a laundry room by concentrating solar energy.

It is better to be deprived of movement than to be tired of being useful.

Leonardo da Vinci.

The Milan Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo da Vinci is the largest in Europe. Leonardo da Vinci is famous for creating perfect image person and expressed the ideal female beauty in his painting "Mona Lisa", written in 1503. Leonardo da Vinci, often known only as an artist, was a genius who made numerous discoveries, developed innovative projects, who conducted research in the field of exact and natural sciences, including mathematics and mechanics. Leonardo handwritten more than 7 thousand sheets during the development of his projects. Leonardo da Vinci made discoveries and guesses in almost all areas of knowledge, and his notes and sketches are considered as sheets from a natural philosophical encyclopedia. He became the founder of a new natural science, which made conclusions based on experiments. Leonardo's favorite subject was mechanics, which he called "the paradise of the mathematical sciences." Leonardo believed that by solving the laws of mechanics, you can learn the secrets of the universe. Having devoted a lot of time to studying the flight of birds, he became the designer and creator of some flying machines and parachutes. Once in the Leonardo da Vinci Museum, you will immerse yourself in the world most interesting discoveries that will make you wonder about the infinity and ingenuity of the human mind.

What Leonardo was not fond of! Incredibly, among his interests were even cooking and the art of serving. In Milan for 13 years he was the steward of the court feasts. Leonardo invented several culinary devices to make life easier for chefs. This is a nut cracker, bread slicer, a left-handed corkscrew, and a mechanical crusher for garlic "Leonardo", which is still used by Italian chefs. In addition, he invented an automatic spit for frying meat, a kind of propeller was attached to the spit, which was supposed to rotate under the action of streams of heated air coming up from the fire. A rotor was attached to a series of drives with a long rope, the forces were transmitted to the spit using belts or metal spokes. The more the oven warmed up, the faster the spit rotated, which protected the meat from burning. An original dish "from Leonardo" - thinly sliced ​​meat stewed with vegetables laid on top - was very popular at court feasts.
Leonardo da Vinci - brilliant artist, a remarkable experimenter and an outstanding scientist who embodied in his activity all the most progressive tendencies of the Renaissance. Everything about him amazes: absolutely extraordinary versatility, and the power of thought, and scientific inquisitiveness, and a practical mindset, and technical ingenuity, and wealth artistic fantasy, and the outstanding skill of a painter, draftsman and sculptor. Reflecting the most progressive aspects of the Renaissance in his work, he became that great, truly folk artist whose historical meaning far outgrew the framework of his era. He looked not to the past, but to the future.